Black smoke coming from Millstone not linked to quake ...

Diesel fuel mix ‘wasn’t right’ as auxiliary boilers were in use as part of startup procedure until reactor produced enough heat

Water ford — The black smoke coming from Millstone Power Station Sunday wasn’t a result of the morning earthquake that was felt across the region.

Millstone spokesman Ken Holt as well as State Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Region 4 Coordinator Mike Caplet both said that Sunday’s seismic activity was not to blame for the smoke. Instead, it was part of a scheduled refueling outage.

“As part of the normal startup process, steam required to start the plant is initially provided by oil fire auxiliary boilers until the reactor produces enough heat,” read a statement from Caplet to municipal leaders, meant to address concern on social media. “The initial start of these oil-fired boilers generated excess combustion smoke until operators could take action to adjust the controls.”

Holt explained the boilers are necessary for the plant’s restarting. Once the plant is up and making its own heat, the boilers don’t run. The diesel fuel mix used to operate the boilers “wasn’t right” on Sunday, according to Holt.

They adjusted the fuel mix, but it created that puff of smoke, which has since gone away,” Holt said.

Caplet also noted that the boilers are now operating correctly.

“The black smoke was a result of the boiler operation and is not a result of the seismic activity felt earlier in the morning,” Caplet said. “Dominion has not reported any damage and continues to conduct detailed plant walk downs by engineers and operators. There was no release of radioactivity. There is no threat to health and safety of the public.”

Waterford First Selectman Rob Brule has been updating residents about the smoke via his Facebook page throughout the day.

“The seismic alarms did not alarm, so any activity would have been below the design basis of the plant,” Brule wrote, adding that there was no release of radiation. “After some questions from concerned residents, I was informed by Dominion that the black smoke coming from Millstone was part of the normal testing procedure for operations.”