http://www.wral.com/crack-in-nuclear-reactor-forces-shearon-harris-to-shut-down/12453472/

5/16/2013 1:30:34 PM

Sounds like the result of good safety inspections to me.

5/16/2013 1:33:08 PM

Oh damn... So Shearon Harris is going to be a derelict sooner than I thought

5/16/2013 1:34:36 PM

[old]

5/16/2013 1:37:14 PM

Reaktah Frakshuh

sounds like a rapper

5/16/2013 3:22:56 PM

Quote :

"Sounds like the result of good safety inspections to me."

agreed.

That a quarter inch crack was noticed, and action was immediately taken tells me that they run a tight ship over there.

5/16/2013 3:54:09 PM

Man it's dead in the neighborhood today



[Edited on May 16, 2013 at 3:56 PM. Reason : .]

5/16/2013 3:55:09 PM

^ugh, don't remind me of that atrocity. how the fuck can you ruin indiana jones like that?

5/16/2013 3:56:13 PM

Inspections of the vessel head are peformed by AREVA. It is done via a robot which both inspects and welds. AREVA repaired welds during the last Harris refueling outage and were responsible for all reports. It was their engineers who were reviewing data and realized they screwed up. It's not like Duke employees are just walking around next to the reactor looking for cracks. Within 24 hours of being notified by AREVA of the possible crack Harris shut the reactor down. It was the safest thing to do.

Quote :

"agreed. That a quarter inch crack was noticed, and action was immediately taken tells me that they run a tight ship over there. "

5/16/2013 4:13:10 PM

^hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good story

5/16/2013 4:22:24 PM

Crack has existed unchecked for at least a year...it might be much more than 1/4 inch now. Maybe they shouldn't be relying on foreign subcontractors for critical inspections.

5/16/2013 4:26:28 PM

this is me worried





























...

5/16/2013 4:27:28 PM

I'm not sure what you mean about foreign subcontractors. That they are French owned? The office that did the work is based out of Lynchburg, VA. Subcontractors are just how refueling outages work. The plant does not need thousands of employees while the plant is running. Operating this way keeps cost down. AREVA provided a report at the time saying everything was good to go.

The inch has not grown larger. Look up RTNDT for a little background. Reference Temperature Nil Ductility Temperature. Should be familiar if you did any materials science work at State. The reactor is operated at specific pressure and temperature so that an exisiting flaw does not have the opportunity to grow.

Quote :

"Crack has existed unchecked for at least a year...it might be much more than 1/4 inch now. Maybe they shouldn't be relying on foreign subcontractors for critical inspections."

[Edited on May 16, 2013 at 4:34 PM. Reason : df]

5/16/2013 4:33:41 PM

5/16/2013 4:41:40 PM

I wish it would blow the fuck up

5/16/2013 4:48:12 PM

thanks a lot, obama!

seriously though, read the article comments. a couple of them have already managed to bring up obamacare...

5/16/2013 4:53:49 PM

Was just discussing this earlier today with a coworker. I had applications in for four different positions at Harris. HAD. Gahdammit.

5/16/2013 5:06:04 PM

Quote :

"agreed. That a quarter inch crack was noticed, and action was immediately taken tells me that they run a tight ship over there. "

yep. sitting right next to one of the guys who helped develop that procedure back in 1984 and then he performed the first test / ultrasonic baseline at the plant doing QC. He was actually really happy to hear this today , saying it proves how good of a system they have to be able to find that.

[Edited on May 16, 2013 at 5:10 PM. Reason : ]

5/16/2013 5:06:57 PM

If you get on its a good place to work. Been at Harris since January 2009.

Quote :

"Was just discussing this earlier today with a coworker. I had applications in for four different positions at Harris. HAD. Gahdammit."

5/16/2013 5:12:36 PM

I'd have loved to. It's my understanding that the vessel won't be repaired. Word of mouth though, for what that's worth.

5/16/2013 5:19:18 PM

Yeah that is bad info. The plant is an industrial facility just like any other. Things break and they get fixed. This is not to difficult a problem to fix. It's not the first time this vessel or any of the other 104 operating units around the country have had a crack. Just they are usually found during refueling outages. It is the media and NCWARN's job to make things more sensational than they really are.

[Edited on May 16, 2013 at 5:23 PM. Reason : sd]

5/16/2013 5:21:55 PM

So long as PE doesnt try to do the repair themselves, we know what happened last time

AREVA just got a little more job security along with every procedure writer at a nuke.

5/16/2013 6:05:52 PM

Quote :

"The plant is an industrial facility just like any other."

Negative.

5/16/2013 6:19:36 PM

Few strips of Duct Tape and she will be back up and runnin' in no time...
Duct tape will fix anything.

5/16/2013 6:33:42 PM

im still worried the NCSU reactor is gonna have a meltdown

5/16/2013 8:50:09 PM

I'm pretty sure it's not physically possible for the NCSU reactor to meltdown.

5/16/2013 10:11:38 PM

This is the result of tampering by aliens.

Aliens have always been fascinated and drawn to Earth's nuclear production facilities. If you spend enough nights around Shearon Harris, and in particular the cooling tower, you will see a UFO. It's the best spot in North Carolina to see one.

5/16/2013 10:55:10 PM

Who? What?

It must be the NC State of nuclear reactors

5/16/2013 10:58:59 PM

Quote :

"The inch has not grown larger. Look up RTNDT for a little background. Reference Temperature Nil Ductility Temperature. Should be familiar if you did any materials science work at State. The reactor is operated at specific pressure and temperature so that an exisiting flaw does not have the opportunity to grow. "

So what causes the cracks.

5/16/2013 11:12:37 PM

Obviously its at least 10% the PULSTARs fault. Also its clear that the majority of the blame can be foisted on the ludicrous "war on drugs" we have in this country; giving rise to such slogans as "crack kills". This is despite countless studies which show that crack actually contains all of your daily vitamins and minerals as well as a general cure for STDs.

5/16/2013 11:49:40 PM

Quote :

"The reactor is operated at specific pressure and temperature so that an exisiting flaw does not have the opportunity to grow"

informative, factual and yet mildly absurd comment which might prompt me to say something smarmy like

"well why didn't they just operate it at a pressure where flaws do not have the opportunity to even happen??????"

5/16/2013 11:59:34 PM

Quote :

"why didn't they just operate it at a pressure where flaws do not have the opportunity to even happen?"

Of course! Why couldn't they just completely disregard the laws of thermodynamics? Also, why didn't they invent and utilize the perfect material? It's probably a conspiracy.

5/17/2013 12:12:58 AM

Oh. Welcome to the internet

5/17/2013 12:50:16 AM

NC Republican Utilities Commission votes to double electrical rates to repair crack.

5/17/2013 1:30:36 AM

N&O: Bush Tax Cuts Said To Have Gone Too Deep. Slice Through Cutting Board and Damage Nuclear Reactor. GOP Legislature Yet To Outlaw Reactors Subject To Laws Of Space And Time.

5/17/2013 1:34:56 AM

Quote :

"informative, factual and yet mildly absurd comment which might prompt me to say something smarmy like "well why didn't they just operate it at a pressure where flaws do not have the opportunity to even happen??????""

It is not pressure related. Well, not fluid pressure related. The vessel head itself has a bunch of penetrations in it. Control rods and incore measuring instruments travel through "sleeves". Each outage the head is lifted off the vessel so the fuel can be removed. It's all done with a pretty big crane. These cranes are very good but not perfect. Things bump and rub sometimes when the head is lifted off and later put back on. Over the course of 25+ years of doing this cracks can develop at the welds in these penetrations. That is what the plant is dealing with. It's is pretty common which is why AREVA has a department dedicated to fixing them are plants around the country. The crack itself has nothing to do with fluid pressure/temperature.


