We often hear the words Integrity Management referring to the things companies do to make sure their manufacturing and processing plants do not go “boom in the night.”   It covers all phases of an asset: design, engineering, procurement, construction, operations, and maintenance – and leadership has an impact at each phase.  Leaking pipes on a relatively newly upgraded nuclear reactor?  What impact did leadership have on design, engineering, and procurement decisions?  Edison International and Sempra Energy own the plant; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries made the new pipes.  What were the financial incentives within and between the companies?  What were the metrics and measures in the performance management system?  What were the messages within the companies – not the official ones but the unofficial ones? Were the messages congruent?  Who was getting promoted and why?  What conversations were missed and why?  Which relationships were weak?  How many times have the companies been reorganized?  Who was accountable for key decisions – functions or operations – and was it confused?  Who had authority and did they also have accountability?  When something goes wrong, it’s always about leadership.  When something goes right, it is also always about leadership.

WORN PIPES SHUT CALIFORNIA REACTORS
By Rebecca Smith
February 4th, 2012; The Wall Street Journal Online Edition

The two reactors at the San Onofre nuclear-power station near San Clemente, Calif., will remain shut down this weekend while federal safety officials investigate why critical—and relatively new—equipment is showing signs of premature wear.

The problem surfaced Jan. 31, when one of the units sprang a leak in a pipe called a steam tube, releasing small amounts of radioactive steam and tripping radiation alarms. Operators shut down the reactor four hours later.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the amount of released radiation posed no harm to workers or the public. The plant sits on the California coast near the busy freeways that connect San Diego and Los Angeles.

Now commission inspectors say they also have found problems with hundreds of steam tubes at the plant’s other reactor, which already was shut down to take on fresh fuel and undergo routine inspections. The tubes function as heat exchangers, akin to an automobile’s radiator, taking superhot pressurized water from the reactors to 640-ton steam generators that produce electricity.

“We’ve found unusual degradation or wear in some of the steam tubes,” said Victor Dricks, spokesman for the commission. He said thousands of tubes at the plant must be inspected so damaged pipes can be replaced or plugged. Reactors can operate with as much as 7% of tubes decommissioned without reducing power output, according to the NRC.

Southern California Edison, whose parent is a part-owner of the reactors, said “the units can generate 2,200 megawatts of power, enough to meet the needs of 1.4 million average homes at a point in time.” The San Onofore shutdowns come at a time when electricity demand is relatively low.

Officials of Southern California Edison said they aren’t alarmed by the problems and are working closely with the NRC and vendors to find the solution.

But experts say the closures may signal a broader problem for the nuclear industry, which has been trying to reassure Americans that its aging reactors are safe in the wake of last year’s disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

San Onofre was built in the 1980s. Its owners, Edison International and Sempra Endergy, spent more than $800 million replacing nearly 40,000 steam tubes and four giant steam generators in 2009 and 2010, buying the equipment from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The tubes are made of a metal called Inconel alloy 690, a state-of-the-art material intended to address a prior problem with cracking in tubes made of a different alloy, experts said.

Steam-tube leaks aren’t unusual in older plants, experts said, “but I think such rapid degradation is clearly unusual,” said Edwin Lyman, nuclear expert for the Union of Concerned Scientists. He added that it suggests manufacturing defects or operational issues.

So far, NRC inspectors have checked 80% of the 9,727 tubes in one steam generator and found damage to 871 pipes, Mr. Dricks said. Two pipes had lost 35% of their wall thickness in just two years of service. Most—about 800—had lost 10% to 20% of wall thickness. The pipes are about three-quarters of an inch in diameter.

The commission can’t begin inspections at the newly shut-down reactor until it cools sufficiently, which could take a few days.

Components in nuclear plants are subjected to extreme heat, pressure, radiation and chemical exposure, all of which can take a toll on materials. The NRC says it will study the situation until the agency is satisfied that it understands what must be done at San Onofre, and will try to determine whether the problem lies in the alloy or in the way the plant was being run.

Without knowing the extent of the problem, the cost can’t be estimated. Southern California Edison’s chief financial officer, Linda Sullivan, said she didn’t know what portion, if any, of the current expense might be covered by warranties or insurance. “It’s just too early to tell,” she said Friday.