[NukeNet] Global Warming Takes on More Nukes in U.S., Europe

Wed Aug 2 23:08:47 CDT 2006

So much for nuclear power being the solution to global warming...

Hot weather has caused more nukes to curtail power.  Power has been reduced at:

MN: Monticello (Xcel)
MN: Prairie Island units 1 and 2 (Xcel)
IL: Quad Cities (Exelon)
IL: Dresden unit 2 (Exelon)
PA: Limerick unit 2 (Exelon)

Exelon's Zion reactor in Illinois also had some interesting 
heat-related damage.  Hot-water related problems have also been 
plaguing reactors in Germany, Spain and France.  See below for details.

Mike Ewall
Energy Justice Network
215-743-4884
catalyst at actionpa.org
http://www.energyjustice.net

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060801zion,1,4294213.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Zion nuclear plant reports minor heat problem

Tribune staff reports
Published August 1, 2006, 7:34 PM CDT

The excessive heat may be blamed for damaging a lightning device at 
the Zion nuclear power plant in the far northern suburb this 
afternoon, according to Exelon Nuclear, the plant's owner.

A lightning arrester, a protective device for limiting surge 
voltages, "blew off" but there were no injuries, said Craig Nesbit, a 
spokesman for the energy company.

The arrester, which was possibly damaged by the heat, did not cause 
an explosion or a fire, he said.

Although the nuclear reactor at the site was shut down in 1998, power 
still flows through the plant and the incident did not affect service.

Traces of radioactive tritium were discovered in groundwater at the 
shuttered plant last June.

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

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http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16995685&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6

Nuclear plant cuts power to cool water

Evan Brandt, ebrandt at pottsmerc.com
08/02/2006

LIMERICK -- Not that you needed another example of how hot it is, but 
it's so hot that the area's nuclear power plant had to cut the amount 
of power it produces.

Not because fewer air conditioners are running full blast, far from 
it. But to run at 100 percent capacity, which, until Tuesday, 
Exelon's Limerick Nuclear Generating Station had been doing, the 
water used to condense the steam that drives the generators back into 
water needs to be cool enough to get the job done.

When the mercury reaches 98 degrees, as it did Tuesday at St. Pius X 
High School, it's hard to get the water cool enough to perform that 
vital function.

So, at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, unit two at the plant was stepped 
back by 16 megawatts, just over 1 percent of its full 12,000 megawatt 
capacity, said Beth Rapczynsky, a spokeswoman for Exelon.

The plant's massive cooling towers, visible for miles, take water 
from the Schuylkill River and use it to cool elements that come into 
contact with the steam used to drive the two giant electric 
generators at the plant.

Once the steam condenses back into water, it is re-circulated through 
the reactor, where the nuclear reaction heats it into steam again to 
drive the generators.

When the cooling water leaves its contact with the heat-exchange 
element, it is normally about 125 degrees and is air cooled in the 
towers down to about 95 degrees when it goes back to condense the steam.

But when the air temperature is 95 degrees or hotter, the water in 
the towers is not cooled sufficiently to cool the steam fast enough 
to run the generator at peak capacity, Rapczynsky explained.

The reduction is not unusual and has already occurred at many other 
nuclear plants across the country, particularly in the midwest where 
the heat wave has been going on for days, she said.

It is happening in Europe as well. Reactors in Spain and France, 
which generates 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, 
have all been forced to cut output recently because the river water 
normally used for coolant is too warm, the New York Times reported.

©The Mercury 2006

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http://today.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-08-01T164415Z_01_N01446588_RTRIDST_0_UTILITIES-EXELON-QUADCITIES.XML&rpc=66

Exelon reduces power output at Illinois nukes

NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - With a heat wave warming the Mississippi 
River water used for cooling at the nuclear power plant in Quad 
Cities, Illinois, Exelon Corp. has cut the power at the plant about 
19 percent, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The 867-megawatt Quad Cities reactors were producing about 700 
megawatts of power each after the reduction. The plant uses river 
water to condense steam from the turbine before returning the 
condensed water back to the reactor, while the river water flows back 
to the river.

With temperatures exceeding 90 degrees in the area around the plant, 
the hot river water can harm fish and other aquatic life and does not 
cool the reactor water as efficiently.

Meteorologists forecast temperatures in the area around the plant 
would reach 93 degrees Fahrenheit, according to forecaster AccuWeather.

This week, nuclear operators have reduced power output at several 
reactors due to high water temperatures including Xcel Energy Inc.'s 
Prairie Island 1 and 2, and Monticello units in Minnesota over the 
weekend, and Exelon's Dresden 2 unit in Illinois on Monday.

The 1,734 MW Quad Cities station is in Cordova in Rock Island County, 
about 155 miles west of Chicago. There are two 867-MW units, 1 and 2, 
at the station. Each entered service in 1972.

One MW usually powers about 800 homes but during a heat wave a 
megawatt powers fewer homes.

Exelon's unregulated Exelon Generation Co LLC subsidiary operates the 
station for its owners, Exelon (75 percent) and Berkshire Hathaway 
Inc.'s MidAmerican Energy Co. subsidiary (25 percent).

Exelon owns and operates more than 38,000 MW of generating capacity, 
markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity 
(5.2 million) and natural gas (460,000) to customers in Illinois and 
Pennsylvania.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1833620,00.html

Heatwave shuts down nuclear power plants

Juliette Jowit and Javier Espinoza
Sunday July 30, 2006
The Observer

The European heatwave has forced nuclear power plants to reduce or 
halt production. The weather, blamed for deaths and disruption across 
much of the continent, has caused dramatic rises in the temperature 
of rivers used to cool the reactors, raising fears of mass deaths for 
fish and other wildlife.

Spain shut down the Santa Maria de Garona reactor on the River Ebro, 
one of the country's eight nuclear plants which generate a fifth of 
its national electricity. Reactors in Germany are reported to have 
cut output, and others in Germany and France have been given special 
permits to dump hot water into rivers to avoid power failures. 
France, where nuclear power provides more than three quarters of 
electricity, has also imported power to prevent shortages.

The problems have come to light just weeks after Britain declared it 
will build a new generation of nuclear power stations, prompting 
opponents to claim the crisis proved nuclear reactors - although they 
emit no carbon dioxide greenhouse gases - are not the solution to the 
problem of global warming.

'The main problem they have is: How are they going to expand nuclear 
power when they are so vulnerable to such things as global 
temperature?' said Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International's nuclear specialist.

But Bruno Comby, president of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy, 
said future power stations could have bigger cooling towers, or be 
built near the sea. 'The big problem the earth is facing today is 
global warming, it's not a one-degree local increase in [the 
temperature of] a river,' he added.

The heatwave in Britain appeared to break last week, with the Met 
Office forecasting more normal summer weather this week. Today London 
and south-east England face a repeat of last week's heavy rains; for 
the rest of the week the country is expected to alternate between 
sunny spells, with warm temperatures and showers.

However, hotter weather is set to return. 'We could be looking at 
some very warm weather coming back towards next weekend,' said 
meteorologist Andrew Sibley.

Last week a series of power cuts in central London prompted fears of 
regular blackouts as global temperatures are predicted to keep 
rising, bringing more long, hot summers. EDF, the capital's main 
electricity supplier, said the problems were caused by a 'very 
unusual' combination of several faults and huge demand for air-conditioning.

'Over the weekend, our engineers are working round the clock to 
maintain power supplies to the area and avoid any further 
interruptions,' a company official said.

Network Rail, the main rail infrastructure operator, said fewer speed 
restrictions were expected in cooler temperatures, although track 
temperatures can rise to 20C above the air temperature on hot days.

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http://www.lexpress.mu/display_article.php?news_id=69437
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw1153859421305B236
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411368/796064

Power crisis as Europe heats up

Jul 26, 2006

...Spain's oldest nuclear power plant has been forced to shut after 
river water got too hot to cool the reactor.