Fermi 2 nuclear plant to remain down for some timeSep 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Keith Matheny Detroit Free Press
The Fermi 2 nuclear power plant will remain shut down for an unspecified time after a cooling system on the plant's turbine and related equipment failed Sunday. DTE Energy spokesman Guy Cerullo said Tuesday that the utility is using the downtime to do other maintenance work at the nuclear facility on the shore of western Lake Erie in Monroe County's Frenchtown Township. DTE won't disclose when the plant will go back online because the utility said it is trying to avoid potential spikes in the cost of power if it has to make purchases on the wholesale energy market while its plant is down, Cerullo said. "On the wholesale power market, if they know when exactly you're shutting down and coming back online, they can hike the prices," he said. "We want to keep the price as low as possible." Problems started late Sunday, when Fermi 2 operators manually shut down the plant following the failure of its turbine building water cooling system, Cerullo said. The problem was with a heat exchanger, essentially a radiator cooling the turbine and connected equipment, he said. The exchanger has been repaired, he said. The cooling system for the plant's nuclear core is wholly separate and was always operational, Cerullo said. "The plant remains in a safe, stable condition as far as the reactor is concerned. It always was," he said. Power customers shouldn't notice any changes as a result of the shutdown. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=37381744 |