Press Release-III-11-015, NRC Activates Its Emergency Response Center Due to an Alert at Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-11-015: NRC Activates Its Emergency Response Center Due to an Alert at Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant

ML111240083
Person / Time
Site:	Duane Arnold
Issue date:	05/03/2011
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-11-015
Download: ML111240083 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 Site: http://www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov No. III-11-015 May 3, 2011

Contact:

Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-Mail: OPA3.RegionIII@nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil (630) 829-9663 NRC ACTIVATES ITS EMERGENCY RESPONSE CENTER DUE TO AN ALERT AT DUANE ARNOLD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has activated its Emergency Response Center at the Region 3 office in Lisle, Ill., to monitor an Alert that was declared at the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant at 2:08 p.m. CDT. The plant is located about eight miles northwest from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The plant operator, NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, declared an alert due to a truck catching fire as it was making a delivery to the plant. The fire is in the vicinity of safety related equipment in the utilitys pump house but is outside the plant protected area. No plant safety related equipment has been affected by the fire and the plant continues to operate at 100 percent power. There is no impact to public health.

The utility has reported that the truck driver has been transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. The offsite fire brigade has responded to the site. The fire continues to burn.

An alert is the second lowest of four emergency levels for a nuclear power plant and represents degradation in plant safety.

The NRC has two resident inspectors on-site who are currently responding to the event and in constant communication with Region 3 Emergency Response Center. The agencys primary concern right now is to make sure the public is protected and that the plant operator is taking appropriate actions to address the issue. As is part of its normal protocol, the NRC is in contact with the utility.

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 website.