Executive Summary of Problems at TMI-1

Boric Acid Problems:

June 29, 1994; January 22, March 5, 1999, & August 29 to October 23, 1999; June 29, 1994; December 8, 2001; and, March 21, April 2 and August 13, 2002.
Borated Water Storage Tank: May 23, 1994, December 21, 1996; April 25, 1997; and, February 2, 2000.

(Also please refer to "Problems with the Reactor Vessel".)

Emergency Diesel Generator Problems:

January 10-11, February 6 to March 6, March 2 and October 8, 1987; July 29 and November 9, 1988; November 4, 1989; May 12 and December 14, 1990; March 23 and September 27, 1992; January 18, June 18, June 24 to July 1, & September 25, 1993; October 2, 1994; December 6, 1998; January 30, 2000; May 8, 2001; March 15 and June 1 & 15, 2002; November 22-25, 2002; January 9, 2003.

Emergency Feedwater Problems:

December 20, 1984, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied the Union of Concerned Scientists petition to delay the restart of TMI-1 until modifications were made on the accuracy of emergency feedwater flow indicators...
August 1 - September 9, 1993; September 4, 1998; March 5 , May 10 & August 19 & 20, 1999; December 18, 2000; February 5 & 12 and July 17, September 22, November 10 and December 8 & 17, 2001; and, February 12, April 19 and May 30, 2002.

Emergency Preparedness & Evacuation Planning Problems (Including chronic siren malfunctions)f:

On September 5, 2002, Three Mile Island Alert filed a formal Petition for Rulemaking with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to include day-care centers and nursery schools in emergency evacuation planning. The proposed rule would affect all 103 operating nuclear plants in the United States. The Petition is opposed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

May 9 and June 2 and November 11, 1987 (Notice of Violations); August 11, 1993; May 19 and July 11, 1994; June 2, 1995; October 4, 1996; March 5-7, March 12, April 25, June 27, 1997 and October 10, 1997 ($55,000 fine); December 21, 1999; January, 2001 (Bomb Threat), June 22, & August, 15, 2001 (Proposed relocation of EOF), and (Unannounced and opposed relocation on July 25, 2002), & October 5-9, 2001; and March, January 11, July 25, March 3, November 11; and, March 3, and December 12, 2002.

Environmental Racism:

December, 1994 and June, 1997.

Fire Protection:

Fires, explosions, "boiling," and weak fire protection: July 18, 1986; March 19, April 2 and July 27, 1987; March 6, 1988; June 12, July 15 and September 1 and 3, 1991; January 14, July 27, and November 23, 1992; and, January 28, August 11 and September 30, 1993; September 29, 1994; September 14, 16, 29 & 30 and October 15, 23 & 29, 1998 & October 15, 1998; January 22, June 22, July 21 & 23, & August, 1999; and, January 10 & 30, October 10 and December 19, 2000.
Thermo-Lag problems: March 19, 1987; March 6, 1988; June 12 and September 1 & 3, 1991; July 27 & November 23, 1992; August 11 & September 30, 1993; January 29 & September 29, 1994; October 1, 1996; May 29, July 17, August 25, 1998 & October 23, 1998.

Fitness for duty:

September 30 and October 15, 1993; March 1, 1996; May 28 and September 25, 1998, March 10, June 29, July 18 & 23, 1999, August 29 to October 23, 1999; December 9 & 21, 2000; and, June 24-25 and July 23, and August 8, 2003.
Drug abuse: February 19, March 7 and 12 and June 15, 1987; July 19 and 30, 1991; July 29 and August 29, 1992; August 18, 1996.
Sex related "issues": (September 23, 1989); September, 1991; and, April 21, 2001.

Fuel:

On August 6, 2003, t he NRC released NUREG 1774 which documented a 60% increase in fuel load drop events from 1993 to 2002. The Report found half of the incidents involved moving fuel assemblies at spent fuel pools, and greater risks for heavy load drops were at Boiling Water Reactors like Susquehanna. (The Report #ML033060160 can be accessed through ADAMs.)

Control rod problems: October 23, 1985; March 16, 1988; January 15 and 26 and June 24, 1989; October 14, 1993; March 17, May 31, 1994 and June 9, 1994; September 9 and September 28 (Fuel assemblies) 1995; June 21 & October 15, 1997; January 8 & June 29, August 29 to October 23, and September 11,1999; and, April 18, 2001 and December 8, 2001.
Leaking fuel assemblies: November 25, 1991 and December 5 and 12, 1991, and March 13 and 31, 1992; and September 28, 1995.

"Housekeeping", Design & Procedural Issues:

May 6, 1986 through October 31, 1986; March 22, July 9 and September 25, 1987; January 9 to February 6, June 13 and September 20, 1988; August 7 to September 21 and October 5, 1990; July 15, and December 26, 1991; January 14 & 18, February 6, February 2 to March 7, and April 3, 1992; June 24 to July 1, October 4 to August 8, and November 16, 1993; January 27 and March 30, 1994; August 7 & 20 and November 7, 1996; March 4, April 25, November 20 December 19, 1997 (PORV); February 26, 1998; March 5, May 14, July 9, August 20, August 29 to October 23, 1999; April 1, 2000; and, March 12, 2001.
Improperly downgrading safety equipment: March 4 and October 10, 1997 ($50,000 fine).
Inadequate design controls safety evaluations: March 4 and October 10, 1997 ($50,000 fine);
Motor Operated Valve Program: August 1 to September 9 and September 22, 1993; February 23, August 30, September 9 and December 15, 1994; August 17, 1995; September 13, 1996; February 26, 1996; January 27, February 26 and October 23, 1998; and, September 22, 2001.
Procedures and hardware discarded in trash cans or "missing": October 25, 1985; November 8, 1986; May 5, 1987; October 22, 1988; September 11, 1990; June 7, 1992; January 4, 1993; and, November 4, 1994.

