Alabama Nuclear Power Plant Loses Power From Tornadoes, Could Be Down For Weeks

NEW YORK – A nuclear power plant in Alabama that lost power after violent thunderstorms and tornadoes on Wednesday will be down for days and possibly weeks but the backup power systems worked as designed to prevent a partial meltdown like the disaster in Japan.

The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant, one of the biggest in the country, provides power to 2.6 million homes. It has three reactors that are similar in design to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors crippled by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11.

"The reactors will remain shut until we have restored the reliability of the transmission system," said Ray Golden, spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns and operates the 3,274-megawatt Alabama plant.

When the plant lost power, the reactors automatically shut down and emergency backup diesel generators kicked in to cool the nuclear fuel. In Japan, the reactors also automatically shutdown when they lost power due to the earthquake but the backup generators were wiped out by the tsunami, allowing the fuel to overheat.

The repairs to the U.S. reactor's transmission lines would take days and could possibly take weeks, Golden said, but the plant itself was undamaged.

The tornadoes and thunderstorms left a trail of destruction across northern Alabama and northern Mississippi on Wednesday, killing at least 131 people in Alabama, according to Alabama's Governor Robert Bentley.

The storm knocked out power to about 300,000 homes and businesses, primarily in the northern parts of Alabama and Mississippi, Golden said.

In addition to the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant, the Tennessee Valley Authority operates several other facilities and provides power to about 150 municipal utilities, which distribute electricity to some 9 million people in seven states.

The federally owned power generator said its two nuclear power plants in Tennessee -- Watts Bar and Sequoyah -- were largely unaffected by the storm. Sequoyah continues to provide power to customers and Watts Bar was already shut for scheduled maintenance when the storm hit.

As of 6 a.m. EDT, the Tennessee Valley Authority had restored 12 large transmission lines but still had another 78 out of service, said another spokesman, Scott Brooks.

TWO REACTORS COOLED TO SAFE TEMPERATURE

Two of the units are cooled to a safe temperature so that the water around the reactor's core will not boil away -- as happened at Japan's Fukushima. The third unit should be in cold shutdown soon.

The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is located in Decatur on the banks of the Wheeler Reservoir along the Tennessee River about 170 miles north of the Alabama state capital of Montgomery.

It has three units -- the 1,065-MW Unit 1, the 1,104-MW Unit 2 and the 1,105-MW Unit 3 -- which are of similar design to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[aligatorhardt]

08:39 PM on 05/10/2011

Notice how 3000MW of nuclear power is offline and we get along without it. Too bad they don't have wind turbines in the mountains were all the power doesn't go offline at once, and maintenance can be done one at a time so not disrupting supplies like large power plants when they are out of order. Lucky the backup system actually worked this time.

[markofthetides]

06:35 PM on 04/30/2011

"The nation's top nuclear regulator cast doubt Thursday on whether reactors in the U.S. are prepared for the type of days-long power outage that struck a nuclear power plant in Japan"
Just a couple of days and we can have a very nasty problem.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/29/us-nuclear-power-blackout_n_855424.html#comments
That's from the head of the NRC, he should know.

[DrStrangelov]

10:23 PM on 05/03/2011

Heard today the plant did pretty well during the storm last week.

In the weeks to come, we will learn in this country how robust nuclear power is, and even with Fukushima, it will be time now to go to the next generation of reactors that do not rely on emergency diesels.

[vmf211]

05:54 PM on 05/07/2011

These plants are very tough

[Winston13]

06:24 PM on 04/30/2011

too big NOT to fail:

http://www.themarknews.com/articles/4895-too-big-not-to-fail

[rich misty]

07:22 PM on 04/30/2011

Excellent link

[Winston13]

06:18 PM on 04/30/2011

Why is the NRC operating in "emergency status?"

