An explosion in the Harris nuclear plant's switchgear prompted an alert at the North Carolina reactor Thursday.An electrical bus that provides power to safe-shutdown equipment exploded at about 2:30 a.m., according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission event report. Operators brought the unit down to 92 percent power to compensate for the loss of moisture separator reheaters, according to the NRC, and an emergency diesel generator was found to be inoperable because of air compressors without power. The explosion did not result in a fire. No offsite assistance was required, and the alert ended at 5:33 a.m.The single-unit plant located near Raleigh, N.C., uses a 928 megawatt Westinghouse pressurized water reactor. The plant was first licensed in 1986, according to the NRC, and is operated by Duke Energy. While the reactor itself was not at risk, the agency requires an emergency declaration in the event of "an explosion of sufficient force to damage permanent structures or equipment within the protected area."
Anonymous comments will be moderated. Join for free and post now!
Loss of moisture separator reheaters?
Why would the moisture separator reheaters be inoperable during a switchgear explosion?
As I understand it, Anonymous, the explosion de-energized a bus that provided power to them. You can find more details here: www.nrc.gov/.../20130808en.html
Thanks,
Peter
Nuclear Street News Team
Could be that the steam supply valves tripped closed on the loss of power.
I think this article should have said “an electrical fault of an explosive force” or something to that effect, not an explosion. If in fact an explosion had occurred in the owner controlled area we would still be in gridlock on all the news channels! The public’s lack of real knowledge about anything technical in any nuclear plant feeds on such misstated headlines. I have seen the damage a 13.8KV buss fault can do and it does look like a bomb went off, just be careful of how you say anything like that around those who would elect people like Obama. George Wood
