Washington (Platts)--14Jul2008

NRC began a special inspection July 14 at Vermont Yankee, three days
after plant operator Entergy Nuclear reported a leak in one of the east
cooling tower cells and reduced the reactor's power from full power. NRC said
Vermont Yankee crews found about 60 gallons of water per minute was leaking
from a pipe joint in one of the non-safety-related cells. The plant has two
cooling towers, each of which has 11 cells. Only one of the 22 cells is
safety-related. NRC said the source of the latest leak was from the supply
header pipe, which carries about 90,000 gallons/minute of water that feeds
into the cells. The water escaped after a support beam to the supply header
broke away from a connecting vertical column, NRC said. NRC reported the
reactor was around 23% power early July 14.