A nuclear plant problem raises interest

A nuclear plant problem raises interest, but not among neighbors

SALEM, N.J. - Oct 15 (The Associated Press)

Federal regulators and the out-of-town activists who monitor the activity of the three nuclear power plants a few miles from here reacted swiftly this week when one of the plants had to be shut down because of a small leak of radioactive steam.

But in the towns nearby, where being the neighbor of a nuclear plant has been part of life for more than a quarter century, Sunday's mishap isn't exactly the talk of the town.

Ronald Coleman, 51, a Salem resident who works at the local hospital, said he's concerned about what's happening at the plants owned by Public Service Energy Group. But it's not something that his neighbors ever discuss, he said _ even this week, when the mishap was front-page news in the local newspaper.

On the street and in shops in downtown Salem, about eight miles from the Salem I, Salem II and Hope Creek plants that make up one of the nation's largest nuclear generating stations, several people said they weren't aware of any recent problems there.

Rich Gatanis, a township committeeman in nearby Carneys Point and owner of South Jersey Sporting Goods in Salem, said he has paid attention to the plant _ and that he has faith in the behemoth employer that runs it in this sparsely populated southwest corner of New Jersey.

"When they do find a safety problem," he said, "they don't deny it."

But to the activists who follow the plants, the company doesn't communicate or address safety problems as well as it should.

"What we can tell from the outside, this is one more example of the safety culture at PSEG," said Norm Cohen, a Linwood resident and the director of Unplug Salem, which advocates shutting down the plants.

Cohen said he sees a troubling trend of relatively small problems that he links to improper maintenance at the plants.

"You can't say that one of them is going to melt the plant down," Cohen said. "It's the mind-set that the plant is slowly deteriorating."

Both a company spokesman and officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that until the cause of the leak is determined, they won't comment about its cause.

On Sunday, a steam pipe, 8 inches in diameter, in the Hope Creek turbine building ruptured shortly after 5:30 p.m. There were no workers nearby and officials said while radiation levels rose, they stayed well below allowable limits.

"At no point was nuclear safety compromised," said Skip Sindoni, a spokesman for the power company.

When the rupture was discovered, company officials decided immediately to manually shut down the plant. In doing so, they struggled to find the right level of water that covers the radioactive fuel and prevents it from overheating.

Diane Screnci, an NRC spokeswoman, said the water level was never less than 10 feet above the fuel.

PSEG reported the incident immediately to the NRC, which announced on Thursday that it had sent a special team of investigators to determine the cause of the mishap.

Screnci said the agency conducts such investigations a few dozen times a year at nuclear power plants across the nation and that they normally take about a week.

Besides telling the nuclear regulators about the mishap, PSEG did not release any statements to the media or tell people who live near the plant about what had happened.

"They don't tell us much," said Coleman, the hospital worker.

But Sindoni said the company did respond to questions received from people who learned about the incident through the NRC Web site.

He said while problems that spur special NRC investigations are relatively rare, it is not unusual for one of the Salem plants to be shut down at times other than their regular stoppages every 18 months.

PSEG said Hope Creek will remain closed pending the company's own investigation of the steam leak.

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