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Scrutiny At Zion Nuclear Plant PAGE 7 - PLAINDEALER - WEDNESDAY. JUNE 13,1979 Tl»e fallowing story was written by Barb Ansell, a Johnsburg high school senior who was given permission to accompany a small group of reporters on an inspection of the nuclear plant. Miss AnseU is a reporter for the Johnsburg Weefcly News, the high school newsfeap6r. In $he wake of the recent • nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, Pa., and the new hit movie, "The China Syndrome" many people in this area have become quite con­ cerned over what the possibilities are of the same or similar occurances happening at the nuclear plant in Zion, 111. The Zion nuclear plant run by Commonwealth Edison is about 25 miles east of Johnsburg along Lake Michigan. Although we are beyond the 20 mile fallout range, that does not lessen our concern, because we would still be subjected to much of the after effects. One of the major causes for the accident at Three Mile Island was a flaw in one of their emergency cooling system valves, which delayed vital emergency' cooling of the nuclear material. These valves are also found at the Zion nuclear plant. When the Zion plant was called to ask for a tour of the plant and an interview with some of their nuclear experts to learn how recent events had affected them, it was learned that "the plant has tightened up scecurity regulations while we are refueling the plant's reactors, said Larry Lenard of Commonwealth Edison in Waukegan. Later, Mr. Russell of Com­ monwealth Edison in Crystal Lake told a Johnsburg Weekly News reporter that only Governor Thompson's tour was being allowed through the plant until refueling procedures had been completed. Several Johnsburg reporters attempted to gain permission to attend the governor's tour, but were unsuccessful.' Later, The Johnsburg Weekly News was granted permission to attend a press tour scheduled for the week of May 21 of the Zion nuclear plant. At that time they were given full details of the possibilities of nuclear accidents happening at the Zion plant, what preventative measures are being taken, and to learn how we woul<r be af­ fected by such an accident. The reporters were taken into the actual"Viorttrol room. The pafiels are divided up Into three' sections. The first section being the safety section which monitors the condition of all the back-up systems. The middle panel is called the nuclear panel with the rod control system which regulates the amount of reactivity in the core, pressurizer levels, and the chemical level controls which regulate the amount of certain chemicals in the core. The third panel is known as the plant panel which is hooked up to every piece of equipment in the plant to insure that it is functioning properly. When a piece of equipment is not functioning, a light will flash off and on to alert the men in the control rooms. There are three monitors, one for each panel along with another monitor at a center desk, with two shift engineers and one shift foreman in the control room at all times. The main monitor at the head desk is known as a NSO (a Nuclear Station Operator) and he must make periodic checks of all the monitors and panels during this shift and log the recordings in a log book at regular intervals. If something were to Security American Family's Special Homeowners Package Policy. Complete security for that special place you call home. It's the most comprehensive, home­ owners coverage we've ?*ever offered. Call me today. I'll provide you with all the information. CHUCK LEWANDOWSKI Comer of Crystal Lake Blacktop & Rt 120 CALL US FOR DETAILS 385-2304 MEBICAN FAMILY A® AUTO n s u r a n c e HOME BUSMESS HEALTH UFE American Family Mutual Insurance Co Madison. Wis I • 4 malfunction at the plant there is a single switch that if it were pulled the entire plant would shutdown completely in a matter of seconds. The Three Mile Island plant shut down its operation about 15 percent of normal operation while trying to determine what had hap- • pened, but in Zion the whole plant would stop immediately. A turbine trip would automatically cause the entire plant to shutdown, as was the case Wednesday, May 24. The effect of such shutdowns amounts to about $300,000 a day per unit of replacement power costs, which are bought from surrounding energy plants. The Zion plant recently finished a refueling process. This process is done once a ye­ ar and involves removing one-third of the fuel rods and replacing them. There is a total of 193 fue! roads throughout the entire plant and 60 of these rods are replaced every year after being used for about three years. The uranium rods are not totally used, however, they