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Page added on September 21, 2012
Thursday’s Three Mile Island Nuclear shutdown is the second in a month
Three Mile Island is still shutdown Thursday night. Around 220 Thursday afternoon, people who live near the nuclear power plant heard a loud noise, saw steam and then the plant automatically shut down.
This is the second time that this has happened in the past month.
Along with that steam, authorities say undetectable amounts of radiation were released into the air.
A TMI spokesperson says there was never a threat to public health so no evacuations were needed.
Guy Magaro was mowing the lawn when he heard it.
“All of a sudden you hear a big boom,” Magaro explained. “Steam vented out and then it goes into shutdown.”
Around 220 p.m. Thursday, a spokesperson for Three Mile Island says the nuclear power plant automatically shut down and steam was released into the air, releasing an undetectable amount of radiation.
“When our turbine shuts down the steam that normally goes to the turbine is released to the atmosphere,” explained TMI spokesperson Ralph DeSantis. “Any radiation in that steam is so low that we can’t detect it.”
It reminded Guy of the 1979 TMI accident, only this one didn’t force any evacuations, there was no public health risk and this time things got a bit noisy.
“Just a big, loud roar for a few minutes,” Magaro told us.
The roar was similar to one that occurred on August 22, TMI automatically shut down after a pump in the turbine building stopped working.
This time, operators say TMI shut down because one of four reactor coolant pumps malfunctioned. The pumps work to circulate water through the reactor coolant system.
Guy says he’s used to things like this happening at TMI and trusts in the system they have keep him and his family safe.
“I guess it’s just a normal occurrence, when something goes wrong it automatically shuts down and prevents anything from happening,” Magaro addressed.
We also talked with a spokesperson for TMI watchdog group, TMI Alert.
Eric Epstein says all of these ‘malfunctions’ at TMI are concerning and shouldn’t be happening.
TMI Alert will investigate.
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TMI officials say that the cause of the plant’s automatic shutdown was a malfunction of a reactor coolant pump.
There are four of them and one malfunctioned.
The reactor coolant pump circulates water through the reactor coolant system.
TMI is still in shutdown mode.
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Exelon officials are investigating what caused Three Mile Island to automatically shut down Thursday afternoon.
Authorities say undetectable amounts of radiation were released into the air, but there’s no danger to the public. No one was told to leave that area.
Around 220 Thursday afternoon, some people who live near TMI heard a loud noise. That sound was the sound of the plant automatically shutting down.
A spokesperson for the nuclear power plant says during the automatic shut down, steam was released into the atmosphere. It had very small, undetectable amounts of radiation.
TMI responded as designed and remains in normal shutdown condition while operators investigate the cause of the shutdown.
“The plant was operating at 100 percent power and something occurred in the plant to make the reactor shut down and the turbine shut down, so the plant is at a normal shut down condition now,” explained Three Mile Island Spokesperson Ralph DeSantis. “We have a command center set up with engineers and operations personnel and they’re going through their procedures right now as we speak to determined exactly what caused the shut down. Once we have that information, we’ll release that to the public.”
Officials aren’t sure when this plant will be back up and running again. The plant is designed to automatically shut down when necessary.
Again, there is no threat or risk to the public safety or health.
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Three Mile Island shut down on Thursday around 2:20 p.m., with residents hearing a loud boom.
CBS 21 is on the scene and will provide updates as they become available.
Information provided by TMI:
Three Mile Island Generating Station automatically shut down at 2:20 p.m. EDT Thursday.
The plant responded as designed and remains in normal shutdown condition while operators investigate the cause of the shutdown.
During the shutdown, steam was released into the atmosphere, creating a loud noise heard by nearby residents.
TMI uses state-of-the-art equipment to continuously monitor plant systems and conditions.
The plant is designed to automatically shut down when necessary. The automatic shutdown presents no risks to public health or safety.
Electric customers will not be affected.
6 Comments on "Thursday’s Three Mile Island Nuclear shutdown is the second in a month"
Kenz300 on Fri, 21st Sep 2012 5:46 pm
No nuclear plant should be allowed to stay open past their initial license. Most of these plants are over 40 years old and past the end of their useful life for safe operation. There should be no extensions to keep them open. These are too dangerous to take chances with old designs and aging infrastructure.
BillT on Sat, 22nd Sep 2012 12:44 am
TMI should have been shut down the first time it blew in the 70s. I lived about 20 miles west of the site then. It is a disaster waiting to happen. Sitting on an island in the Susquehanna River, it would put a lot of radioactive steam in the air if it ever melted down. Since nuclear accidents are not news in the Us, we will never know the truth. Shut it down…now!
Arthur on Sat, 22nd Sep 2012 7:27 am
Here is what happened at TMI:
“On a Saturday night in March 1975, workers using a candle to locate leaks in insulation ignited a fire that burned over 2,000 cables at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Browns Ferry plant in Alabama. With electrical controls disabled and smoke filling the control rooms, it took seven hours to shut down the plant’s two reactors. One unit came perilously close to boiling off its cooling water-the last step before nuclear fuel meltdown.”
http://www.komanoff.net/nuclear_power/10_blows.php
The technology is inherently too complex and hence too dangerous. Who would have thought in advance that technicians would use a candle to find leaks? Chernobyl, a test that went wrong. Fukushima… After that Germany took the decision to abandon nuclear technology and concentrate on renewables. That’s the way to go forward.
Arthur on Sat, 22nd Sep 2012 7:31 am
Correction, this was not TMI/1979, but yet another accident in 1975.
BillT on Sat, 22nd Sep 2012 10:03 am
Arthur, other than the fact that there are no true renewables other than wood or muscle, I agree. ALL other ‘renewables’ originate in a mine somewhere and require huge amounts of energy to come into existence. EROEI.
Arthur on Sun, 23rd Sep 2012 4:18 pm
EROEI of modern windturbines is 10-20. That’s a return on investment some Wallstreet bankers would kill for 😉
I have refered to the example several times before: Holland for a large part would not even have existed without these few thousand wooden windmills in the 17th century, that were responsible for pumping seawater out. Modern turbines are far more efficient than these old windmils from paintings.
http://tinyurl.com/c3oz5y6