Press Release-III-04-032, NRC Begins Special Inspection of Shutdown at Dresden Nuclear Plant

Press Release-III-04-032: NRC Begins Special Inspection of Shutdown at Dresden Nuclear Plant

ML041280133
Person / Time
Site:	Dresden
Issue date:	05/06/2004
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-04-032
Download: ML041280133 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov No. III-04-032 May 6, 2004 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 NRC BEGINS SPECIAL INSPECTION OF SHUTDOWN AT DRESDEN NUCLEAR PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dispatched a special inspection team to review the circumstances surrounding the automatic reactor shutdown Wednesday at Unit 3 of the Dresden Nuclear Power Station. The two-reactor facility, operated by Exelon Generation Company, is located near Morris, Illinois.

The Unit 3 reactor shut down automatically when the plant lost its offsite electrical power.

Emergency diesel generators started to supply power to plant safety systems.

There was no safety threat to plant workers, the general public, or the environment associated with the shutdown, said NRC Regional Administrator James Caldwell. The NRCs resident inspectors were in the plants control room to monitor the reactor operators response to the shutdown, he added.

The NRCs four-member inspection team will review the causes of the loss of offsite power and how the plant staff and equipment responded to the power loss.

The second Dresden unit was shut down at the time for unrelated maintenance. It was not affected by the Unit 3 loss of power.

The utilitys preliminary investigation has determined that the power loss occurred when a circuit breaker opened unexpectedly, cutting off the outside power sources. At the time, plant workers were restoring normal electrical power connections following maintenance work.

Power was restored to the plant after about 21/2 hours. Unit 3 remains shut down while the cause of the power loss is fully investigated and necessary repairs are made.

The report of the special inspection will be publicly available about a month following the completion of the inspection. It may be obtained from the Region III Office of Public Affairs or from the NRCs online document library: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html - use docket number 05000249 to locate Dresden 3 documents. Assistance in using the online document library is available by calling the NRC Public Document Room at 800-397-4209.