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Oil leaking into Lake Michigan from Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman

Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman has been leaking oil into Lake Michigan. MLive By Julie Mack | jmack1@mlive.com on January 04, 2015 BRIDGMAN, MI — Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman has leaked an estimated 2,000 gallons of oil into Lake Michigan since Oct. 25, according to an event notification posted on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website.

Plant officials notified the NRC, plus state and local officials, on Dec. 20 about the leak, which is from the Unit 2 main turbine lube oil cooler. …….

It wasn’t until Dec. 16 that it was determined a leak might exist and on Dec. 19, it was traced to one of four heat-exchange tanks, where hot oil runs through hundreds of tubes and is cooled by lake water in the tank……

The estimate of 2,000 gallons of oil leakage overall is based on a calculation that the leak began Oct. 26…..

In August, plant officials issued a report that 8,700 gallons of diesel fuel were suspected to have been released from a buried fuel oil tank, but later said there was no leak and the report resulted from “instrumentation error.”

The plant is located near Bridgman, 11 miles south of St. Joseph along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Unit 2 went into operation in 1978.

The plant is owned by American Electric Power and operated by Indiana Michigan Power, an AEP subsidiary.

Julie Mack covers K-12 education and writes a column for Kalamazoo Gazette. Email her at jmack1@mlive.com, call her at 269-350-0277 or follow her on Twitter at @kzjuliemack. http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2015/01/cook_nuclear_plant_in_bridgman.html

January 5, 2015 - Posted by | incidents, USA

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