NRC Office of Investigations launches probe into Palisades SIRW storage tank leak

Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor is located on the shore of Lake Michigan, drinking water supply for tens of millions downstreamAs reported by the St. Joe Herald-Palladium, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Investigations (OI) has launced a special probe into the leakage of up to 31.4 gallons per day of acidic and radioactive water from the Safety Injection Refueling Water (SIRW) storage tank into the control room and auxiliary building of Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor in Covert, MI on Lake Michigan's southeastern shoreline. WSJM radio reports that Palisades' PR spokesman Mark Savage denies any safety significance.

The Associated Press has also reported on this story. A Detroit News opinion column also comments on this story, including that "The tank was being refilled when, Tuesday night, new leaks appeared, and at 9 p.m., it was shut down." Entergy Nuclear appears to be in a hurry to re-start Palisades!

In addition, as the Kalamazoo Gazette reports, the NRC is demanding a copy from Entergy Nuclear of an internal survey of Palisades' workforce, revealing a complete collapse of safety culture at the atomic reactor, including fears of retaliation and harassment for questioning management decisions or raising safety concerns. As spelled out in its letter to Entergy, NRC defines safety culture as "the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment."

Although a June 12th shutdown made the leak known to the public, it took U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), Ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee and a senior Democrat on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, writing NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko, to shed light on the safety significance of the leak. Markey was prompted to write NRC by a letter from Billie Garde, a D.C.-based attorney who has represented nuclear whistleblowers for decades. Garde's June 14th letter revealed that the leak had not only been going on for a full year, but involved leakage into the control room and auxiliary building.

Dave Lochbaum at UCS explains that, as shown by inleakage of radioactive water due to this leak, inleakage of radioactive air into the "Control Room Envelope" -- occupied by reactor operators and other personnel -- during an accident is also a concern.

"Inleakage is a problem" at Palisades atomic reactor

The inleakage of radioactive and acidic water into the control room at Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor has shed light on related problems.

As explained by nuclear engineer Dave Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety program at Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), if radioactive water can leak into the control room during "normal operations," air must also be able to leak in.

 

Entergy Nuclear submitted a license amendment request to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on August 21, 2007. Entergy sought to revise its technical specifications for what is called the "control room envelope" at Palisades. The "control room envelope" is the area within which reactor operators and other personell must work during both "normal" as well as disaster situations. At page 39 of 47 in the document, Entergy provides the proposed bases for the Control Room Ventilation Filtration technical specification.

As Lochbaum concludes, "Inleakage is a problem."