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Three more items added to Fort Calhoun Station re-start checklist

OPPD

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has added three more items to OPPD’s to-do list before Fort Calhoun Station can reopen.

The NRC notified OPPD of the additions in a letter Tuesday. The items are part of a list of 450 that OPPD must complete before the nuclear plant can re-open.  NRC Region 4 spokeswoman Lara Uselding says the new items include so-called “safety system function failures.”

"The NRC defines a safety system function failure as one of the key systems that is used to shut down the reactor safely and keep the reactor cool during an accident scenario. If one of these key systems has a potential for failure, it is defined as a safety system function failure. And there have been a number of safety system function failures at the site over the course of the year."

Uselding says one of those was a fire in an electrical box that cut power to some systems and components.

Fort Calhoun Station shut down in April 2011 for refueling, and remained closed during the historic Missouri River flooding. Safety issues at the plant have kept it shut down since. Last fall, Chicago-based Exelon Nuclear Partners assumed day-to-day operations of Fort Calhoun Station.

OPPD has completed more than 100 of the 450 items so far.

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