Faulty Pump Shuts Nuclear Plant; Kewaunee Reactor Expected to Resume Operation Soon

Nov 30 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Kewaunee nuclear plant is expected to return to service soon after the plant shut down for the second time in the past week.

The plant, which had returned to service on Saturday, shut down Monday night after a water pump stopped operating, the plant's owner told federal nuclear plant regulators Tuesday.

On Monday night, the reactor's main water pump tripped and the plant didn't have sufficient steam to run, so the plant shut down automatically about 10:20 p.m. Monday, said Joe Reid, a Dominion Resources Inc. spokesman.

The plant is expected to resume operation "shortly," Reid said. Reid said he couldn't provide more details on when the plant would restart because of energy market concerns.

The plant had just resumed running Saturday after it was shut down last week while plant owner Dominion Resources Inc. investigated moisture in the reactor's main electrical generator. Dominion workers found and repaired the source of the moisture a small hole in a generator cooling pump, Reid said.

Kewaunee is a single-unit reactor located east of Green Bay on Lake Michigan. It generates up to 568 megawatts of power, or enough to supply electricity to about 140,000 homes.

Dominion bought the plant this summer after a four-month shutdown of the plant ended.

Through 2013, Dominion will sell the power generated by Kewaunee to the plant's former owners, Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Madison-based Wisconsin Power & Light Co.