can be recycled, but due to federal restric^ons at this time nuclear plants in the United States are not allowed to do so. This leads to the problem of disposing of the nuclear waste materials, which are now being disposed of in salt mines. The nuclear industry hopes to be able to switch to a recycling process of uranium instead of a disposal process before tfie year 2000. The group of reporters then viewed the forebay area which holds the five diesel generators which can generate 2.2 megawatts per unit should the electricity be stopped for any reason. This will allow the generators to continue at a safe speed until full power can be restored without having to c o m p l e t e l y s h u t d o w n operations in the plant. They also saw the water valves found 20 feet below lake level, which are the primary intake valves of the water that is used in the generating process. The group was then scheduled to tour the spin fuel pool, but due to the con­ tamination of the other report­ ers were instead taken back to the conference room where they stayed for a question and answer period, and a press briefing of the accident of May 24, which caused the Zion plant to shutdown the Unit One generator. When Lenard was «sked where much of the electrical current is sent to he replied, "The electrical current that is produced at the nuclear plant is not sent to only one particular area. Generally much of it goes to the closest area, but it mixes with energy from other stations. McHenry county is among some of the areas that receives a large percentage of the power produced here in Zion. However, because of all the energy being fed into the transformers from other sources, no one area would be denied power because of a shutdown. It was also learned that "as a result of Governor Thompson's tour of the Zion plant, a preliminary report was released by Governor Thomp­ son of his findings,but the report has not been completely reviewed. The Governor did seem to be pleased with what he saw here," said Joe Sher­ man, district manager of Commonwealth Edison in Waukegan. "As a result of the Three Mile Island incident, none of our activities have changed here yet, but we have reviewed everything," he added. "The nuclear industry is the most open, and highly regulated industry. This is the way it has been since the beginning and that is one of the reasons for our spectacular safety records. It exceeds that of any other technological industry anywhere," stated Lenard. "It is very hard to start an industry such as the nuclear industry during a time when such of its many uses is that of the atomic bomb, at which time was being used in Japan. The atomic bomb is the first thing that comes to many people's minds when they hear anything about the nuclear industry. Nothing is perfect, and nuclear accidents will occur, but it is the responsibility of those in charge of the situations to prepare for such accidents and to take preventative measure to avoid the incidents. Three Mile Island will be expensive to clean, the whole idea is to keep everything on sight and in a controlled manner. The main objective is to produce energy with exposing the general public to a minimal amount of harm," finished Lenard. The men and women who work at the plant are very closely monitored for their exposure to radiation. They are required to wear radiation badges at all times and these b a d g e s a r e c h e c k e d a n d recorded every two weeks to see how much radiation the workers are exposed to. At no time has any of the workers from the Zion plant had to ever cut back hours ot take days off due to over exposure. Steve Gome a nuclear engineer involved with public information for Commonwealth Edison then came in to explain the incident that occurred at the Zion nuclear plant on Wednesday, May 24 at 1:28, which cause the Unit One generator to shutdown its operations until late Thursday afternoon. "What happened," Gome began, "was that one of the operators in the control room was doing a monthly test of all the safety components in the safeguard system, which acts as a back-up to the emergency core cooling system. The tests involve stimulating a signal to the pump that a failure has occurred, which should cause the back-up system to start. This procedure went as plan­ ned. However, the operator accidentally omitted one full page of test instructions which accounted for the reason why two signals were sent to the pump instead of one signal. When the pump received the signal, three out of the four steam valves shut and created a build-up in pressure in the generator. The generator then tripped and caused the entire generating system to shut itself down." Gome informed the reporters. When a shutdown