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Engineers at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station have pinpointed the source of several tritium leaks, a plant spokesman said. "We have narrowed it to two pipes," spokesman David Benson said. "One pipe had a five-eighths-of-an-inch hole in an 8- inch carbon steel pipe; the other pipe had a 1-inch hole in it." The pipes run from the condensate transfer pump building to the turbine building, Benson said, noting that the pipes were replaced over the weekend of May 2-3.

Technicians at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon are trying to fix another pipe after a "several-gallon-per-minute leak" in service water piping was discovered, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Last week, technicians discovered a leak in the plant's condenser tubes, miles of piping used to cool down radioactive steam produced by the reactor to power the plant's turbine. The service water leak is located near the plant's intake structure on the Connecticut River, according to the NRC. The section of piping of concern channels water that is sprayed on screens used to minimize the buildup of debris on those screens. The screens themselves keep debris from the river from entering the plant's condenser tubes. A Yankee spokesman said the valve to the service water pipe has been shut off, meaning it is not actively leaking at this point. It will only be turned on when enough debris -- such as sticks, stones and mud -- has accumulated on the screens to justify a backwash to flush them clean, said Larry Smith, Yankee's director of communications. The pipe is an eight-inch line and was found to be leaking in the past two days by technicians conducting their normal inspection rounds, he said.

"After it was revealed that Tepco had falsified inspection reports at three of its nuclear power plants for years (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 573.5436, "Japan: whistleblowing turns into tornado"), other utilities began to investigate if they too had failed to mention defects in reports. Soon, two utilities, Chubu Electric and Tokohu Electric, reported that they too had left out details of faults in their inspection records. Chubu Chubu is Japan's third largest power company, and halted all its reactors after admitting it had failed to report signs of cracking in water pipes of reactors 1 and 3 at its Hamaoka plant to the authorities. The largest of these, in Hamaoka-3, was 60 millimeters long and 3 millimeters deep, in a pipe around 40 millimeters thick. The failure of Chubu to notify the authorities of the crack indications in water pipes is all the more worrying because of recent incidents involving pipes at Hamaoka. Last year, a water pipe at Hamaoka-1 exploded, releasing radioactive steam into the containment building (see WISE News Communique 558.5339, "Japan: a 'grave situation' at Hamaoka BWR"). This year, sixteen workers were irradiated after a water pipe leak at Hamaoka-2 (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 569.5411, "Japan: More problems at Hamaoka")."

"State officials reacted strongly last week when Vermont Yankee admitted it had underground pipes that could leak radioactivity. But the news should not have come as a complete surprise. A nuclear engineer who advises the legislature says he alerted the state last summer and fall about the potential problems with the underground pipes. VPR's John Dillon reports: (Dillon) Arnie Gundersen is a nuclear engineer who works as a consultant for the Legislature to keep track of Vermont Yankee issues. Gundersen also serves on a Public Oversight Panel that reviewed Yankee's reliability to operate for another 20 years. The oversight panel asked Yankee if it had underground pipes that could leak - and plant officials repeatedly said no. That information turned out not to be true. Yankee disclosed last week that it has underground pipes - and that the pipes could be the source of radioactive tritium found in a groundwater monitoring well 30 feet from the Connecticut River. "

"A rash of recent failures in the buried piping systems of nuclear reactors - including one at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station - has prompted three congressmen to ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate "the integrity, safety, inspection, maintenance, regulations and enforcement issues surrounding buried piping at our nation's nuclear power plants," according to a public statement Thursday. "Under current regulations, miles and miles of buried pipes within nuclear reactors have never been inspected and will likely never be inspected," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. (who chairs the Energy and Environment Subcommittee) in the statement. "This is simply unacceptable. As it stands, the NRC requires - at most - a single, spot inspection of the buried piping systems no more than once every 10 years. This cannot possibly be sufficient to ensure the safety of both the public and the plant.""

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirmed Tuesday evening that a large fiberglass pipe in the recently rebuilt cooling towers at Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor had developed an 18-inch crack and was leaking water. Another crack developed in a joint in another location along the same pipe, a spokeswoman for the NRC said. The disclosure of the cracks in the large distribution or header pipe in the east cooling tower comes after Entergy recently completed rebuilding the infrastructure of the two cooling towers over the past three years, after the western tower partially collapsed in August 2007. Samuel Collins, Region One administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Donald Jackson, another NRC official, confirmed the cracks in the cooling tower pipe during a public meeting over the annual assessment of the plant's operation and condition held at Brattleboro Union High School. There are cracks in cell 1-5 and cell 1-8 in the east tower, which is closest to the Connecticut River. Until the issue was brought up by Raymond Shadis, senior technical advisor to the nuclear watchdog group The New England Coalition, about two hours into the meeting, neither Entergy nor NRC officials had mentioned the problem, which was discovered Thursday by Entergy. The leaks have already undergone a temporary repair, according to Entergy spokesman Larry Smith."

