Inspections during a refueling outage at unit 2 of PSEG's Salem nuclear plant revealed bolt fragments at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel.
Quoting spokesmen from the plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the South Jersey Times reported that as many as 17 bolt heads have been found beneath fuel assemblies and at the bottom of a reactor coolant pump. The bolts came from RCP turning vanes and may have been affected by stress corrosion cracking.
All four RCPs will be inspected, and the plant will remain offline until the issue is resolved. Salem 2 shut down April 12 for a routine refueling outage. The unit in PSEG's artificial island complex in New Jersey is a Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactor first licensed in 1981.