ATLANTA, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In accordance with a February
2005 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Bulletin that requires all nuclear
power plants to verify their spent fuel inventories, Southern Nuclear
Operating Company today notified the agency that the company could not --
based upon a preliminary review of data -- reconcile inventory totaling
approximately 68 inches at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley, Ga.
The fuel inventory in the two reactor cores and the two spent fuel pools at
Plant Hatch totals more than 57 million inches.
The inventory verification is still in progress and is scheduled to be
completed Dec. 15. The company believes the material is in another location in
the spent fuel pools or was shipped to a licensed disposal facility. There is
no threat to public health or safety.
The possibility of theft or diversion is not plausible because of
radiation monitoring instrumentation, the plant's physical security measures
and the size and type container required for transporting nuclear material of
this nature.
No discrepancies were found at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating
Plant near Waynesboro, Ga., or the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant near Dothan,
Ala.
Southern Nuclear informed the agency that it found a discrepancy between
records of fuel locations and the visual verifications of the fuel within the
spent fuel pools at the plant. A final report is scheduled to be sent to the
NRC in Jan. 2006.
Special equipment is being used to search areas of the spent fuel pool
floor and selected fuel assemblies that have not been examined to date.
The material is best characterized as partial-length segments of
individual fuel rods. To improve the mechanical performance of fuel assemblies
in the 1980's, individual fuel rods were moved out of some fuel assemblies
that were being reused for additional operating cycles - that is, placed back
into the reactor core as fuel. This activity was performed during refueling
operations. The fuel rod segments were generated when some of the individual
rods selected for removal were not able to be removed as intact, full length
rods.
In the early to mid-1980s, fuel rod cladding corrosion occurred in some of
the fuel rods used in some boiling water reactors across the industry. Moving
the fuel rods out of some assemblies ensured that only corrosion-resistant,
sound fuel rods were being used in the reactor.
Research by Southern Company, the fuel vendor and the industry determined
that copper in the reactor's condenser tubes was causing early corrosion of
the fuel cladding -- the material surrounding the fuel pellets. The condenser
tubes were replaced and the cladding material on the fuel was improved. Both
steps corrected the problem. This issue has not re-occurred for Plant Hatch.
Fuel assemblies are used typically for two or three operating cycles of
the reactor before they are replaced. They are then placed in the spent fuel
pool for long term storage.
Plant Hatch maintains fuel accountability in accordance with accepted
industry standards. These standards require accounting for fuel at a fuel
assembly and discrete fuel rod level. Tracking of rod segments, pieces or
pellets was not part of the physical inventory process. Inventories were
conducted annually as required by regulations.
In a February 11, 2005, Bulletin (Bulletin 2005-01), the NRC required all
of the nation's nuclear facilities to provide a description of their special
nuclear material physical inventory and accounting processes that ensure the
records accurately reflect receipt, inventory, acquisition, transfer and
disposal of all SNM.
Nuclear fuel is placed in a reactor in what's referred to as fuel
assemblies. There are 560 fuel assemblies in each of the two reactors at Plant
Hatch and each reactor core contains over 49,000 fuel rods of varying lengths.
The fuel rod is a tube, a little larger than the diameter of a pencil, in
which fuel pellets are stacked; most fuel rods contain about 150 inches of
fuel.
State and local officials have also been informed and the company will
continue working with the NRC in this verification.
SNC, based in Birmingham, Ala., and a subsidiary of Southern Company,
operates Hatch, Vogtle and Farley for their respective owners. Plants Hatch
and Vogtle are jointly owned by Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power
Corporation, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the City of
Dalton. Plant Farley is owned by Alabama Power Company.
SOURCE Southern Company
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.georgiapower.com
CONTACT:
Steve Higginbottom of Southern Nuclear,
+1-205-992-5752, or gshiggin@southernco.com; or Tal Wright of
Georgia Power, +1-404-506-7502
|
