Earth Watch Report - Nuclear Event
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| Nuclear Event | USA | State of North Carolina, [Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant ] |  |  |
Nuclear Event in USA on Thursday, 08 August, 2013 at 16:33 (04:33 PM) UTC.
| Description | |
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The Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant is no longer under alert
following an equipment malfunction early Thursday morning that caused
the plant to lose power around 3 a.m. to "non-safety related electrical
distribution equipment." Officials at the nuclear plant in Wake County
said there were no radioactive materials released because of the
incident. After an inspection of equipment revealed no threat to safety,
officials terminated the alert. Around 6 a.m., plant personnel said
they were operating at a reduced power level of 91 percent as recovery
actions continued. "The alert was terminated at 5:33 a.m. ... and it was
an electrical fault on a transformer, like an electrical box similar to
your breaker in your house, so it was running non-safety related
equipment," Kim Crawford spokesperson with Duke Energy said. "[There
was] a little bit of smoke, so we had to declare this alert. The plant
is stable and online, no injuries, no danger ever to the public from
this event." Crawford also said the incident happened on the non-reactor side of the plant and was not related to the cracks and corrosion found in a reactor vessel that caused it to shut down in May. No connection at all," she said. "This is on the secondary side of the plant. That was something we had to repair, that was a maintenance outage, but no relationship at all to that event. According to Duke Energy, who jointly owns the plant with the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency, plant employees had staffed emergency response facilities during Thursday morning's event, and coordinated with federal, state and local officials to resolve the situation and protect the public. The plant also had state/county emergency management officials on standby to activate sirens located throughout the plant's 10-mile emergency planning zone (EPZ) if needed. Sirens alert residents to listen to local radio and television stations for information and instructions. Emergency preparedness information is also available at duke-energy.com, just search for "emergency preparedness." An alert is the second in increasing significance of four nuclear emergency classifications and is used to describe conditions that require emergency response agencies to be in a heightened state of readiness, but pose no threat to public safety. The Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant is a single-unit power plant located on Harris Lake, near New Hill, North Carolina - about 20 miles southwest of Raleigh. |
Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant no longer on alert
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Shearon Harris nuclear plant near Raleigh, N.C.
(AP Photo)
WAKE COUNTY (WTVD) --
The Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant is no longer under alert
following an equipment malfunction early Thursday morning that caused
the plant to lose power around 3 a.m. to "non-safety related electrical
distribution equipment."
Officials at the nuclear plant in Wake County said there were no radioactive materials released because of the incident. After an inspection of equipment revealed no threat to safety, officials terminated the alert. Around 6 a.m., plant personnel said they were operating at a reduced power level of 91 percent as recovery actions continued.
"The alert was terminated at 5:33 a.m. ... and it was an electrical fault on a transformer, like an electrical box similar to your breaker in your house, so it was running non-safety related equipment," Kim Crawford spokesperson with Duke Energy said. "[There was] a little bit of smoke, so we had to declare this alert. The plant is stable and online, no injuries, no danger ever to the public from this event."
Crawford also said the incident happened on the non-reactor side of the plant and was not related to the cracks and corrosion found in a reactor vessel that caused it to shut down in May.
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Transformer failure at Harris nuclear plant triggers emergency alert
Published: August 8, 2013 Updated 3 hours ago
An early morning electrical fault at the Harris Nuclear
Plant in Wake County triggered an emergency alert Thursday but the plant
did not require a full shutdown and continues generating electricity.
Duke Energy Progress, the Raleigh-based owner and operator of the Harris plant, notified federal regulators of the overheated transformer at 3:15 a.m. Thursday. The notification required utility staff, as well as two Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors, to report to the facility in New Hill, which is less than 25 miles from downtown Raleigh.
The incident fried a junction box in the plant’s switchgear room, cutting off power to air handlers, lighting panels and flow indicators. There were no injuries or radioactive leaks, but the mishap was sufficient enough to force plant operators to reduce the nuclear plant’s power output to 92 percent.
“Operators noted smoke and assumed a fire until they were able to make an assessment,” said Progress spokeswoman Kim Crawford. “They saw no visible flames when they inspected the equipment.”
Duke Energy Progress, the Raleigh-based owner and operator of the Harris plant, notified federal regulators of the overheated transformer at 3:15 a.m. Thursday. The notification required utility staff, as well as two Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors, to report to the facility in New Hill, which is less than 25 miles from downtown Raleigh.
The incident fried a junction box in the plant’s switchgear room, cutting off power to air handlers, lighting panels and flow indicators. There were no injuries or radioactive leaks, but the mishap was sufficient enough to force plant operators to reduce the nuclear plant’s power output to 92 percent.
“Operators noted smoke and assumed a fire until they were able to make an assessment,” said Progress spokeswoman Kim Crawford. “They saw no visible flames when they inspected the equipment.”
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