Press Release-IV-11-040, NRC Sends Special Inspection Team to Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant
| ML11255A060 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Fort Calhoun  |
| Issue date: | 09/12/2011 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs Region IV |
| To: | |
| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-IV-11-040 | |
| Download: ML11255A060 (1) | |
Text
No. IV-11-040
Contact:
Victor Dricks (817) 860-8128 Lara Uselding (817) 276-6519 September 12, 2011 E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov NRC SENDS SPECIAL INSPECTION TEAM TO FORT CALHOUN NUCLEAR PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at the Fort Calhoun Station to review the circumstances surrounding a breaker fire that resulted in an Alert declaration on June 7. The plant, operated by the Omaha Public Power District, is located about 20 miles north of Omaha, Neb. and has been shutdown since April for a refueling outage and impacts from the Missouri River floodwaters.
A team of three NRC inspectors, who began their work today, will evaluate the circumstances leading up to a fire in a switchgear room housing buses that provide power to multiple pieces of equipment. The fire caused a temporary loss of power to the spent fuel pool cooling pumps that circulate water through the pool. There were no major safety impacts due to the plant being in a safe shutdown condition.
The NRC is conducting a special inspection to ensure that the causes are known and corrected prior to the plant being approved to restart.
We want to thoroughly understand the circumstances surrounding the fire and the modification made to the breaker component that may have potentially caused the fire, said Region IV Administrator Elmo E. Collins.
The NRC inspectors will write an inspection report on their findings within 45 days of the end of the inspection that will be publicly available.
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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region IV 612 E. Lamar Blvd., Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011-4125 Telephone: (817) 860-8128 Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov