Details continue to emerge on an industrial accident that killed a worker at Arkansas Nuclear One and cut off-site power to a reactor at the plant on Sunday.
According to an event report filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and made public Monday, a temporary lift device failed while moving the unit 1 main turbine generator stator, which weighs about 500 tons. The resulting damage caused the loss of all offsite power to the unit, according to the NRC. Unit 2 shut down automatically from full power, and its emergency feed water systems activated. Decay heat removal was restored at unit 1 within four minutes, according to the report, and unit 2 operators issued an unusual event declaration for about eight hours because of damaged switchgear.
Unit 1 was offline for a normal refueling and maintenance outage when the stator fell, plant owner Entergy said in a release. Workers were moving it out of the turbine building at about 7:45 a.m. when the accident killed one employee and injured eight others. Six were treated and released, and Entergy said Sunday that two remained in the hospital.
The local coroner later identified Wade Walters, 24, as the worker who was killed, central Arkansas TV station KARK reported.