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been in "emergency­" status since the United States received tsunami warnings in the wake of a March 11 earthquake that crippled Japanese nuclear reactors last month, documents obtained by Greenwire reveal.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko is using the rarely used status, allowing for the transfer of certain commission decisionma­king powers to himself, because of concerns that the tsunami spawned by the quake could hit the United States. Though that threat subsided within 48 hours, the emergency status continues, according to an email the NRC's Office of Congressio­nal Affairs sent to a senior staffer for the Senate Environmen­t and Public Works Committee.

"The chairman has been exercising his emergency authority since that time," the April 4 email said, noting Jaczko had such authority under Section 3 of the Reorganiza­tion Plan No. 1 of 1980. "The agency will return to a non-emerge­ncy status when the situation warrants."

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/04/29/29greenwire-nrc-chairmans-emergency-status-irks-leading-se-82368.html

[DrStrangelov]

12:07 AM on 05/04/2011

An "emergency" in NRC space may seem ominous but there is actually four levels that are graded by severity. You have to remember, anything not under normal operations is considered an "emergency".The Unusual Event is the lowest classification, which this event follows. The UE may not be a dire consequence, but could elevate if more planets alligned and Murphy came to visit.

One should understand that the NRC vigilance in this regard can not be understated. The NRC maintains a Site Rep.

I do not believe the Japanese regulatory structure is as strong. Probably another lesson learned from Fukushima is that the BOP was tended to in this regard. The reactor took care of itself and scrammed. The BOP provided the necessary power and cooling.

[Winston13]

06:15 PM on 04/30/2011

"TVA safely shut down its Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama with emergency backup power this week, but power outages across the Tennessee Valley still left the utility without enough emergency sirens to warn nearby residents of potential safety problems at both Browns Ferry in Alabama and the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Soddy-Dais­y.

In a notice to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission released Friday, TVA said more than 60 percent of its sirens around Browns Ferry and about a third of its warning sirens around Sequoyah were inoperable this week when electricit­y service was lost to the sirens following Wednesday’­s tornadoes and wind storms.

With so many sirens not working, TVA has had to be prepare plans to use police vehicles with loud- speakers to notify residents living within 10 miles of the plant should a nuclear accident occur."

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/apr/30/nuclear-sirens-conk-out-storm/

[trumphent]

09:33 PM on 04/30/2011

Hurricane Andrew destroyed the "early warning system" for Turkey Point nuclear power plant. FPL wanted to put the 2 nuclear units back online long before the ews was restored. That was in 1992. At least FPL had just completed a new and gigantic set of emergency diesel generators. Still, it left me a little uneasy about FPL's attitude toward the local population.

[vmf211]

05:57 PM on 05/07/2011

I love working at turkey point . The thing that made me uneasy was living in homested.
Now that could be dangerous

[Michael Mann]

03:04 PM on 05/02/2011

The sirens are only used to notify the public to tune in local radio/tv stations for instructions, there are multiple contingincies including auto dialing phone calls and police/fire vehicles which are equiped with public address equipment. The sirens are controlled by county government in case of an emergency.
http://www.tva.gov/power/nuclear/pdf/bfn_2011_emergencyinfo.pdf

[Winston13]

06:11 PM on 04/30/2011

Helen Caldicott's Op-Ed in the Sunday (May 1) New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01caldicott.html

[rich misty]

08:37 PM on 04/30/2011

Another excellent link

[Rick Fallin]

11:56 AM on 05/02/2011

great article.. thanks for sharing!

[Winston13]

06:09 PM on 04/30/2011

The mentality at the top of the nuclear industry:

"The CEO of one of the nation’s largest nuclear plant operators downplayed his company’s woes to political fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — with the 2009 alcohol-and- sex comedy “The Hangover” as his guide.

In a 111 page presentation to investors and analysts, Entergy CEO J. Wayne Leonard transitioned from pictures and off-color quotes from the film to illustrations of the meltdown inside reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and assurances of why that can’t happen at New York’s Indian Point power plant.