Non-Cited Severity Level III & IV Violations:

Since July 17, 1998, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued 30 Non-Cited Violations and one "Apparent Violation" to Three Mile Island Unit-1's owners and operators: AmerGen. Based on calculations prepared by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the average cost to a company to respond to a Notice of Violation is $50,000. The NRC has saved AmerGen at least $1,550,000 by "defining" 30 Violations at as "Non-Cited Violations".

July 17 and August 14, 1998; March 10, May 10, May 14 (Multiple violations), and July 9, August 29 to October 23, 1999 (Multiple violations); July 26, December 5, 15, 18 and 21, 2000; February 1, 2001 (Apparent Violation); March 12, April 27, May 8, July 17 & August 24, 2001 (Multiple violations), October 2, November 10, 2001 (Multiple violations, December 12, 2001; February 12 and April 19, 2002; and, March 22 and July 23, 2003.

Radioactive Waste Discharges, Misclassifications, Problems, Releases and Returned Waste Shipments:

July 3, July 17 to August 30, October 7-11 and October 8, 1991; April 6 to 10 and August 21, 1992; September 9, 1993; August 9 and December 1994; March 8, 1995; December 19, 1998; January 9 & 19, 1999 and April 16 to May 7, 1999.

Radiation Monitoring & Worker Contamination:

Please refer to the Annual Report and Newsletters of the EFMR Monitoring Group for more detailed information for radiation releases into the environment.

December 13, 1985 and January 18, 1986 and December 17, 22 and 30, 1985; February 28, March 25, September 8 to October 3, October 3 to 31, 1986; February 24, March 7 and 12 & April 20 1987; June 17-19, July 11, July 22 and August 2, 1988; September 19, 1989; March 6 and April 12, 1990; February 3-7, October 19, December 5 and 12, 1992; September 15, 22 & 24, October 4-8, 14 & 18 & November 14, 1993; March 5 & 7, May 19, & 31, June 6 & 29, July 12, August, 9, September 16, and December 3, 4 & 15, 1994; February 13, March 7 & 8, June 2, September 9, 1995, October 10, and December 4, 1995; March 11 & August 7, 1996; March 5-7, March 12, April 24, July 3 (Exemption), October 15 & November 20, 1997; February 26, August 8 & December 16, 1998; January 9 & 19, February 12 & 18, March 21, 28 & 29, April 16 to May 7, November 16, 1999; January 24 & 30, April 1, and December 5, 2000; May 12, 2001; and, January 13, January 23-25, March 12, 2003, and June 24-25, 2003.

(Also refer to "Radioactive Waste").

Reactor Vessel:

AmerGen will replace the original Reactor Vessel head during the refueling outage of October, 2003. See April 2, 2002, for background information.

November 16, 1993; March 30, 1994; March 3 and October 4 & 15 (water spill), 1997; February 26, 1998; September 11, 1999; October 9, 2001, March 21, 2002; and, August 13, 2002.

(Also please refer to "Boric Acid Challenges".)

River Water Problems:

March 3 and August 17, 1993; February 23, March 30, July 12 and September 16, 1994; August 17, October 9 and December 4, 1995; September 29, 1996; November 20, 1997; June 23, 1999; March 12 and August 24, 2001; May 30, 2002, and, March 22, 2003.

(Also refer to "Steam Generator problems" and "Water Chemistry Problems".)

Steam Generator Problems & Tubes Removed from Service:

March 29, October 7, November 22 and 29, 1985; April 18, 1986 and December 18, 1986; March 23 and 31, May 1 and September 22, 1987; March 26 to April 30, June 20 and 21, August 7 and October 30, 1988; January 10 and March 6, 8, 19 and 22, 1990; November 4-8, 1991; and, September 28, 1992; September 9 and October 12, 1995; March 5-7, March 12, October 10, 1997 (Incorrectly evaluated SGT leakage during emergency drill); and April 24, 1997; January 11, February 18 and March 5, 1999; January 4, 2000, (Update on the number of sleeved and plugged tubes); May 14, 2001 (Possible replacement), October 17 and October 20, 2001 (De-watering of 870 mechanically plugged tubes prior to plugging/re-plugging, the insertion of stabilizers into plugged tubes or surrounding of plugged tubes with stabilized plugged tubes); December 8, 2001; and, January 13, 2003.

(Also refer to "River Water Problems" and "Water Chemistry Problems".)

Water Chemistry Problems:

May 1, 1987; March 19 and November 14,1990; September 16 and December, 1994; June 29, 1999; and May 8, 2001.

(Also refer to "River Water Problems" and "Steam Generator Problems".)