Journal warned of San Onofre issue [View all]

[bananas]

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/20/someone-saw-san-onofre-issue-coming/

Journal warned of San Onofre issue
Unheeded articles predicted vibrations that ended up shutting plant
By Morgan Lee8 a.m.April 20, 2013

As a design team drew up plans for replacement steam generators at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2005 and 2006, leading researchers were warning of a new threat to the safety of internal tubes coursing with radioactive water.

The findings, published in an obscure-yet-authoritative trade journal on pressure vessel technology, have proved prophetic more than seven years later, as engineers strive to understand what caused the failure at the twin-reactor plant in northern San Diego County.

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The research papers were vetted for publication by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which maintains the U.S. building code for nuclear steam generators. A nuclear safety activist, told about the scientific articles by U-T Watchdog, was incredulous.

“What’s the purpose of doing the research if not to come up with information so that it doesn’t happen in the field?” said Daniel Hirsch, a lecturer on nuclear policy at the University of California Santa Cruz. “Do you want to go to a doctor who doesn’t read the journals and says, ‘I wait until someone keels over?’”

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Good article with responses from a number of people about this.