The Vermont Yankee and Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plants powered back up over the weekend following mechanical problems at both locations Sept. 25.The Vermont Yankee spent most of last week at 44 percent power after an electrical problem caused one of the boiling water reactor’s recirculation pumps to malfunction. Entergy officials quoted by the Brattleboro Reformer reported the problem had been fixed Saturday morning, and operators began increasing power soon after. The plant was operating at 95 percent power Monday, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but it will power down again next weekend for a planned refueling outage.At Palisades, safety systems automatically shut down the reactor after two small pieces of metal arced inside an electrical panel. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which initiated a special inspection following the shutdown, “This resulted in a series of electrical issues that caused the plant to shut down and sent signals to multiple plant systems causing certain safety pumps to start and some safety valves to reposition.” Entergy workers resolved the issue, and the plant resumed generation Sunday morning. The utility operates a single 778 megawatt Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor at the plant south of Grand Rapids, Mich.
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