occurs, the primary water feed pumps go off and auxiliary feed pumps come on.» This system also began as planned, but one of the pumps that came on oversped and caused its turbine to trip and shut the pump off leaving the remaining two pumps to handle the load of releasing the steam pressure in the generator. "The ultimate effect of the mishaps was the built-up steam pressure had to be vented outside the building for several hours. There was no damage to any part of the generating system, no radiation leakage, and no possible harm to the general public," concluded Gome. "Farmers are entitled to obtain sufficient diesel fuel to meet their requirements", Jim Lucas, county executive director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation (ASCS) office, said. They are also entitled to 100 percent of their farm needs of propane, butane, and gasoline. The Department of Energy (DOE) established recently a priority system for distributing diesel fuel, giving the highest priority to that used in agricultural production. Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland said any shortages of diesel fuel could significantly reduce the size of harvests, create a tight supply situation, and result in serious market disruptions. Wholesale sup­ pliers of diesel fuel will be required to provide local distributors and retailers with supplies sufficient to meet farmers' needs. To help implement the agricultural priority, ASCS will assist farmers in making ap­ plication for their fuel requirements. "Upon request, we will help determine what c o n s t i t u t e s a g r i c u l t u r a l production. We will also report There's no documentary evidence that Louis XIV actually said "L'etat c'est moi" (The state, it is I). Tradition has it that Voltaire attributed it to Louis, but actually made it up himself. Napoleon, however, did say it to the French Senate in 1814. LUNCH & SERVING ALL U.S.D.A. PRIME MEATS LUNCHEON SPECIALS Monday Thru Friday Join Us For FISH FRY BRUNCH Every Friday Every Sunday df> Serving all USDA Prime Meats CHAPEL HILL SUNDAY EVENING BUFFET DINNER SERVING 3:30- 8:30 P.M. •Main Entre' •Cold Table •Dessert Table JUNIOR-SENIOR DAY EVERY FRIDAY! FREE Golf Clinic w/purchase of Green Fee ticket. Green Fee Reduced 9 hole $5.00 18 hole $4.50 Senior clinic 8:30 am Junior clinic 10 am Seniors 55 & up J u n i o r s 8 - 1 8 Call Pro Shop for Details CHAPEL HILL GOLF CLUB 7500 N Chapel Hill Rood McHcnry Illinois CALL FOR INFORMATION: McHenry Phone 815-3t5-0333.Chicago Phone 312-451-0277 $6»s KIDS $5.95 ALL YOU CAN EAT Jack Block's Agriculture Dy John R. Block Illinois Director of Agriculture THE GROWING POINT Crop yield potential is determined by the seed you plant Nothing you do will in­ crease this inherent potential. Everything that happens after planting serves either to maintain the potential or to reduce it. Pests, inadequate fertility, or drought at a critical stage are among recognized yield depressants. Eliminating such problems helps allow crops to approach their yield potential but will not send yield beyond the built-in potential level * When looking at a field of thousands and thousands of plants, we sometimes forget that the harvest from that field depends on the cumulative performance of each individual plant How far will each plant fall short in realizing its potential? That's what finally determines yield. Anything that prevents 10 kernels from developing on each of 24,000 ears cuts per acre-yield by almost three bushels. Only 10 to 12 percent of the weight of a corn seed is in the embryo, or germ, and most of that is stored nutrients. Yet, the tiny remainder is a miniature plant. which has the potential to develop into a full-grown tasseled plant eight to 10 feet tall with 15 to 17 full-sized leaves in 60 to 70 days. As a seed germinates and starts growing, the young shoot grows upward toward the soil surface When the tip reaches light, it splits and allows the first leaves to unfurl Everything the above-ground plant will ever be is inside that toothpick-sized seedling If all goes well, its production may approach its potential About the time the shoot breaks through the soil surface a second <permanent) set of roots will begin to develop one or one and a half inches below- ground level This becomes the "crown" and several rows or ranks of roots' may develop from this point upward on the stalk. This permanent root system Soon takes over to nourish the plant as it grows and develops .lust above the crown area of a corn seedling is the all- important "growing point", which contains, in miniature, every above ground plant part that will eventually develop There are several cells representing each future leaf, a few representing