Risks of age-degraded steam generator tubes at Palisades

By a letter dated April 14, 2015 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave a passing grade to Entergy Nuclear Palisades' age-degraded steam generator tubes.

This, despite the fact that on March 19, 2015, 100 gallons of radioactive tritium had "migrated" (a.k.a. leaked) from Palisades' steam generator tubes, through various other systems, structures and components at the plant, and out into the environment.

This, after Entergy Nuclear's top official at Palisades, Site Vice President Anthony Vitale, in summer 2014 had assured concerned local residents and environmental group representatives, including from Beyond Nuclear, that the persistent problem of tritium leaks at Palisades had been solved.

A cascading failure of age-degraded steam generator tubes could cause a Loss-of-Coolant-Accident (LOCA), core meltdown, and catastrophic radioactivity release.

NRC missed dangrous steam generator tube degradation at San Onofre Units 2 & 3 in CA, until a tube burst, resulting in a radioactivity release to the environment. Fortunately, the single tube failure didn't spread to other tubes, and risk a LOCA. However, when inspections were finally conducted, the extent of tube degradation (in replacement steam generators that were only a year or two old) was so severe, Southern California Edison -- under public pressure, as by Friends of the Earth and the grassroots anti-nuclear movement there -- simply decided to permanently shut both reactors.

But Palisades' steam generators are not brand new. They are replacement steam generators, installed in 1991. But they need to be replaced again, as documented in a spring 2006 presentation by Palisades' previous owner, Consumers Energy, to the Michigan Public Service Commission.

(In Feb. 2000, one of the reactors at Indian Point, NY had an age-degraded steam generator tube failure. David Lochbaum, the Director of the Nuclear Safety Project at Union of Concerned Scientists, has cited it as a prime example of "break-down phase" risks.)

Beyond Nuclear's expert witness in Palisades proceedings, Arnie Gundersen (Chief Engineer, Fairewinds Associates, Inc.) has confirmed that he knows of no other atomic reactor that has had to replace its steam generators twice.

But Entergy has backed away from the promise to replace Palisades' degraded steam generators. At an Entergy open house in South Haven in summer 2013, Entergy's two top officials at Palisades -- Site Vice President Anthony Vitale, and Plant Manager Tony Williams -- together told Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps that there was no plan to replace the degraded steam generators.

And now, NRC itself has blessed Palisades' degraded steam generators as "good to go," yet again.