BYRON — Operators at Byron Generating Station terminated the Unusual Event at 8 p.m. today, after the return of power to Unit 2.
“Our diesel generators performed as expected in providing continuous electricity to the unit during the Unusual Event. Plant teams will now focus on a safe and measured approach to returning Unit 2 to the electrical grid,” said Byron Station Site Vice President Tim Tulon.
Station personnel are in communication with local, state and federal officials, including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the facility’s status.
The Unusual Event, which was declared Monday, is the lowest of the four emergency classifications as established by the NRC.
Byron’s Unit 1 continues to safely supply electricity to customers.
Exelon Nuclear officials say an equipment failure in a switchyard near the plant triggered the automatic shutdown of Unit 2.
The company, which continues to investigate the shutdown, said the plant is “in a safe and stable condition with no impact to public safety.” The plant is about 20 miles southwest of Rockford.
Meanwhile, officials from the state and federal governments were planning special inspections in and around the plant.
Officials from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency were at the plant today collecting water and vegetation to confirm that steam released during the event posed no hazards to people. The release of steam relieved pressure within the reactor.
IEMA wants to ensure that radioactive tritium that was in steam released after the reactor shutdown is at safe levels.
Results should be available in a few days.
“While we don’t expect to find harmful levels of tritium from the steam release at Byron, I believe it’s prudent to verify what levels are present,” said Jonathon Monken, IEMA director.
The NRC said it would investigate how the plant’s employees and systems responded to the loss of power, and for any corrective actions the plant is planning.
The NRC expects to have a report within 45 days of completing its inspection.
FOX News: Update on Byron Nuclear Station (IL) Venting Radioactive Steam - Jan. 31, 2012
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"Byron, Ill. - A nuclear power plant in Byron, Ill., lost power and shut down on Monday afternoon in an incident officials called "an unusual event," the lowest of four emergency levels.
The reactor was still offline Tuesday morning as repairs begin on a switch that failed, an Exelon official said.
Officials said small amounts of radiation called tritium were in the steam that was released to help cool the plant, which is northwest of Chicago. Tritium is a radioactive variation of hydrogen. Exelon said the levels were low and not a danger to the community.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "incident response center" in Lisle was activated immediately after that agency learned the transformer in the electrical switching yard at Byron began smoking during the emergency shutdown of reactor two. Investigators found no fire. They believe the switchyard issue may have caused the power loss."
The Byron Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located in Ogle County, Illinois, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the Rock River. The reactor buildings were constructed by Babcock and Wilcox and house two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, Unit 1 and Unit 2, which first began operation in September 1985 and August 1987 respectively. The plant was built for Commonwealth Edison and is currently owned and operated by Exelon Corporation.
Sustainable Excellence
The Exelon family of companies strives for the highest standards of power generation, delivery and wholesale marketing. We are committed to providing superior value for our customers, employees, investors and the communities we serve.
Exelon Corporation is one of the nation’s largest electric companies with more than $19 billion in annual revenues. Exelon’s family of companies includes energy generation, power marketing, transmission and energy delivery. Exelon Generation has one of the industry’s largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.
Exelon Corporation is one of the nation’s largest electric companies with more than $19 billion in annual revenues. Exelon’s family of companies includes energy generation, power marketing, transmission and energy delivery. Exelon Generation has one of the industry’s largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.
We are the largest owner/operator of nuclear plants in the United States. Exelon delivers electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois via ComEd and southeastern Pennsylvania via PECO, as well as natural gas to approximately 494,000 customers in the Philadelphia area via PECO. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol EXC.
http://www.exeloncorp.com/Pages/home.aspx
FAIL!
