ML051080010
| ML051080010 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Millstone  |
| Issue date: | 04/17/2005 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs Region I |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Press Release-I-05-021 | |
| Download: ML051080010 (2) | |
See also: see also:Press Release-I-05-021
Text
NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa.
Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA
No. I-05-021
April 17, 2005
Contact:
Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330
Email: opa1@nrc.gov
Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331
NRC MONITORING EVENT AT MILLSTONE 3
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is monitoring activities at Millstone Unit 3 nuclear power
plant in Waterford, Conn., following the declaration of an "Alert" at the plant at 8:42 a.m. today
(4/17/05). The plant is operated by Dominion Nuclear.
Just before 8:30 this morning, the plant automatically shut down and a steam generator safety
relief valve lifted and failed to close, causing the company to declare an Alert. The safety relief
valves are located on each steam line and are used to control pressure on the lines. The main steam
lines carry steam from the steam generators to the turbine to produce electricity. The main steam line
safety valves are designed to release steam to the environment. The plant is stable. Radiological
monitoring by the company to this point indicates there have been no detectable releases of
radioactivity from the plant.
An "Alert" is the second lowest emergency action level in the NRC required emergency
response plan for nuclear power plants.
In response to the "Alert," the NRC has staffed its incident response center in the Region I
office in King of Prussia, Pa., and is following developments from its operations center in Rockville,
Md. The NRC Resident Inspectors responded rapidly to the plant, where they are monitoring
Dominions response to this event.
Wayne Lanning, who is coordinating the NRCs response from the Region I Incident Response
Center is King of Prussia, PA., said, The NRC is following this event closely. There has been no
impact on public health and safety.
Neither Millstone Unit 1 nor Unit 2 were affected by this event. Unit 2 is in a refueling outage
and Unit 1 is permanently shut down.
The States of Connecticut and New York have been notified.