The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently dispatched materials experts to Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant following a water service pump failure earlier this month.
In a release Monday, the NRC announced it is conducting a special inspection at the plant after the failure of the pump, one of three that circulates water to cool safety-related equipment under normal and emergency conditions. While the plant was operating under normal conditions, monitoring equipment indicated reduced flow from one of the pumps. Plant workers then replaced coupling components and successfully put the pump back into service. The NRC was made aware of the failure on Aug. 9, and the agency indicated it looked similar to a pump problem in 2009. NRC metals and materials experts have since sought to learn more about what the agency described as a “potentially repetitive issue.”
“There are no immediate safety concerns involved with this failure,” NRC Region III Administrator Mark Satorius was quoted as saying in the release. “Nevertheless, we want to gain a better understanding of exactly why the component failed and determine if there are steps the utility could have taken that would have prevented the failure from happening.”
Palisades is a single-reactor plant bordering Lake Michigan 65 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, Mich. It generates 778 megawatts using a Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor first licensed in 1971.