News

**# One** · (This post was last modified: 08-14-2012 01:42 AM by # One.)

Seems the ocean water is 75 plus degrees which is too hot to make the process work.
First time...
Connecticut...
Im compiling info on it now for a link...
Jhikpghf

This plant provides electricity to half the state...
doomed

more to come...
Jhikpghf

**Coolchick**

oh deer..

**# One**

Sorry, it was connecticut...
Warm seawater forces Conn. nuclear plant shutdown ...
doomed

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=408528

**TheLOVETroll**

Coolchick Wrote:

oh deer..

**raisinbread**

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2..._nucl.html

Connecticut
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut's nuclear power plant shut down one of two units on Sunday because seawater used to cool down the plant is too warm.

Unit 2 of Millstone Power Station has occasionally shut for maintenance or other issues, but in its 37-year history it has never gone down due to excessively warm water, spokesman Ken Holt said on Monday.

Water from Long Island Sound is used to cool key components of the plant and is discharged back into the sound. The water cannot be warmer than 75 degrees and following the hottest July on record has been averaging 1.7 degrees above the limit, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

The federal agency issued an "emergency license amendment" last week, allowing Millstone, a subsidiary of Dominion Resources Inc., to use an average temperature of several readings.

"It wasn't enough to prevent us from shutting down," Holt said.

Richmond, Va.-based Dominion does not have an estimate of when the unit will restart, Holt said.

Millstone provides half of all power used in Connecticut and 12 percent in New England. Its two units produce 2,100 megawatts of electricity, which is reduced by 40 percent with Unit 2 down, Holt said.

Marcia Blomberg, a spokeswoman for regional grid operator ISO-New England, said the loss of electricity will not be a major problem. The Holyoke, Mass.-based agency generally operates with a margin of reserve and plans for the possibility of lost resources, she said.

"Generators are big machines," she said. "It happens frequently that resources are unable to start up or have to power down."

In addition to the extreme heat last month, the mild winter didn't help because it kept Long Island Sound water unusually mild, Holt said.

Dave Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' nuclear safety project, said he believes the partial Millstone shutdown is the first involving a nuclear plant pulling water from an open body of water. A few nuclear plants that draw water from inland sources have powered down due to excessively warm water, he said.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2..._nucl.html

**Blitzkreig**

Operators of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland have shut down one of the two reactors there because a control rod unexpectedly dropped into the reactor core, causing a reduction in power generation, a plant spokesman said Monday.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/gre...8290.story

**raisinbread**

Why would they only shut down 1 if the water is to hot? wouldn't they shut them both down?

**Coolchick**

ArchNemesis Wrote:

Coolchick Wrote:
oh deer..

:(

**raisinbread**

NumBurr 1 Wrote:

Seems the ocean water is 75 plus degrees which is too hot to make the process work.
First time...
Connecticut...
Im compiling info on it now for a link...

This plant provides electricity to half the state...

more to come...

Millstone provides half of all power used in Connecticut and 12 percent in New England

Millstone 1 closed in July 1998.
On February 20, 1996 a leaking valve forced the shutdown of this unit, and unit 2; multiple equipment failures were found.

Millstone 2 is a Combustion Engineering plant max power 2700 MWth (870 MWe).

Millstone 3 has a maximum power output of 3411 MWth (1150 MWe).

So depending on which one it could be more or less than 1/2 the states power.

**# One**

raisinbread Wrote:

Why would they only shut down 1 if the water is to hot? wouldn't they shut them both down?

Im assuming they are circulating the 80 degree water in the shutdown units piping till it cools down to 74, then bypassing it over to working unit...
Jhikpghf

**raisinbread**

Blitzkreig Wrote:

Operators of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland have shut down one of the two reactors there because a control rod unexpectedly dropped into the reactor core, causing a reduction in power generation, a plant spokesman said Monday.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/gre...8290.story

Control rods only drop if there's a problem. Something happened there.
doomed

**Blitzkreig**

raisinbread Wrote:

Blitzkreig Wrote:
Operators of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland have shut down one of the two reactors there because a control rod unexpectedly dropped into the reactor core, causing a reduction in power generation, a plant spokesman said Monday.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/gre...8290.story

Control rods only drop if there's a problem. Something happened there.

**raisinbread**

NumBurr 1 Wrote:

raisinbread Wrote:
Why would they only shut down 1 if the water is to hot? wouldn't they shut them both down?

Im assuming they are circulating the 80 degree water in the shutdown units piping till it cools down to 74, then bypassing it over to working unit...

When Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 7 nuclear reactor shut down because of a earthquake in 2007, it took 16 hours for the coolant temperature to diminish from 287 to 100ºC so that it would no longer boil.

Direct or "once-through" cooling. If the power plant is next to the sea, a big river, or large inland water body it may be done simply by running a large amount of water through the condensers in a single pass and discharging it back into the sea, lake or river a few degrees warmer and without much loss from the amount withdrawn[5]. That is the simplest method. The water may be salt or fresh. Some small amount of evaporation will occur off site due to the water being a few degrees warmer.

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/c...al-warming

**raisinbread**

Blitzkreig Wrote:

raisinbread Wrote:
Blitzkreig Wrote:
Operators of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland have shut down one of the two reactors there because a control rod unexpectedly dropped into the reactor core, causing a reduction in power generation, a plant spokesman said Monday.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/gre...8290.story

Control rods only drop if there's a problem. Something happened there.

It's the third unplanned shutdown of Unit 1 in the past month; the reactor was taken out of service twice in July to fix a pair of leaks, according to Raftery.

**Mother Mary**

raisinbread Wrote:

Why would they only shut down 1 if the water is to hot? wouldn't they shut them both down?

Cause then nobody would have electric there? I guess they gotta do what they gotta do to keep the water cool enough to at least run one reactor. I wonder how warm Lake Erie is?