ALERT! Radioactive Core Leak At La Salle, IL Nuclear During Restart

If you live down wind from the La Salle nuclear plant in Illinois you should be concerned.

Multiple systems failures have occurred over the last few days. On Friday we alerted that vigilance was required; on Saturday during restart, there was a radioactive core leak into primary containment.

The system that serves as a backup for Saturday's failure failed just a few days before. That is a chain of failures which should cause concern. The fact that they happened under the watch full eye of a Special Inspection announced on Friday by the NRC is even more troubling.

But it gets worse, the leaking part which failed on Saturday apparently had the same failure in 2011. That time they blamed a manufacturing defect in some welds; the fix was to patch it with another weld. Seems like that patch might not have held up well.

Given the totality of what has happened at La Salle in the last few days, it remains clear to us the Chicago was at risk of becoming a glow in the dark city. A Maximum Alert condition maybe warranted, as there is not telling what else will fail as they once again try to restart this rattle trap of a nuclear pile. Unfortunately, the most dangerous period for a reactor is when humans are mucking around with it. Here's hoping the third restart will be a charm.