The second page of Entergy’s slide show quotes one of the movie characters saying, “By the way, we’re all gonna die,” which may not have been the best message to precede the several well-constructed illustrations of the ill-fated Japanese reactors and the frayed nerves over the nuclear plant 35 miles from New York City. Other slides feature a discussion of how to pronounce “retard” and the question, “Would you please put some pants on? I feel weird having to ask you twice.”

For the uninitiated, the alcohol-themed 2009 comedy features a simple Las Vegas bachelor party for four friends unfolds into a series of unmitigated disasters that are beyond their control."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53962.html

[rich misty]

08:37 PM on 04/30/2011

They are misanthropes, laughing about exposing large numbers of humans to radionuclide fallout.

[DrStrangelov]

10:28 PM on 05/03/2011

Whose laughing? Fukushima was tragic. Here is another accident that went under your radar. A child died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

See what happens when the uninformed play with fire. No one is calling for the end of these devices, only proper protection, education and oversight.

[DrStrangelov]

10:30 PM on 05/03/2011

The special characters in the link are not getting picked up.

here is the IAEA report

www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub815_web.pdf

[rich misty]

04:50 PM on 04/30/2011

The claims of "safe" shutdowns are false as long as fuel rods remain inside the reactors.  The reactors require constant cooling even with the control rods fully inserted or the cores will melt down.

Brown's Ferry remains on generator backup power to operate these pumps. The plant is equipped with 8 backup generators, at present two are now out of service.

http://www.tva.com/news/releases/aprjun11/storm.htm

Shortly before midnight on April 28, 2011, Tennessee Valley Authority equipment operators identified a small oil leak on one of the seven operating diesel generators at Browns Ferry.  The equipment operators took prompt actions to shut down the diesel generator for repair minimizing equipment damage.  This quick action supported the prompt maintenance of the diesel generator that will allow early return to service of the equipment.  The shutdown resulted in some plant equipment being without power on Unit 1 for four minutes and 28 minutes on Unit 2.

[rich misty]

05:22 PM on 04/30/2011

They are not telling you that the service interruption was to the reactor cooling pumps, but those pumps are the reason the backup generators are running.

[DrStrangelov]

10:34 PM on 05/03/2011

Something to think about - the reactors are shut down, thus the chain reaction has terminated. The "decay heat" reduces almost 97% at shutdown. With a 3400 MWth reactor, there is still about 10 MWth to remove heat. After a while, the natural circulation will kick in as long as there is a flow path.

When a reactor is opened for refuelling, the fuel in the core is basically down to about 1 MWth which can be tolerated by convective heat transfer.

The Browns Ferry plant is the same NSSS with upgrades as Fukushima. The BOP side is completely different. The Fukushima BOP was in the line of sight of the tsunami.

The NRC took the BF plant off the watch list today.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110503-714554.html

[vmf211]

06:08 PM on 05/07/2011

Bravo strangelove you seem like you work in nuclear power as myself and have knowledge of how they work and about radiation.
Unlike rich misty who has never set foot in one.

Which plants have you worked at? I've been to about 40 of them.

[Michael Mann]

03:02 PM on 04/30/2011

The nuclear power plants safely shut down, no matter how you attempt to stir up fear, that is the bottom line. Here is a link to the TVA website for updates.
http://www.tva.com/news/releases/aprjun11/storm.htm

[rich misty]

04:35 PM on 04/30/2011

http://www.elp.com/index/display/article-display/4505832390/articles/electric-light-power/generation/nuclear/2011/03/IAEA__Japan_nuclear_plants_nearest_earthquake_safely_shut_down.html

You are correct, so is Fukushima.

Oh wait...

[rich misty]

05:40 PM on 04/30/2011

http://www.themarknews.com/articles/4895-too-big-not-to-fail

There is already documentation on this page that 25% of the backup generator capacity at Brown's Ferry is now offline.  One generator out of service at the time of the power loss, and a second has failed in service.

