Press Release-III-12-008, NRC Is Monitoring an Unusual Event at Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-12-008: NRC Is Monitoring an Unusual Event at Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant

ML120690633
Person / Time
Site:	Prairie Island
Issue date:	03/06/2012
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-12-008
Download: ML120690633 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 No. III-12-008 March 6, 2012 Contacts: Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 NRC IS MONITORING AN UNUSUAL EVENT AT PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is monitoring an Unusual Event - the lowest emergency level in the NRCs emergency classification system - declared at 6:24 a.m. CT at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generation Plant Unit 2. The declaration was made due to an indication of an increase in reactor coolant system leakage. The two-unit plant, operated by Northern States Power Co.- Minnesota, is located in Welch, Minn.,

approximately 26 miles southeast of Minneapolis.

The NRC has activated its Incident Response Center in the Region III office in Lisle, Ill. Two NRC resident inspectors have responded to the site and are following the event in consultation with Region III staff.

Unit 2 is shut down for a refueling outage. The workers at the plant identified an apparent decrease in reactor vessel coolant level and are taking actions to further understand the situation. The plant is maintaining the appropriate level of water in the reactor. The NRC is monitoring the plants efforts.

There was no radiation released or impact to plant workers or the public. Unit 1 is at full power.

Once the event is over, the NRC will fully investigate the cause of contributing factors to the incident.

NRC news releases are available through a free list serve 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.