Take a look at the below picture. The top part is the head. The bottom part (where the word CAVITY is written) is where the fuel actually is. All those rods you see have to be lined to put it back on.



[Edited on May 17, 2013 at 11:32 AM. Reason : fg]

5/17/2013 11:26:57 AM

So I'm guessing the disc golf is closed

5/17/2013 12:26:31 PM

I doubt it

5/17/2013 12:29:19 PM

Thanks for the information. It explains more deeply what you meant and where my allusion to pressure being a causation of the problem was a mistake.

But two seasoned internetters IN A ROW have completely missed the point that it is still an absurdity to declare such a seemingly absolute in your former post.

I think i'll just reference the futurama episode where they built a new new titanic with 1000 hulls and, after all 1000 hulls failed, it was noted that none of this would have happened if only they had built it with just one more hull

and its not some hippie anti nuke statement im trying to convey here.

IF you quote me again and then rebut the quote with data further explaining anything other that why you do or do not see it as an absurdity, I'm coming in here.. I'm coming back with emoticons, you get me?
Not the cookie cutter emoticons either.
These emoticons are ancient Huron ASCII art designed to MAIM.

You see the white man thinks that death brings peace.

The red man knows how to torture even the dead

[Edited on May 18, 2013 at 5:45 AM. Reason : stars]

5/18/2013 5:44:44 AM

^ I'm not sure I follow but if you have any further questions let me know.

5/18/2013 9:44:19 AM

so how long till we all start developing super powers?




I mean that's how radiation works right?

5/18/2013 9:50:42 AM

I think it works a little differently. I must have been irradiated because I swear the shit I am taking is toxic nuclear waste.

5/18/2013 10:30:18 AM

^5
If I had written that at 5:44 AM I, too, would be out of my GOT DAM mind.

5/19/2013 1:47:04 AM

Quote :

"So long as PE doesnt try to do the repair themselves, we know what happened last time "

Oops.

5/19/2013 2:15:30 AM

hershculez just straight owned this thread. I felt like I was back in Power School all over again!

Quote :

"So what causes the cracks."

All metals have flaws. You can't get around that. They do all the testing to find the RTNDT so they get the actual holy fuck, shit is going to break number, then make a operating limit well within that number so you don't approach a condition to which you will make it worse (fudge factor).

The last plant I was on had some poorly done welds on some areas of the primary system and thus we were on more limiting system parameters. By limiting, I mean not a operational limit, but certain times when you are performing certain evolutions in the plant where the planets can align just perfectly thus placing the plant in a condition where you could cause crack propagation.

American plants aren't built like Russian plants.

5/19/2013 2:25:54 AM

Quote :

"American plants aren't built like Russian plants."

I'm not sure what you mean by this statement.

are you implying positive or negative things about Mother Russia? does the reactor crack you?

5/19/2013 6:26:56 AM

Thank god they aren't. RBMK's are inherently unstable, hunks of shit. Take a look at Chernobyl.

5/19/2013 8:25:04 AM

^ Yeah we are fortunate as a country in that respect. Chernobyl basically had a metal shed around the core and that was it. We also have a lot of laws in place that would probably result in people going to federal prison for disabling all the safety systems the Russians did. The graphite moderator (heat transfer medium) is a little funky also. Our PWRs use water and have a negative moderator temp coefficient. So as temperature goes up, density goes down, less H20 for fission, power goes down. They work exactly opposite.

3 of 11 that containment crack situation is actually a pretty shitty story. They guy that made the final decision to use that water saw technique and not de-tension the entire building was trying to take a shortcut to save 6 hours on their outage schedule. Instead he cost the company a lot of money and a few hundred people lost jobs. Duke is trying to help out the people in that area though which is the least they could do in my opinion.

[Edited on May 19, 2013 at 10:56 AM. Reason : df]

5/19/2013 10:52:21 AM

People in Wilmington aren't quite so fortunate.

5/19/2013 11:04:12 AM

^ One more reason why the country needs more being built.

5/19/2013 11:13:09 AM