Friday a reactor tripped off, and NRC got around to telling us about it today:
Millstone 3, 3.2 miles WSW of New London, Connecticut,
about half way between Boston and New York.
I hear a few people live around there.
That’s its second downtime in six months.
Why is nuclear considered reliable baseload?
Distributed solar power wouldn’t all be down at once,
and wouldn’t risk irradiating millions of people.
Here’s Event Number 49260:
Power Reactor Event Number: 49260 Facility: MILLSTONE
Region: 1 State: CT
Unit: [ ] [ ] [3]
RX Type: [1] GE-3,[2] CE,[3] W-4-LP
NRC Notified By: MICHEL CICCONE
HQ OPS Officer: HOWIE CROUCHNotification Date: 08/09/2013
Notification Time: 22:27 [ET]
Event Date: 08/09/2013
Event Time: 21:19 [EDT]
Last Update Date: 08/09/2013Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) – RPS ACTUATION – CRITICAL
50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) – VALID SPECIF SYS ACTUATION
Person (Organization):
MEL GRAY (R1DO)
Unit SCRAM Code RX CRIT Initial PWR Initial RX Mode Current PWR Current RX Mode 3 A/R Y 100 Power Operation 0 Hot Standby Event Text
AUTOMATIC REACTOR TRIP ON LOW STEAM GENERATOR WATER LEVEL
The loss of a non-vital 480v bus resulted in a feedwater transient that caused steam generator water level to lower below the automatic reactor trip setpoint. The reactor trip and plant response was uncomplicated with all rods being inserted into the core.
The auxiliary feedwater system automatically actuated and is currently being to used to feed the steam generators. Decay heat is being removed via the steam dumps to the condenser. No relief valves or safeties lifted during the transient. The plant is currently stable in Mode 3 at normal operating pressure and temperature and is in its normal shutdown electrical lineup. There was no impact on Unit 2 which is currently operating at 100% power.
The licensee has notified state and local authorities and the NRC Resident Inspector.
Millstone 3 was already down from April 14th through May 17th:
Next door, Millstone 2 was down for two weeks last August due to heat. Will it do that again this August?
PS: Owed to Erica Gray.
-jsq
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