If it weren't so awful it'd be funny: Vermont Yankee robot is stuck in leaking pipe

By SUSAN SMALLHEER Rutland Herald Staff - Published: March 10, 2010

VERNON — A small robot that was exploring the underground pipe tunnel believed to be the source of the radioactive tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor has fallen victim to one of the contributing factors of the leak – radioactive "mud" from deteriorating concrete and radioactive water.

The robot, which its Entergy Nuclear handlers have dubbed Rover, is about the size of a remote-controlled toy car, said Larry Smith, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear.

The robot became mired in the sludge at the bottom of the tunnel, which was also partially responsible for the leak. The sludge plugged a drain in the tunnel, which was supposed to drain off the radioactive liquid to be treated later.

Instead, in a scenario supported by both Entergy Nuclear and the Department of Health, both steam trap drain lines associated with the advanced off-gas system developed leaks, and the drain, which was designed to trap and collect any leakage, was plugged. At least one of the leaks was estimated at 100 gallons a day, the health department said.

Those steam trap drain lines carry not just tritium, but radioisotopes cobalt-60, manganese-54 and zinc-65, Smith said.

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http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100310/NEWS01/3100336/1002/NEWS01

and wasn't it Ben Franklin himself who averred it would take "many a mickle to make a muckle."

So we're okay. Just so long as we don't do the math. . .


If I should remark that in the Pacific depths
bubbles trickle ominously through concrete boxes,
what would you answer?

Evan S. Connell
Points for a Compass Rose, 1973

What other 'features' of these reactors were designed to the same standards as the "advanced off-gas system" have the potential to fail also? This is not a confidence building development when one considers the possibilities of the reactor control rods getting stuck in the up position during a reactor SCRAM