[DrStrangelov]

10:40 PM on 05/03/2011

Michael, these antinuke "trolls" have jumped from story to story trying to flood the blogs with their fear and lies. They will bring up involuntary dose to children, "internal emitters", Helen Caldicott ad nauseum.

I just wish they would go away, but it is them that keeps nuclear in business. In fact, there could be an antinuclear backlash if it is shown that their efforts have resulted in more coal, more global warming, more pollution, and ultimately more deaths.

The worst offenders are the self proclaimed "Medical Doctors" who will fight tooth and nail to assail a persons credibility even if they are a PhD, ChP, etc with radiation protection experience. They dont care. These are the true "Militant Dimwits"

They call "nuclear cheerleaders" misanthropes, but its they who hate people who espouse a superior knowledge, address their rants with factual web sites, not Political Activist sites.

These people can not fathom how clueless they really are in this life regarding this subject matter.

There is a lot to learn from this tragedy, namely we are in the business of saving lives. It is unfortunate when a large scale nuclear accident occurs. They are quick to judge, but when there is a success like Browns Ferry, which IS PROOF American reactors are robust to natural phenomena, they want to try desperately to find some shred of impropriety, collusion, and perception of industry malfeasance.

Nuclear technology will survive. Bill Gates is banking on it.

[vmf211]

06:11 PM on 05/07/2011

strange love i have worked at browns ferry 5 times and it is a very well run plant and the radiation protection dept is top notch in the industry

[FreedomFreedomFreedom]

12:58 PM on 04/30/2011

If there was a chance for a meltdown do you really think it would be reported to the public? Read up on the history of Three Mile Island to find out how the powers that be lied to the public for months, putting thousands of people at risk. It wasn't until 3 days after the accident that the authorities told people to shut their windows and stay indoors. As if that would protect them from radiation. Nothing we are told is accurate, honest or truthful when it comes to starting wars( Iraq, Viet Nam), fighting wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Viet Nam) or even ending wars, why should this be any different.

[vmf211]

02:29 PM on 04/30/2011

Vietnam was started by the DEMS and so was libya.

You no almost nothing about nuclear power I see?

[rich misty]

04:36 PM on 04/30/2011

The point he is making is the military-industrial complex will lie when it is in their best interests to do so.

[mairs]

06:44 PM on 04/30/2011

So what if they were started by Dems. The point is that we are repeatedly lied to, no matter who is in charge. The government/industrial complex is immovable, no matter what party thinks it is calling the shots.

[DrStrangelov]

10:44 PM on 05/03/2011

We have to start having faith in people, else the human race is doomed. Most of the people that protested nuclear energy, have roots in the Antigoverment, Vietnam, Watergate era. Nuclear seemed an easy target because it was a seemless transition for the professional activist.

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” - St Thomas Aquinas

[Sock De Jour]

09:14 AM on 04/30/2011

Look, one of the nuclear cheerleaders (paid) took Doc's name, and is posting their lies under his name.

Unconscionable. These people have no shame.

[vmf211]

02:30 PM on 04/30/2011

And as most on the left know nothing about nuclear power or radiation

[rich misty]

05:33 PM on 04/30/2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01caldicott.html

"However, doctors know that there is no such thing as a safe dose of radiation, and that radiation is cumulative­. The mutations caused in cells by this radiation are generally deleteriou­s. We all carry several hundred genes for disease: cystic fibrosis, diabetes, phenylketo­nuria, muscular dystrophy. There are now more than 2,600 genetic diseases on record, any one of which may be caused by a radiation-­induced mutation, and many of which we’re bound to see more of, because we are artificial­ly increasing background levels of radiation.­"

[mairs]

06:44 PM on 04/30/2011

What a marroon.

[DrStrangelov]

10:45 PM on 05/03/2011

Who is getting paid sweetheart?

