Three Mile Island nuclear reactor shuts down unexpectedly!

Three Mile Island nuclear reactor shuts down unexpectedly

A reactor at Three Mile Island, the site of the nation’s worst nuclear accident, shut down unexpectedly on Thursday afternoon when a coolant pump tripped and steam was released, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told NBC News.

The system tripped when "the pump stopped operating and created a power/flow imbalance," said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.

The plant responded as designed and is stable with no impact on public health or safety, added NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci.

If any radiation was in the released steam, Screnci said, it would be below detectable levels.

Exelon, the plant operator, said in a statement that "during the shutdown, steam was released into the atmosphere, creating a loud noise heard by nearby residents."

...

Plant operators were not yet sure what caused the problem.

Not good.

It doesn't help that the reporter seems to quote the authorities as saying "the shutdown poses no risks to public health or safety..."

But what about right before the shutdown?

I seem to recall a similar public statement approach from the Japanese with Fukishima. Hopefully, that isn't the case here...

On another note, it's really strange that the shutdown occurred more than five hours ago, and yet, all I can find are a handful of media references to it. Almost NO national MSM coverage yet.

That's spooky all by itself.

I look forward to hearing the additional details...

There a hundred different reasons as to why a nuclear reactor will SCRAM....

Most of them are of no concern, a gauge could of been out of calibration and the reactor automatically shut down to protect itself.

The fact that the reactor shut down automatically is actually a very good thing, not a bad thing as you said.

reply to post by RobertF


What's not good is they don't know why it shut down yet.

UPDATE:

Repairs underway at Exelon PA Three Mile Island reactor

Exelon Corp said it was conducting repairs on a reactor coolant pump at the 805-megawatt
Unit 1 of its Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, which shut down automatically on Thursday following a malfunction.

"The cause of yesterday's shutdown was a problem with a reactor coolant pump," company spokesman Ralph DeSantis said.

He did not specify any return date for the unit.