Nuclear Plant Misconduct leads to 18 months...Probation!

In March of 2011, in an incident we're all too familiar with, Fukushima Daiichi Power Station went into multiple meltdowns of active reactor cores, follow catastrophic loss of cooling ability to the cores.

This came after an Earthquake. It wasn't caused by it.

This came after a Tsunami. It wasn't caused directly by it.

What caused Fukushima to go into a state of multiple core meltdowns at once was one single factor. A small thing..and very ironic, given everything. A Nuclear Power plant needs power to safely operate. It needs power outside it's own generation. So, when the generators vanished, as they effectively did in a wave of water, the rest was all but forgone for conclusion.

^^^^ That, to explain just *HOW* serious THIS story is, in my opinion. If Fukushima had generators that ran, as the timeline shows they did up to the arrival of the wave, nothing would have happened there. Nothing happened at it's sister plant a few kilometers down the coast or to Units 5 and 6 at Fuku itself....sitting a bit higher than the wave destroyed.

A manager at the Indian Point nuclear power plant was sentenced Thursday to 18 months probation and fined $500 for "deliberate misconduct," federal prosecutors said.

ORLY?

. . .engaged in deliberate misconduct by fabricating chemical test results regarding diesel fuel used to power emergency generators at Indian Point, in an attempt to conceal material facts from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

Source: Courthouse News
Original 1 page filing in US District Court (PDF)

Well, I don't know about everyone else....but that sure gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling, eh? So if the grid had a catastrophic collapse of even a brief near term period....Indian Point may OR MAY NOT have been able to maintain cooling ability immediately following the removal of the incoming grid power.....

That got 18 months probation? Well.. Heck, no one on the big one which DID go the full distance has gone to jail at all, have they? I suppose this shouldn't shock me in that context.

Still....the whole 'punishment fits the crime' thing here is blown apart, IMHO.

i'm sorry but the problem wasn't that the diesel for the backup generators got contaminated with sea water, damaging the generators?

its a good thing in any case someone is doing safety checks and finding the faults


on a second note, all of the people wanting a rebellion in US from the Mexico thread would be nice to consider the consequences of a fault in continuity from a country with this kind of facilities, yes lets capture the corrupt officials controlling the power plants they charge too much in the bills and the powerplant guy: but but i'm going to put diesel to the generators you cant just randomly detain me...

reply to post by Indigent

Thank you for your quick and diligent attention to fact check and correct me right off the top.

You're absolutely right. The failure of generating power to the cooling systems at Fukushima came, very literally, by a matter of feet. Vertical feet. A few higher, and it would have been like the plant just south of it ....but Alas...they built them outside, at ground level and exposed...so they lost their power.

This case indicates falsification of fuel records for what supplies the generators at Indian Point. If those failed due to bad fuel, depending on how quickly things spiraled while scrambling to find other means to power it all? (as Japan did..and failed in that mad few days which started everything) The view from the control room would be functionally identical.

One moment....Grid power would show ..and then drop to 0. Then, Emergency Generators would kick (or not) and maintain cooling and ability to shut down in a controlled way ...or...they wouldn't engage and it could lead to much worse..as the world saw in extreme example.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


yeah i totally get you, its even worse when avoidable things came from corruption. its ok to ignore me i'm random at best most of the times