- Page2 RAIN June 1979 THE LIGHTBULB SYNDROME The following letter excerpts appeared in Not A'lan Apllrt (April '79, $15/yr. from Friends of the Earth, 124 Spear St., San Francisco, CA 94105). Stories like these have been surfacing daily in the media since the Three Mile Island incident. Restores your confidence, doesn't it? - PC "Light uulbs are commonplace pieces of electrical equipment. From the moment we first turn on the bedroom ligh t in the morning until we turn off the lights at night we ar~ surrounded by light bulbs.... Sometimes bulbs burn out, but most people have no trouble replacing them ... except for nuclear engineers.... "In March of 1977, an attempt was made to replace an indicator bulb at the Drcsdcn 2 reactor. The wires twisted and short-circuited as the operator tried to remove the bulb. The resulting currcnt surge knocked out a motor control center and closed the fcedwater heater valves. The temperature of the feedwater dropped 150 degrees in 20 minutes, though the utility's safety tests had assumed a maximum drop of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in one minute. The utility contacted the reactor manufacturer, who decided that no safety limits had been exceeded, though the mode of the failure (changing a light bulb to yield a greater than credible acciden t for feedwater heaters) had not been properly evaluated. "Four months later, a technician was replacing an indicator bulb at the Millstone 1 reactor. A similar fvent sequence occurred: wires shorr-circuited" a relay flipped open, closing an oil pump which in turn stopped the reactor feedwater pump. A day and a half of repairs brought the plant back into service. "In March of 1978, a light bulb accidentally fell into an open light assembly on the control console at the Rancho Seeo reactor. That created a short circuit in the power supply to pressure, temperature, flow and level sensors in the reactor. The readings on the control gauge went haywire, sent conflicting signa'ls to the automatic controls, and forced the baffled reactor operator to scram the plant. Smart as this was, scramming the plant didn't help the confusion, since most of the instruments were not working. All sorts of things happened without their knowing. For instance, the reactor coolant temperature went below allowed limits. In all, it took over five days before the reactor could be returned to service. "Light bulb changes have even caused a blowdown. In October 1978, an attempt to change a burned-out bulb at the Pilgrim 1 reactor caused a ground, which activated an overcurrent relay and cu t off the generator. The reactor scrammed, and a steam relief valve accidentally opened and did not close until the reactor had blown down from 1020 to 330 [pounds per square inch]. The unit came back into service eighteen days later, having had major problems with emergency diesel generators two days after the initial incident." Now if they'd only used a candle ... Sources: letter from Peter Cleary to Science, 26 January 1979; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission License Event Reports (LERs), 1977-1979; NUREG 0020, August 1977; Current Events: Power Reactors, USNRC, 1 March30 April 1978. ECONOMICS I COIN, Consumers Opposed to Inflation in the Necessities (see Rain, April '79, pp. 20-21), held its first state-wide local teach-in in Maine. As a result of the workshop, the Maine Teachers Association, one of the sponsoring groups, adopted several proposals to curu inflation. Th.is included support of the food cooperative movement and purchase of locally grown food. Hopefully, these arc signs of a shift in thought from the role of consumer to that of a more self-reliant producer. A pamphlet, Citizen Inflation Action Handbook ($1 ),is available as a guide to organizing teachins. On June 26 and 27, a national teach-in on inflation and the economy will be held in Washington, D.C. For additional information on local and the national teach-in, contact: Kathy Ceronsky COIN 2000 P Street N.W., Suite 413 Washington, DC 20036 - PC :Xd@ AXE HEAD BUILDING ] ~ Notches ofAll Kinds, B. Allan Mackie, 1977, $15 from: Log House Publishing Co. P.O. Box 1205 Prince George, BC, CANADA V2L4V3 It's a good sign when any building profession Stops slapping things together and starts doing what takes a bit more work now but avoids problems 20 to 50 years hence'. AlJan Mackie has taugh t over 1000 professional log bu ilders at his Log Building School. His Building with Logs is a basic text. This well <1\ "0 C ~ ..... o ::X:~JQ ~ .c ~ o z e o .t: ~~X:~: ~ OX HEAD - ~ illustrated joinery books goes into more details on log joinery for stability, windproofing, rot-preven tion, construction ease and beauty. In process is another book of Log House Plans ($10) and one on Log Span Tables ($2.50). Write above address for dates and details of log-buildin/! courses. -TB
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