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

12:21 AM on 04/30/2011

stupid nuclear power plants.

[vmf211]

06:14 PM on 05/07/2011

stupid because maybe you couldn't get a great paying job there?

[rich misty]

07:18 PM on 04/29/2011

http://enewscourier.com/local/x58991926/BREAKING-NRC-monitors-Browns-Ferry-Nuclear-Plant-after-storms-knock-out-power

We know for a fact that grid power to the reactors was knocked out by the storm, which destroyed a large number of high-voltage 3-phase power transmission lines.  The reactors shut down automatically as designed, and 7 of the 8 backup generators functioned properly.

I have seen no report that 3-phase power, required to operate the cooling pumps, has been restored.  The last report I saw stated that the backup generators were still running, indicating that they were required in order to keep the reactor cooling pumps functioning.

If there was nothing going on, and everything was normal, the NRC would not be monitoring the event.

[jeanlucbastille]

12:23 PM on 04/30/2011

Does anyone else find the concept inane that a power
plant is dependent on outside power for its survival ??

Why not have transformers to power cooling pumps
also from plant output power??

Insane design flaw within an insane concept.

Horrible combination.

[Michael Mann]

03:09 PM on 04/30/2011

Normal operation is powered from the plant, there are multiple back up methods to provide cooling, some of which do not require electrical power. The design is very robust. Technical specifications require these systems to be operable.
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/techspecs/current-approved-sts.html

[rich misty]

05:09 PM on 04/30/2011

The Chernobyl reactor design produced it's own power for the cooling pumps.  It did not work out so well during testing. It was a major factor in the explosion and release.

[vmf211]

02:34 PM on 04/30/2011

um yes they would it is called an "unusual event" the lowest on the 4 levels of events in this country. This was cuased by nature and not from any mistake from operations.

I have worked at browns ferry many times and it is a very well run plant.

[rich misty]

04:37 PM on 04/30/2011

It is an ongoing event.  They are monitoring continuously.  There is a reason for this.

[mansterEZ]

07:06 PM on 04/29/2011

Better make sure there is enough diesel to run them generators. What if the next round of thunderstorms levels a direct hit on this facility? Devastating would be an understatement.

[vmf211]

02:35 PM on 04/30/2011

the tornado's could never penetrate the containments.
I was at quad cities back in 96-97 when it took a direct hit from a tornado and all it did was take off some of the aluminum siding

[rich misty]

05:12 PM on 04/30/2011

It does not have to rupture the containment.  All it has to do is knock out the grid power and you are on backup generators with nothing but a crankshaft between a stable reactor core and a meltdown.

http://www.gregpalast.com/no-bs-info-on-japan-nuclearobama-invites-tokyo-electric-to-build-us-nukes-with-taxpayer-funds/

"Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked.  At the New York nuke, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They'd been tested.  The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short time at low speed.  When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third.  We nicknamed the diesels, "Snap, Crackle and Pop.""

[rich misty]

07:01 PM on 04/29/2011

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/dont-be-fooled-by-the-spin-radiation-is-bad-20110407-1d63z.html

With the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl looming, the pro-nuclear lobby is in overdrive.

You have to hand it to the nuclear industry and its acolytes. In the middle of the second-worst nuclear power disaster in history at Fukushima, and with still no end in sight, you would think they would respond with contrition, humility and profuse mea culpas. Not on your life. The industry representatives and its acolytes came out swinging in full denial attire.

Dr Peter Karamoskos is a nuclear radiologist and a public representative on the radiation health committee of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

[vmf211]

02:36 PM on 04/30/2011

radiologist that means he give people x-rays in a hospital?

[rich misty]

04:40 PM on 04/30/2011

It means he is a medical doctor with a specialty in nuclear medicine. His work involves the use of radionuclides, radiological bio-hazards which Nuclear Cheerleaders make false claims of "safety" about.

He is a professional, degreed, licensed physician, with nuclear radiation credentials.