THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240352
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Virginia Power was forced to shut down a nuclear reactor at its Surry nuclear plant Friday to repair a leaking drain line, a company spokesman said.
No one was in danger because of the leak - which amounted to one drop of water every 20 minutes - and the reactor was expected to be back in service by Sunday, said Jim Norvelle, a utility spokesman.
``This is water that came in touch with the core, so we have to be careful with it,'' Norvelle said. It was the first time the reactor was stopped because of such a problem, he added.
The Surry plant has two nuclear reactors, both enclosed in large cement domes on the banks of the James River. Virginia Power's other nuclear plant in the state, at North Anna in central Virginia, also has two reactors.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission mandates a shutdown if repairs can't be made within six hours. Virginia Power didn't think it could meet the deadline in welding a patch over the faulty drain line, Norvelle said.
The line is used only during refueling. It connects the reactor cavity to a refueling storage tank located in an adjacent safeguard building. An engineer checking the building late Thursday night noticed a small dried spot of borax, a sign of a possible leak, under the line and alerted managers.
A decision was made just after midnight to shut down. ``We said, `Hey, that's not supposed to be there' and took the appropriate action,'' Norvelle said. by CNB