"Rep. John Adler, D-NJ, and two other members of Congress have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the condition of buried piping systems at nuclear plants, after a leak of water carrying traces of radioactive tritium were detected at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey and a similar problem turned up at the Indian Point reactor in New York. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection guidelines are not sufficient to ensure the integrity of that underground plumbing, which can carry cooling water for use during unexpected reactor shutdowns or diesel fuel for backup generators, the lawmakers say. "Under current regulations, miles and miles of buried pipes within nuclear reactors have never been inspected and will likely never be inspected,'' Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said in the letter he signed with Adler and Rep. John Hall, D-NY. "As it stands, the NRC requires - at most - a single, spot inspection of the buried piping systems no more than once every 10 years. This cannot possibly be sufficient to ensure the safety of both the public and the plant.''"

"The Navajo Nation is going to greatly benefit from that," she said. Among other programs the Navajo EPA is working on with federal funding is: * Drinking Water - $3 million for phase 1 for Sweetwater-to-Shiprock drinking water. This will serve 93 homes without piped water near three unregulated water sources that have been contaminated with uranium, 845 homes served by public water systems that exceed the arsenic drinking water standard, and 982 homes with inadequate water supply. * Waste Water - $9.7 million through the global Interagency Agreement through HIS. * Tribal Drinking Water Set Aside Funding Projects: Dennehotso New Water System - $2 million from U.S. EPA and $2 million from HUD to construct a new 50-mile water system to serve 102 homes without piped water, near 2 unregulated water sources contaminated with Uranium. * Water Hauling Feasibility Study/Pilot Project to serve 4,000 homes without piped water. USEPA is expected to soon provide funding to the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources to develop a water hauling feasibility study and pilot project to serve residents in uranium-impacted areas, and to develop safe water hauling guidelines and conduct outreach. * Black Falls Water Line Extension - U.S. EPA provided $830,000 to construct a water line and safe water hauling point to serves 40 homes without piped water near four unregulated water sources contaminated with uranium. * Clean Water Act/Wastewater Tribal Set Aside Projects: $1.75 million award - $1 million will be in a direct grant to NTUA's Stimulus proposal submitted for Window Rock Wastewater Treatment plant upgrades; $752,867 into inter-agency agreement with IHS to fund other wastewater treatment facility projects.

"On Sunday, Entergy Vermont Yankee electronically filed a document with the Vermont Public Service Board detailing the extent of buried piping at the nuclear power plant in Vernon. The list was in response to a recent controversy over whether Yankee executives supplied adequate information about buried piping to the PSB and Nuclear Safety Associates, which was tasked with conducting a reliability assessment of the power plant. Entergy has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license of Yankee for another 20 years, from 2012 to 2032. In addition to NRC approval, Entergy must also receive a certificate of public good from the Public Service Board and the OK from the Vermont Legislature. The list encompasses more than 40 buried or subsurface pipes and systems, which Entergy executives and plant staff had previously said did not exist. "

"Operators of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant knew as recently as November of 2007 that there were underground pipes at the plant that top plant officials later said didn't exist, documents filed with state officials indicate. A sworn statement from Vermont Yankee chief engineer Norm Rademacher could help determine whether the plant officials intentionally misled state officials about the underground pipes in sworn Public Service Board testimony, unsworn testimony to lawmakers and at least one e-mail to a legislative consultant. Questions about the pipes came up repeatedly in a special investigation ordered by the Legislature in 2008, as it prepared to decide a question it still hasn't: whether Vermont Yankee should be allowed to operate for 20 years past its current license expiration date of March 2012. "

A crack found in a nuclear reactor's primary coolant pipe here is at least five times deeper than originally believed, and experts say if it widens it could cause a serious accident. The crack was found on the inside of a weld in the primary cooling water pipe during an inspection on the No. 3 reactor at Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) Oi Nuclear Power Plant in early April. Engineers initially believed it was less than 3 millimeters deep, but later realized that it was over 15 millimeters deep. The pipe walls are 74.6 millimeters thick.

Federal regulators say the owners of a nuclear plant in the New York City suburbs will have to check more underground pipes for corrosion. Last weekend, workers at Indian Point 2 in Buchanan were able to repair a pipe that was leaking slightly radioactive water from 8 feet underground. Neil Sheehan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Entergy Northeast will have to do a study to see if corrosion is a problem at other pipes beneath the surface. Entergy owns the plant and its twin, Indian Point 3.

"Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, "knew or should have known" that drilling pipes it sent to a Louisiana pipe yard were contaminated with dangerous radioactive material, a witness testified in court. Paul Templet, a former secretary of Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality, told jurors yesterday in a civil trial in state court in Gretna, Louisiana, that internal Exxon memos showed the company had information beginning in the 1930s about cancer-causing radium in the residue, or "scale," that built up inside its pipes. "

"Even though the Nuclear Regulatory Commission knew about the extent of underground and buried pipes at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, it didn't attempt to correct statements made by Yankee representatives during hearings before Vermont state agencies in 2009. Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, had told the NRC that the plant has 40 below-grade pipes that carry radionuclides, said Jim Noggle, NRC Region 1's senior health physicist, during a tritium workshop at Brattleboro Union High School on April 19. "We always knew about them," he said. "They were not unknown at all to us." After a leak of tritiated water was discovered at Yankee in January, state agencies learned statements made by Yankee representatives at hearings before the Vermont Public Service Board, to Nuclear Safety Associates, which conducted a comprehensive reliability assessment of the plant, and the Public Oversight Panel, which reviewed the CRA, weren't consistent with the actual extent of underground pipes at the plant. "

"Officials at Vermont's only nuclear power plant say a design flaw that kept engineers from inspecting underground pipes helped cause a leak of radioactive water into the ground. In a report released Tuesday, Entergy Vermont Yankee says a pipe tunnel was blocked with construction material left over from the plant's construction in 1972 and prevented water contaminated with tritium (TRIHT'-ee-um) from passing through the drain line and into a tank. A separate pipe installed in 1978 created a pathway that allowed the contaminated water to reach the soil on the plant's grounds."

"The Vermont Public Service Board sanctioned Entergy Corp., owner of the state's lone nuclear plant, after company officials provided misinformation about underground piping carrying radioactive materials. According to the PSB, the false testimony by Entergy witnesses was sufficiently damaging enough to merit sanctions. The New Orleans-based company, which operates the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon, will have to reimburse costs to the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, the New England Coalition and the Windham Regional Commission attorney fees and other legal costs related to the plant's misrepresentations about whether it had underground pipes carrying radioactive materials. During 2009 hearings on the proposed extension of the plant's continued operations beyond its scheduled closing in March 2012, Entergy management repeatedly testified that Vermont Yankee has no underground piping carrying radionuclides. "

"Following the discovery of a radioactive leak coming from an underground pipe at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on Jan. 6, both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Yankee are being audited. The U.S. Government Accountability Office is planning a review of the NRC's requirements for and oversight of buried pipes at nuclear power plants. Yankee is being audited by the NRC to determine if its license renewal application completely and accurately represents the nature and extent of buried piping at the plant in Vernon. While the GAO's review has not yet begun, the NRC was in Vernon the week of May 24 to conduct its audit. The NRC has 90 days to issue its report. The NRC's visit to Yankee was scheduled, "In light of the recent developments related to tritium leaks found on the site and potential misinformation given to the state of Vermont by Entergy ..." "

A tritium leak at Oyster Creek Generating Station has prompted the federal government to take a closer look at leaks happening at nuclear plants nationwide. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released its inspection report on a leak found at Oyster Creek on April 15, days after the plant was relicensed for another 20 years. The full report did not reveal any new information about the tritium leak, but the issuing of the report has prompted more investigation into future leaks at nuclear plants, including another leak that happened at Oyster Creek in August. The leaks occurred 18 years after the underground pipes had last been recoated. In 1991, engineers reported that two underground pipes had been excavated and completely recoated. The recent investigation revealed that the coating was not applied thoroughly enough. Adjoining areas of the pipes that were not coated properly allowed moisture to seep in, causing corrosion.

Officials with Exelon Corp's Dresden nuclear plant near Morris, Ill., have identified an aluminum pipe as the likely source of a tritium leak reported this month. Officials said the leak posed no health threat. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen. Testing at the plant, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, found tritium levels of 3.2 million picocuries per liter of water in a monitoring well, storm drains and concrete vault. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter. Repairs are in progress, said Tim Hanley, the plant's vice president. The 24-inch pipe carries water between storage tanks. Records show Exelon took steps to hide tritium spills at its Braidwood Generation Station in Will County between 1996 and 2003. It agreed to pay $11.5 million toward a new water supply for the nearby village of Godley and is now required to inform state and federal officials of tritium spills as soon as they are discovered.

"Trace amounts of cobalt-60 were found in standing water in the advanced off-gas piping tunnel Thursday at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, said John Dreyfuss, Yankee's director of nuclear safety assurance, during a conference call with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Department of Public Service. But Dreyfuss told the agencies that finding trace amounts of cobalt-60 in such a location is not surprising, just as was finding it in standing water in a pipe trench in the plant's radioactive waste building on Jan. 22. In that instance, cobalt-60, at 13,000 picocuries per liter, and zinc-65, at 2,460, were found, along with tritium, in the pipe trench. Drinking water limits for Cobalt-60 are 100 picocuries. For Zinc-65, the drinking water limit is 300. At the time, tritium levels were at 1.6 million picocuries, with a drinking water limit of 20,000. "