Troubled nuke plant refocuses (Fort Calhoun emergency shut down switch was not functional)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110925/NEWS01/709259911#troubled-nuke-plant-refocuses

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20110925&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=709259911&Ref=AR&Profile=913&maxw=490&maxh=275
Staffers at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station train in the various methods of manually shutting down the facility in case of a problem. They work in a simulator of the control room that is exact down to the shade of the carpeting. At left, standing, is operations instructor Dennis Dryten. Trainees, left to right, are Terry Jantzi, Luke Jensen and Kevin Boogerd.

Published Sunday September 25, 2011

By Henry J. Cordes
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

FORT CALHOUN, Neb. — The switch — one that's tripped when Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station needs to safely shut down its reactor — was making an unusual buzzing sound.

Plant engineers looked into it, made some repairs and overall didn't think it was a big deal.

Turns out they didn't understand the problem as well as they thought they did. During a later test, the switch malfunctioned.

The kind of thinking that led to the switch failure at the nuclear power plant 19 miles north of Omaha has now landed the plant in some hot water with federal regulators. More than a mechanical failing, it suggests a culture that's out of step with the assume-nothing, take-no-chances, stay-on-top-of-things approach that's demanded when working with a technology where multiple errors and failures can cascade into very, very bad results.


The switch issue came on the heels of another regulatory write-up Fort Calhoun had received for having inadequate plans for dealing with extremely massive flooding — flooding even greater than the historic high water levels seen at the plant this summer.

Fort Calhoun is one of only two out of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors currently on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's list of most-troubled plants, and one of only eight to land on it over the past decade.

FULL story and more photos at link.

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