Press Release-II-12-010, NRC Monitors Events at Catawba Nuclear Power Plant After Loss of Offsite Power and Unusual Event Declaration

Press Release-II-12-010: NRC Monitors Events at Catawba Nuclear Power Plant After Loss of Offsite Power and Unusual Event Declaration

ML12107A407
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba
Issue date:	04/04/2012
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-12-010
Download: ML12107A407 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 245 Peachtree Center Ave. NE, Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-12-010 April 4, 2012 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416 NRC MONITORS EVENTS AT CATAWBA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AFTER LOSS OF OFFSITE POWER AND UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARATION The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is monitoring the situation at the Catawba nuclear power plant after the site lost offsite power Wednesday evening.

The NRC is monitoring the event through the NRC resident inspectors at the site and in the Atlanta regional office. The plant is operated by Duke Energy near York, S.C., about 18 miles south of Charlotte, N.C.

One of the two units at the plant was already shut down for an outage and the other unit automatically shut down after losing offsite power. The plant's diesel generators started to power the units emergency loads. Plant operators and other plant staff are monitoring the situation and attempting to restore the power. Safety systems have operated as needed.

Duke officially notified the NRC of the situation soon after it happened, and the agency's senior resident inspector was dispatched to the site. He has been able to observe plant activities as well as provide status reports to the NRC staff manning the incident response center in Atlanta. Duke declared an unusual event, the lowest of the four NRC emergency classification levels, just after 8 p.m. EDT.

There was no radiation released or impact to plant workers or the public. Once the event is over, the NRC will review the cause of the incident and determine if additional inspections or follow-up are needed.

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