Dive Summary:
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Duke Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear power plant near Raleigh, North Carolina issued an alert early Thursday morning after a malfunction to "non-safety related electrical distribution equipment" led to the plant losing power.
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Duke Energy canceled the alert later that morning, with Duke Energy spokeswoman Kim Crawford stating, "The alert was terminated at 5:33 a.m. [...] and it was an electrical fault on a transformer [...]. [There was] a little bit of smoke, so we had to declare this alert. The plant is stable and online, no injuries, no danger ever to the public from this event."
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Damage to a reactor vessel caused the Shearon Harris plant to shut down in May but Crawford said this incident has "no connection at all" to the May shutdown. No radioactive materials were leaked during the event and the plant is back up and running.
#BreakingNews: Duke Energy spokesperson tells #ABC11 the Shearon Harris alert was cancelled at 5:33am. Electrical issue. No danger to public
— John Clark ABC11 (@JohnClarkABC11) August 8, 2013
From the article:
After an inspection of equipment revealed no threat to safety, officials terminated the alert. Around 6 a.m., plant personnel said they were operating at a reduced power level of 91 percent as recovery actions continued. [...]
An alert is the second in increasing significance of four nuclear emergency classifications and is used to describe conditions that require emergency response agencies to be in a heightened state of readiness, but pose no threat to public safety.