Entergy's River Bend nuclear plant in Louisiana will undergo increased regulatory scrutiny following an issue with one of its diesel backup generators identified earlier this month.
In a release Friday announcing a special inspection, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported that testing of one of the diesels on Dec. 2 revealed a water leak in its cooling system.
“The purpose of this special inspection is to better understand the cause of the leak and review the licensee’s corrective actions to ensure that the diesel generator will perform as intended,” NRC Region IV Administrator Elmo E. Collins said in the release.
The resultant report, due 45 days after the inspection, will also address the plant's cause analysis and response to previous leaks in diesel generator piping, according to the release.
River Bend is a single-unit plant northwest of Baton Rouge. It generates roughly 970 megawatts from a General Electric Type 6 boiling water reactor. According to the NRC's regulatory action matrix, the plant was already under a more frequent inspection schedule following unplanned reactor trips with complications in the second quarter of 2012.