A team from Arizona Public Service’s (APS) Palo Verde nuclear plant, in Wintersburg, Ariz., has won the Nuclear Energy Institute’s “Best of the Best” Top Innovative Practice (TIP) Award for developing in-house software applications that use machine learning to automate such time-consuming tasks as screening reports or searching maintenance logs. Nuclear Outage Schedule 2020-2021. The plant uses millions of gallons of treated wastewater, with much of it coming from Phoenix’s 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant. “We created the partnership because of objectives that we had regarding the production and cooling costs for power operation here in Palo Verde,” Brown said. It prohibits all activities relating to mineral resources except scientific. (basis for the drone calls since they were loitering in the OCA [owner controlled area]). And our UAV/drone Commission paper should go up to them next week.”. Other NRC officials appear to have been unsure as to how they could necessarily help in responding to the incidents, in general. Just a month after it occurred, the NRC made the highly controversial, if not outright dubious decision to formally decline to require owners of U.S. nuclear power and waste storage facilities to be able to defend against drones. All times are based on eastern time. None of the authorities involved in subsequent investigations into the two drone incursions over Palo Verde were able to determine the operators of the drones or their intent. “You’re going to come back five years from now and work you’re going to say, ‘Wow, you’re using a lot less of that sewage water because you’re being more efficient and you’re coming up with worse, worse sources of water that can meet your needs,’” Lange said. An intelligence specialist at the Response Coordination Branch for NRC's Region IV, said the Arizona site was "unable to observe any identifying markings on the UAV's themselves or locate the operator(s)" making it difficult for further action to be taken. Who had the capability to put at least around a half a dozen drones up over the plant for hours on two consecutive nights and why? We plan on this year being able to start pumping water and that will test all these systems.”. Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, believes the real issue isn’t the source of the water but the volume of water the plant uses. “It’s increasing our power costs,” Brown said. A new waste treatment facility was built at McMurdo in 2003, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo…. Regardless, it underscored serious questions about what the plant operators could actually do, legally, in response to the intrusions. Another 17 pages of relevant records are still undergoing a review by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 5 On Your Side Investigation in March 2011 revealed at least “438 malfunctions from 1964 through 1972.” Our report found “leaking water surrounding the reactor” as well as “hairline cracks in the reactor liner” and prompted two federal hearings that upheld our report’s findings.