Pressure test failures at San Onofre confined to one generator

[FBaggins]

An unprecedented equipment-test failure at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was confined to one generator, adding to diagnostic challenges at the sidelined power plant. Nuclear safety regulators examining the rapid degradation of the plant's steam generator tubing -- crucial to preventing radiation releases -- have made public more information about each of the plant's four massive replacement generators installed since 2009.

A new web site dedicated to San Onofre's steam generator tubing problems identified one steam generator with in the southern, Unit 3 reactor as the most problematic.

All eight tubes that failed water pressure testing were located in that generator -- including the tube the developed a leak on Jan. 31, prompting the unscheduled shutdown of the plant's Unit 3 reactor. Safety regulators have described the failure of eight tubes at one power plant as unprecedented in the industry.

...snip...

"It could be that, if it's a manufacturing problem, that it's limited to a certain number of tubes," he said. "It could be that the whole mess of tubes is a problem. That's what they don't know."

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/10/pressure-test-failures-san-onofre-confined-one-gen/

[GliderGuider]

1. It's things like this

that combine with my expectations of a global economic collapse to give me post-apocalyptic nightmares. As we try to keep the lights on while the OECD economies gurgle down the drain, there could be an overwhelming pressure - from bidness, gummint and citizens alike - to keep operating nukes without sufficient maintenance money.

I hope the anti-nuclear forces win the day while there's still some money left for relatively safe decommissioning.