No nuclear safety threat following outage

The Perry Nuclear Power Plant was shut down July 27 following regular weekly testing and is not back in operation as of July 31.

A representative from Sitrick & Co., which speaks on behalf of FirstEnergy Solutions, said there is no nuclear safety concern from the shutdown.

“The Perry power plant is initiating startup following an outage that occurred as response to a turbine trip during regular weekly testing,” Sitrick & Co.’s Tom Becker said in an emailed statement. “FirstEnergy Solutions will continue to make the safety of our communities and employees our top priority.”

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Event Notification Report, the Main Turbine Trip occurred at 7:29 p.m., July 27.

“The trip was not complex, with all systems responding normally posttrip,” the event log stated. So what is a turbine trip? Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson Prema Chandrathil said nuclear plants use heat to turn water into steam

which then drives the turbine, also called the Main Turbine, that is connected to generators which then produce electricity.

“In this case, the plant operators were conducting planned equipment testing on the turbine when the turbine tripped (shut off)” Chandrathil said. “Once the turbine is tripped, the reactor will also automatically shutdown which is a planned equipment response and what did occur. Our inspectors are following the plant actions as the company investigates what happened.”

Chandrathil said since

the trip was caused by an issue on the electricity generating side of the plant, it would be able to restart once the issue has been resolved.

“The length can really vary depending on a variety of factors such as the issue, repair times and or necessary materials to name a few,” Chandrathil said.

NRC is conducting a routine follow-up on the North Perry Village-based plant.

“The plant shut down safely and is in a stable condition,” Chandrathil said. “There is no NRC special inspection or investigation.”