No, that can’t be: NRC hasn’t said it’s up after Salem 1 was scrammed down last week.. Of course, NRC never posts events or status on weekends, no matter what’s down, up, or on fire.

Bill Gallo Jr. wrote for the South Jersey Times yesterday, Salem 1 nuclear reactor returns to service after faulty valve is repaired,

The Salem 1 nuclear reactor was returned to service today, less than 48 hours after a leaking valve caused the plant to be shut down.

The plant began sending electricity out over the regional power grid at 4:47 p.m. today, according to Joe Delmar, spokesman for the reactor’s operator, PSEG Nuclear….

On Thursday, operators became aware of the leak and were working managing the problem, Delmar said. The leak was coming from a valve on the system within the reactor containment building and was allowing the escape of four gallons of slightly radioactive water per minute.

Per guidelines from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency which oversees the operation of the nation’s nuclear reactors, the plant is limited to a water leak of only one gallon a minute.

Since Salem 1 operators were unable to isolate the leak within the NRC’s required six-hour time frame, the plant was taken off-line.

According to Delmar, workers were able to isolate the leak at approximately 10 p.m. Thursday after the plant was shut down and begin needed repairs.

Delmar said approximately, 4,800 gallons of water leaked from the reactor coolant system. All of the water, described as slightly radioactive, remained in the containment building and went through designated plant drain systems and will be processed through normal plant systems.

“To put the leak into perspective,” Delmar said, “the reactor coolant system contains more than 90,000 gallons of water.”

So what do the normal plant systems do with radioactive water? Does it end up in the Delaware River?

-jsq

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