Reuters: Regulatory News: NRC finds substantial safety issue at Wolf Creek nuke plant

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

NRC finds substantial safety issue at Wolf Creek nuke plant Sep 21st 2012, 18:48 Tweet Share this Email Print Related Topics Stocks » Regulatory News » Markets » Nuclear Power » Utilities » Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:48pm EDT Sept 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power regulator said it would increase inspections and oversight at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Kansas after it determined that a loss-of-power event earlier this year had a substantial safety significance. On Jan. 13, Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp's 1,166-megawatt Wolf Creek nuclear power plant was shut after the failure of a main generator electrical breaker, followed by an unexplained loss of power to a transformer. At that time, the plant operators declared an Unusual Event, the lowest of four levels of nuclear emergency. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has determined that the company's inadequate oversight of contractors performing work associated with safety-related equipment in April last year set the stage for the incident in January. "The licensee failed to identify that electrical maintenance contractors had improperly connected wires on an electrical component. This allowed an electrical short to prevent transfer of power to a transformer on Jan. 13," the NRC said. Under the NRC reactor oversight process, inspection findings are evaluated using a significance determination process and assigned a color indicating the safety significance. Findings with very low safety significance are labeled "green." "White" findings have low to moderate safety significance; "yellow" findings have substantial safety significance; and "red" findings have high safety significance. The "yellow" finding moves Wolf Creek into the "degraded cornerstone" column of the NRC action matrix, and the plant now joins six other nuclear units in the column: Hope Creek 1, Palisades, Perry 1, Saint Lucie 1, Salem 1 and Salem 2. ---------------------------------------------------------- PLANT BACKGROUND/TIMELINE STATE: Kansas COUNTY: Coffey TOWN: Burlington about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Kansas City OPERATOR: Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp OWNER: - Kansas City Power & Light, a Great Plains Energy Co (47 pct) - Kansas Gas and Electric, a Westar Energy Co - Kansas Electric Power Co-op (6 pct) CAPACITY: 1,160 MW UNIT(S): Westinghouse pressurized water reactor FUEL: Nuclear DISPATCH: Baseload TIMELINE: 1985 - Unit enters service 2006 - Wolf Creek files with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renewal the original 40-year operating license for an additional 20 years 2008 - NRC renews operating license 2045 - Unit license expires Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions