While running some pre-operation test in preparation for powering back up following a refueling outage at Turkey Point Unit 3, leakage from the Reactor Coolant System was detected.

The leak was traced to some piping to the Pressurizer where a 1/8" hole was discovered. The damage was unmistakably done by a drill.

They're being very careful about keeping the option open that it was gross negligence by a worker; but how do you "accidentally" drill into a pipe and then leave it like that? Even if it was a mistake, by not immediately reporting it, whoever did it could very well end up facing criminal charges.

The FBI has joined the investigation.

I'm trying to find the event report on the NRC website but its search engine leaves something to be desired. (They need a search engine like here.)

Cripes. Well, it would have to have been someone authorized to be there, wouldn't it? That isn't many people. Hopefully they catch the guy.

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wonder what Glom would say.

The article doesn't mention the grade of stainless, size of the pipe or its wall thickness. If it was thin, perhaps it could have been breached by flying debris, such as a broken drill bit.

Perhaps the hole has features that would absolutely rule this out (such as the ridge that forms around a drilled hole).

In any case, it's a bit spooky to think that there might be someone deliberately sabotaging a nuclear facility.

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Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

Unfortunately I can recall a number of persons of my acquaintance (or more accurately, my ex's) who would have loved to have helped to sabotage the Millstone Power Plant in Waterford, or at least would have rejoiced in a meltdown of one or more of the units. What kept me from turning them in was their complete incompetence re matters nuclear, regulatory, and security. The NRC and FBI would have thought bad things about me if I had considered these folks serious threats, IOW, the difference between a cabal and hot air.

One of them redirected his vitriol by sketching a portrait of Millstone for a magazine that showed three horizontal tombstones on ground that was glowing with what I suppose was meant to represent radiation. This was his portrait of the Millstone units around 1980 or sooner.

Sorry pal.

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Someone could have been drilling a hole in some sheet metal, and used the pipe as a workbench, and drilled through both.

We thought of that too. However, the problem there is that this is some heavy schedule pipe we're talking about. You'd think the person would have gotten a clue after a quarter inch of bit had dissapeared into thin sheetmetal.

I dunno. I've seen a guy use a welding tank as a bench to weld stuff on. Stupid people exist.

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eek

Sad but true; and, regardless of the drift of my previous posts, I do expect that the final finding will be incompentence/didn't know better over sabotage. Especially if it was sabotage, they're going to make it so hard to gain access it'll become a nightmare.

Update: They're now fairly sure it was intentional. [source]

Rad Berky!?! Good name for a nuclear story.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Sounds like the plot for Michael Crichton's next novel.

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2 good 2 need 4 engines

Perhaps it was the first step in an attempt to release a trapped, irradiated, mutant kitty cat.

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of course they do but humans are made to have mistakes i wonder why the person/persons didnt fes up?

what that is so obsuride i would have to say i was a mutant half shark with a phsycotic deranged mind.

I wonder if this might be eco-tage/monkey-wrenching.

I would bet that it was done by someone completely on the
spur of the moment simply because he didn't like his employer,
it looked like he could do it without getting caught, and he had
a drill in his hand.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

No. They'd never do anything to damage a nuclear plant. They're afraid that they'd spread nuclear material by futzing around inside of one.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

I've got some problems with it being spur of the moment. If it was, then it was an extremely stupid thing to do... uh not that I'm sanctifying planning it out. But, well, it could have been bad for him/her, that's the reactor coolant loop and had it contained water, they would have been sprayed. That could have been bad for their future.

It obviously wasn't a smart thing to do, but there are an awful lot
of much stupider things that people have done-- even considering
only those things that they got away with.

They wouldn't have been in that room if they didn't know which
pipes were pressurized and which were empty.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves