The Unit 1 reactor at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant was taken offline Tuesday because of an electrical malfunction, a Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman said Wednesday. Jim Hopson said the automatic “downpower” occurred at 5:30 p.m. after indications of an electrical load imbalance on the main generator’s output circuitry. He said the issue was not associated with the reactor itself, but instead with the power generation system. He said there was no danger to the public or plant personnel related to the shutdown. “If you’ve ever driven your car down the road and shifted your car into neutral, what happens?” Hopson said, providing an example of why the automatic downpowering of the reactor occurred. “You don’t want that power to not have anywhere to go. All of the equipment performed the way it was supposed to.” He said Units 2 and 3 continue to operate at full capacity and were not affected by the Unit 1 outage. Plant workers are still investigating the cause of the load imbalance and Unit 1 won’t be brought back online until the issue is resolved, Hopson said. “Sometimes it can be tricky to track down and find the cause,” he said. “The actual amount of time (until it can be returned to service) will depend on the cause and the effectiveness of the repairs.” Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Joey Ledford said NRC observers stationed at the plant were monitoring the situation, but said there is currently no reason to believe the incident was anything more than an “uncomplicated trip” of the reactor’s electrical system.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 11:15:30 +0000
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