the eventual tassel, and even some that will l>ecome ear shoots. As long as the growing point remains below ground level, the future plant is well protected from freezes, hail damage, and other weather-related damage. The growing point is easy to identify. Simply, split the stalk with a knife and look for a white-colored Christmas tree- shaped structure A dead or damaged one will be brown or black and may show the first evidence of rot and deterioration The growing point location is critical in case of late spring freezes, floods, hail storms, or attacks by certain insects. If anything damages or kills the growing point, that plant can not develop further These measurements show the ap­ proximate plant size and age in relation to growing point location: YOU AND YOUR PET By Robert L Stear, D.V M Manager of Veterinary Servces Norden Laboratories Okay Diesel Fuel For Farms planted acreages, cropping patterns and other information to fuel dealers, state energy offices and the Department of Energy, in support of a far­ mers' application," Lucas said. If the problems cannot be solved locally, ASCS will get further help trom the DOE regional office. . Days After Emergence 12 14 16 21 26 30 Plant Height in Pield (in 6 9 12 20 30 36 Growing Point AI>ove Ground (in) 0 0 0.5 1 6 8 to 14 Whether it is insects, freezing temperatures, floods or hail that adversely affect a corn crop, physical plant damage should not necessarily be estimated visually. The best action to take is wait until the next day and examine some growing points to ascertain the extent of actual damage. The best time and place to get acquainted with corn's growing point is in normal fields of young plants Then, if some sort of damage occurs, one knows what healthy growing points look like and where to look tor them By Robert L. Stear. D.V.M. Disc Trouble In Dogs Your dog's spine is an in­ tricate chain of about 50 small bones running the length of its body-from the base of the skull to the tip of the tail. These Iwnes, known as vertebrae, are separated by small discs of spongy elastic tissue that allow the spine to bend without breaking The spine's primary function is to protect the spinal cord, while providing a flexible framework for the body Occasionally -and no one really knows why-one or more of the cushioning discs disin­ tegrates. and its contents are squeezed out into the spinal canal, putting pressure on the spinal cord A ruptured disc can be extremely painful The afflicted dog may show various signs of discomfort, be reluctant to move, or in severe cases, become paralyzed Generally. X-rays are needed to identify the site of the damaged disc, with the neck and lumbar region (the area immediately behind the ribs) predominating as sites of disc trouble. The Dachshund, with its relatively long spine, is an obvious candidate for disc damage. While the Cocker Spaniel. Pekingese and Beagle breeds are known to be susceptible to disc trouble, almost any dog can develop this problem While strenuous physical exercise can contribute to disc disease, pet owners have reported that the simple act of jumping onto furniture can trigger an attack. The treatment your pet receives will depend upon the severity of the problem. Some pets may recover with the use of prescription drugs and an extended period of rest. Others require surgery, concentrated nursing care and physical* therapy. In cases of disc disease, good nursing care should sup­ plement the medical treat­ ment. If the dog is temporarily paralyzed from the disc damage, it may need help in emptying the bladder or bowels The paralyzed dog's legs should be massaged and exercised to prevent wasting away of the idle muscles. Your veterinarian can show you the proper method of assisting your dog during its recovery. Back trouble can recur, and your pet should be discouraged from jumping and other strenuous exercise Your dog has the best chance for recovery if its back problems are diagnosed and treated promptly. For this reason, your veterinarian should be consulted as soon as your pet shows unexplained signs of discomfort or pain. Delay in the treatment of back trouble, or any health problem, can reduce the chances of successful recovery. (I)r Stear regrets that he is unable to personally answer letters from pet owners. He suggests that readers consult their own veterinarians when their pets have problems.) Endurance He--Do you think kissing is unhealthy? She--I really don't know. I ' v e n e v e r b e e n . . . . H e - - W h a t : N e v e r b e e n kissed? She--No. I've never been ill after it. Nasty A business college dis­ played a poster offering "A Short Course in Accounting for Women." 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