Dive Brief:
- Nuclear regulators say a "reactor trip" took Ameren Missouri's Callaway nuclear facility offline but there was no danger to the public and the incident was considered a "non-emergency."
- Ameren officials are looking into the cause, and in the meantime say the plant is stable and the shutdown poses no threat to customers, according to the Post-Dispatch.
- The plant produces almost 1,200 MW and supplies about 20% of Ameren Missouri's peak demand. The Callaway facility had recently completed refueling.
Dive Insight:
The Callaway facility celebrates its 30th anniversary this month, but it is offline right now as Ameren officials try to uncover what tripped a reactor. Unit 1 "commenced a rapid down power due to the degradation of the pump," NRC said. The plant was declared fully operational in 1984.
"After the trip, both main steam generator feedwater pumps were secured due to feed pump suction pressure remaining low post trip," NRC said. "All other plant systems functioned as required. All control rods fully inserted in the core due to the manual trip."
“Something happened on the electrical side of the plant,” Mark McLachlan, Ameren’s senior director of engineering, told the Post-Dispatch. “What we don’t know is what caused that electrical problem yet, and we’re investigating."
Refueling at the facility began Oct. 11 and Callaway was brought back online in late November. Thousands of periodic maintenance activities, inspections and tests were performed to maintain and monitor the integrity of the center, Ameren said.