Press Release-III-08-035, NRC Monitoring Unusual Event at Monticello Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-08-035: NRC Monitoring Unusual Event at Monticello Nuclear Power Plant

ML082610754
Person / Time
Site:	Monticello
Issue date:	09/17/2008
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-08-035
Download: ML082610754 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 No. III-08-035 September 17, 2008

Contact:

Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 Web site: www.nrc.gov NRC MONITORING UNUSUAL EVENT AT MONTICELLO NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III office in Lisle, Ill., activated its Incident Response Center today to monitor an unusual event declared at the Monticello Nuclear Power Plant. The plant, operated by Xcel Energy, is located in Monticello, Minn.

The unusual event was declared at 10:30 a.m. when a contractor struck a power line, which resulted in a loss of power to non-safety equipment. The contractor was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead, according to local authorities. The loss of power affected equipment necessary to provide cooling water to the reactor. Around 11:30 a.m. the plant restored the equipment necessary to provide cooling water support to the reactor in a shutdown condition.

The Monticello plant was already in a forced shutdown due to a forced maintenance outage before the unusual event was declared. The plant plans to exit the unusual event when normal power supplies are returned.

The NRC has continuously monitored conditions at the plant since the event was declared. There have been no unplanned radioactive releases. State and local officials have been informed.

An unusual event is the lowest of four levels in the NRCs emergency classification system. An unusual event is declared when events are in the process or have occurred which indicate potential degradation in the level of safety of the plant.

NRC Region III and resident inspectors are monitoring the situation at the plant.

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.