The last time the 110-ton heavy-duty crane, which is being used at Vermont Yankee to move its high-level radioactive waste, was tested with a heavy load was more than 30 years ago, Entergy Nuclear and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
The crane, which is being relied on to handle the 97-ton steel and concrete casks that will contain the high-level radioactive waste, was slated to be tested Wednesday evening after last week's failure.
Robert Williams, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said the 1968 crane had last been tested for very heavy loads in 1975... he said full weight testing was not required before last week's first move. He said a test move with a lesser load was conducted before last week's problems.
Questions about the crane's ability to safely lift the super-heavy loads, such as a steel-and-concrete cask containing 68 fuel assemblies, were raised this week after an incident where the brakes on the crane failed to stop the descent of the cask to the floor.
The rest of this covers discussions with Stephen Wark, from Vermont's DPS:
Wark said as a result the state would be increasing its inspection and oversight at the plant, although he said he wasn't sure what path that would take.
He said the state's engineer who works on nuclear issues, Uldis Vanags, was at the plant on Wednesday and waiting for the crane test.
He said Vanags had questioned Entergy officials about whether the crane was "certified" to handle the heavy loads, and was told the last time it was certified was in the 1970s.
I have a thought. My thought is that if we're going to use nuclear power, it might be good to have equipment that has been tested since all of GMD's front-page bloggers were born.
Anyway, there is a silver lining here:
He did say the state was pleased that Entergy had volunteered the information about the crane snafu on its own. The incident occurred on May 12, and Entergy released information on May 16 in a limited way.
"We're happy to see them starting to embrace transparency," Wark said.
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