The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has no safety concerns about Entergy Corp.’s Arkansas Nuclear One plant near Russellville after an accident on Sunday, a commission spokesman said Friday.
“From what we can tell, [Entergy] responded appropriately and took the correct steps to ensure the safety of the plant,” said Victor Dricks, a commission spokesman in Arlington,Texas. “There was no danger to public health or safety and there was no radiological release.”
A 550-ton generator stator - a large stationary enclosure where electricity is generated - fell Sunday as it was being moved from the turbine building, a non-nuclear area of the plant. One worker, 24-year-old Wade Walters, was killed and eight others were injured.
“The impact of the [550-ton generator stator] was sensed by one of the reactor coolant pumps on Unit 2 and it protectively shut down,” Dricks said.
The Unit 1 generator stator was being moved so it could be replaced with a new stator. It was being replaced as part of Unit 1’s scheduled refueling shutdown, which began March 24.
Dricks said he is unaware of an accident such as the one at Nuclear One on Sunday occurring at any other nuclear plant in the United States.
Unit 1 is being powered by two large diesel generators, said Terry Young, an Entergy vice president of nuclear communications in Jackson, Miss.
Each unit - or nuclear reactor - has two such diesel generators to provide power when needed, Young said. Only one generator per reactor is needed to provide the essential backup power, Young said.
The nuclear commission is conducting an inspection of events at the plant, Dricks said. The commission always has one resident inspector at the plant who will work with two other inspectors who have been sent to study the accident, Dricks said.
He does not know how long the inspection will take, Dricks said.
Entergy has said it will take several weeks for the plant to return to operation. Young said he could not be more specific about the time.
Entergy does not yet have an estimate on the cost of the accident, said Julie Munsell, a spokesman with Entergy Arkansas.
It is uncertain if Entergy Arkansas would be allowed to recoup costs related to the accident from its customers, said John Bethel, executive director of the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s general staff.
Entergy Arkansas hasn’t made such a request before the commission, Bethel said.
“If they make a request, it would depend on specific facts and the cause of the accident and the nature of the costs” whether the utility could charge its customers for the costs, Bethel said.
Other than hydroelectric power, nuclear power is the cheapest source of electricity Entergy has, Munsell said.
So when power from Arkansas Nuclear One is unavailable, Entergy has to generate electricity from other higher-cost plants it owns or buy replacement energy from sources outside Entergy Arkansas.
“We know that any replacement energy will be more expensive than that produced by [Arkansas Nuclear One],” Munsell said.
Business, Pages 27 on 04/06/2013