Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2013
On July 2, Palo Verde’s Unit 1 in western Arizona powered down to 58 percent of capacity for three days, after to a short-circuit toasted an electrical switching box. The electrical equipment where the arc occurred sends power to the turbine building. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection found that the load center had been blackened by the flash which disrupted operation of a main feedwater pump supplying the reactor’s steam generators. The inspectors saw no sign of a bigger problem and labeled it a “minor” incident. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, but operators of the station’s three reactors blamed the powerful electrical short on rain water.
— Associated Press, Aug. 5; Reuters, July 3; NEWSOK.com (Oklahoma City), July 5; Arizona Republic, Mar. 8, 2013
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