TMI operated safely in 2011, NRC says

From Press & Journal:

Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 reactor operated safely in 2011, despite unexpected wear on radioactive water-carrying tubes in its new steam generators and amid public fears of nuclear catastrophe after the meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichireactor, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

A series of inspections uncovered no significant safety issues, said David Werkheiser, one of two resident inspectors at TMI, during an annual open house on Wednesday, April 11 at the Londonderry Twp. municipal building.

A handful of tubes in TMI’s 2-year-old steam generators were rubbing together, causing wear that surprised NRC officials.

The damaged tubes were discovered during a routine refueling and maintenance of Unit 1, an event that takes place every two years.

Damage was found on 257 of the 31,194 tubes in the generators – thinned alloy walls that could have led to a rupture and release of radioactive steam into the turbine building. Seven were removed after the damage was discovered by Exelon Nuclear, the plant’s Chicago-based operator.

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