Nuke plant safety system fails test

 

May 30 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Andrew Eder The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.

A safety system at the newly restarted Unit 1 reactor at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant has failed an operational test, but the failure did not prompt a shutdown of the reactor.

The high-pressure coolant injection system, which is used to rapidly inject cooling water into the reactor core under certain conditions, was declared inoperable after a system test early Monday at the Athens, Ala., plant.

TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said the cooling system is powered by steam from the reactor, but a problem with a valve was preventing the system from getting enough steam to operate properly.

"As far as we know, it's a minor adjustment" Johnson said.

Ken Clark, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said an alternate reactor cooling system remained operational, and the test failure was not considered a safety problem, although it was reportable to the NRC under federal regulations.

Plant operators first achieved a nuclear chain reaction in Unit 1 on May 22 after a five-year, $1.8 billion restoration effort. The reactor had been idled since 1985.

Operators are conducting "power ascension" testing -- bringing the reactor up to different levels of power while testing various systems -- before reconnecting the reactor to TVA's power grid.

Thursday, a leak in a control system prompted a shutdown of Unit 1 while it was operating at 3 percent power. The reactor was operating Tuesday at 9 percent power.