Word: loops
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...Curry, Metropolitan Edison's top public relations man, explained initially that a pump had broken down in the reactor's secondary loop, which carries nonradioactive water into the steam generator, where it absorbs heat that is transferred from the nuclear chain reaction in the core by the primary loop, turns to steam and drives the turbine that generates electricity. Lacking the steam's push, the turbine automatically shut down. This, said Curry, was regarded by the engineers as a routine mechanical failure that under the plant's safety rules did not have to be immediately reported to state or federal...
...until 6 a.m., said Curry, did workers notice that "a small amount" of radioactive water had leaked onto the floor of the containment building. That meant the primary loop, which brings cooling water into direct contact with the radioactive reactor core and keeps its temperature at a safe 600° F., had been affected in some unexplained way. Curry insisted that an emergency was declared almost immediately and the proper state and local authorities promptly notified. State police immediately blocked off the two bridges leading to the 600-acre island, letting through only plant officials...
...that happened? Curry and other company spokesmen began to backpedal and offered a new explanation. When the secondary loop lost pressure and the turbine stopped, they said, this caused a rise in both pressure and temperature in the primary loop. This, in turn, automatically opened several relief valves, letting some contaminated water leak onto the floor of the reactor building. Just "a small amount"? Well, no, conceded a company engineer. It was 50,000 gal. of water, and it accidentally overflowed the drainage tanks, covering the floor to a depth of "several feet." Later an NRC official said the leak...
...radioactive steam escaped from the reactor building? Again, said the company spokesmen, this was intentional. The control rods had automatically dropped into the core and stopped the chain reaction. But the loss of water in the primary loop allowed the reactor to get too hot. When more water was pumped into the system, the pressure rose ?and other relief valves opened. These valves vented some of the radioactive steam out of the top of the dome. When the core temperature continued to rise, employees deliberately vented more steam in brief bursts. Some of the spilled radioactive water from...
Chicago's Tribune and Sun-Times, as well as major Loop business leaders, have endorsed ATE. Not even the critics have urged a program of mandatory busing for the entire city. "That would be ridiculous," concedes Carey Preston, one of three blacks on Chicago's school board, all of whom voted against trying ATE. Local insiders are betting that the state board will take no action this month tougher than continuing Chicago's probationary status, while settling for Hannon's promise to expand ATE and its brand of voluntary integration...