Following up on previous Boing Boing posts about the status of the Waterford nuclear power plant near New Orleans, here's an official announcement from the VP of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
On Aug. 27, Waterford declared an Unusual Event and shut down protectively when a hurricane warning was issued for St. Charles Parish, in which the plant is located. The robust design of the plant protected it from any damage, although offsite power and some communications capability was lost during the storm. An Unusual Event is the lowest of four emergency action levels.
Over the weekend, operators restored offsite power, ending reliance on standby diesel generators. An additional set of generators, brought in before the storm as a precautionary measure, were never needed. Repairs have also been made to communications systems, which had been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. The reactor is safely shut down and the plant cannot restart without NRC permission.
The plant will remain shut down while workers perform some minor maintenance unrelated to the hurricane. Operators will not restart the reactor until NRC completes its restart readiness assessment, to verify both the plant and its staff are ready to support full power operation. The agency's resident inspectors, augmented by regional and Headquarters staff, will continue around-the-clock oversight of licensee activities.
Link (Thanks, Eric McErlain)
Previously:
