Environmental Impact Statement - radioactive monticello

Appendix A
14. Comments Concerning Aging Management
Comment: The Monticello plant has also been well maintained over its lifetime. Approximately
every two years we perform a refueling and maintenance outage, in which we typically carry out
over 2,500 individual maintenance and inspection activities. This is in addition to the ongoing
maintenance, inspection, and rigorous testing activities that are performed at the time the plant
is operating on-line.
Over on the years, we have continued to invest in a wide range of equipment improvements to
take advantage of technology and materials to ensure future reliable and safe operation. As
computer training methods have evolved, we are able to broaden the training available. As we
move forward, we will continue to upgrade the equipment and technology at the station.
(MS-A-4; MS-J-4)
Comment: And then we get to the aging issues for these reactors. Now, I understand, as I
said in my opening remarks, I understand the commitment of the work force and the intent of
the work force. But I also know that we have part of the fail-safe systems bolted to the packing
crate at Monticello'as well as at Duane Arnold for 35 years before it was discovered. Never
took the bolts off.
So just because you're good and paying attention doesn't mean things can't happen. I know
what happened at Davis Besse, where they were looking really hard, and they didn't find it
because they weren't looking in the right place. I know it happened at Point Beach when the
nuclear physicists forgot their high school chemistry and they caused an explosion in a cask.
Damned near tipped the lid into the pool, which could have drained the pool; and then we would
have some fire works. It didn't happen, fortunately.
But these are all examples; and there is many, many more. NRC knows them, so I won't bore
you with them, but we're pushing the envelope with all of this stuff. You guys to got to do a
better job of figuring out where to look when. You have to have more different ways of -- you
have to find more diverse ways of looking at things. You've got to figure out not only where to
look, but when to look. And you have to do that in a way that provides more assurance, thanwe
have in the past, you're not overlooking things.
Things age. As things age, I mean it's the bathtub curve. Are you familiar with the bathtub
curve concept Things of life where in the early -- using a human example, there is a death
mortality rate for infants which is higher than'for juveniles and adults. And then it goes up again
at the end, and in the long run we'll all be dead.
Well, the same with reactors or any other piece of equipment. It goes through a curve. And
now that we're doing re-licensing, you see we're getting into the tail end of that curve, and that's
why we look at aging things. But you're not looking at them good enough is the point. And the
unfortunate point is that there is no way that you can look at it good enough because you can't
always look everywhere. (MS-D-12)
August 2006 A-35 NUREG-1437, Supplement 26 1