11/19/2011 NRC to Investigate Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station Radioactive Water Leak

On Wednesday (11/16/2011) after having completed scheduled maintenance Unit 2 of the two reactor Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station run by Progress Energy was found to have a radioactive water leak from the reactor core, after the reactor had been ramped up to 7% power. [1]  Brunswick discovered the problem the next morning and has since shut down the reactor. Unit 1 is still running at full power.  The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) will investigate and produce a report within 45 days. [1]

See also:

1. Nuclear plant water leak probed, John Murawski, Charlotte Observer
2. Nuclear Engineer shares concerns about Brunswick Nuclear Leak, Lucas Whitefield Hixson, Enformable

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8/12/2011 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2 Back Online

Source: WSYR Channel 9 (ABC affiliate)
Date: 8/12 10:16 pm

Scriba (WSYR-TV) -- The Nine Mile Nuclear Plant's unit two is back up and running. The plant needed to be shut down twice this week because of leaks, but Friday night all the repairs were complete.

Inspections have assured that there are no other issues and the unit is back up to about 24 percent power.

It will take a little more time to get the unit back up to 100 percent.

Representatives say the leaks were never a risk to the public, or to plant employees.

Editor's Note: See also "Nine Mile Point 2 back to making power, officials say" from Syracuse.com for additional details. For previous developments see "8/6/2011 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 2 Shut Down Due to Water Leak".

8/6/2011 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 2 Shut Down Due to Water Leak

Nine Mile Point Unit 2 Shut Down Satruday 8/6/2011

On Saturday 8/6/2011 an emergency level event was issued by operators of the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station. The Notification of Unusual Event (NOUE), or least severe of four emergency classifications, was registered with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding leakage in the Unit 2 drywell containment of greater than 10 gallons/minute. Here is an excerpt of the event text as it appears on the NRC site:

UNUSUAL EVENT AND PLANT SHUTDOWN DUE TO DRYWELL UNIDENTIFIED LEAKAGE GREATER THAN 10 GPM

"At 0152 [EDT], Nine Mile Point Unit 2 received red alarms for containment monitoring cabinets 10A and 10B along with a rise in drywell floor drain leakage and drywell pressure.

"At 0205 [EDT], Nine Mile Point Unit 2 entered technical specification action statement (TS 3.4.5 B) due to unidentified leakage rise of greater than 2 gpm within 24 hours.

"At 0217 EDT, the control room commenced power reduction to mitigate the rise in drywell leakage and drywell pressure.

"At 0322 EDT, Nine Mile Point Unit 2 declared an Unusual Event (EAL 2.1.1) due to unidentified drywell leakage greater than 10 gpm. Actual drywell floor drain leakage reached 11.3 gpm.

"The cause of the rise in unidentified leakage is unknown at this time.

"At 0345 EDT, Nine Mile Point Unit 2 has commenced a plant shutdown."

The licensee has notified State and local authorities. The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified.

On the same day, the event was terminated (e.g. emergency cleared) after readings returned back to normal after steps to power down the reactor began.  The operator (Constellation Energy Nuclear Group) continued with  power down procedures after the emergency had been cleared to facilitate drywell inspections and repairs.

According the following Reuters article dated 8/9/2011, a spokesperson for Constellation said that the repairs to Unit 2 had been completed and that workers were doing "post maintenance testing":

NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy Nuclear Group
completed the repairs on the 1,148-megawatt Unit 2 at the Nine Mile Point
nuclear power plant in New York and were doing post maintenance testing, a
spokeswoman for the plant said Tuesday.

She could not say when the unit, which shut over the weekend, would
return to service.

Electricity traders guessed it would restart over the next day or so.

...

Apparently the Unit 2 reactor was restarted but had to be shut down again Thursday morning (8/11/2011) due to a different leak in a feedwater pump.


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