nuclear-news

Fire in turbine building at Palo Verde Nuclear Plant

Emergency declared at U.S. nuclear plant due to fire in turbine building — Two ‘reflash events’ occurred — Fire emergency lasted over four hours #PaloVerde http://enenews.com/emergency-declared-at-u-s-nuclear-plant-due-to-fire-in-turbine-building-two-reflash-events-occurred-fire-emergency-lasted-over-four-hours-paloverde

Associated Press, Sept. 3, 2013: The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station declared an unusual event when oil-soaked insulation behind a water pump caught fire, officials said Tuesday. […] An unusual event is the lowest of four emergency levels for nuclear power plants. […] APS spokesman said the cause of the fire is under investigation, but NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said it appeared that insulation that covers very hot metal surfaces had become soaked by bearing lubrication over time. […] The unusual event was the second at Palo Verde in two months […] The last unusual event was on July 2 when Unit 1 reactor temporarily reduced its power production after there was a minor explosion in a cabinet that holds electrical switching gear.

NRC: Event Notification Report for September 4, 2013 – – UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARED DUE TO FIRE IN THE TURBINE BUILDING […] An Event Classification of Unusual Event (HU2.1) was declared at 1926 [MST] for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. At 1912, smoke was detected by a security officer by the ‘A’ train Main Feed pump. An Auxiliary Nuclear Operator investigated and identified a fire on lagging, with one foot flames behind the main standard ‘A’ train Main Feed pump. The fire team responded to the fire and is currently on scene. Fire was declared out at 1957. […] The ‘A’ Main Feed pump high vibration alarm was received, but the continued operation of the main feed pump is currently not in jeopardy.” While removing lagging, during the recovery process, the licensee had 2 reflash events. The flame was extinguished and the licensee continues to remove the oil soaked lagging for the ‘A’ Main Feed pump. […] Vapor extraction differential pressure was increased to eliminate the oil vapor leak. At 2134 MST, received a report of two reflash events while the Fire Department was removing additional lagging with no sustained flame or fire. All the affected lagging has been removed and the fire emergency was terminated at 2345 MST on 9/2/13.  See also: Explosion reported at U.S. nuclear plant, emergency declared

September 6, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | incidents, USA