Point Beach Reactor Shut Down for Maintenance

Source: PRNewswire PRESS RELEASE Publication date: Feb 21, 2000

TWO RIVERS, Wis., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the reactors at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant was shut down Sunday morning for maintenance needed to remove a small, loose part from one of the plant's steam generators. Unit 1 was taken out of service at 7:26 a.m. Sunday and is expected to be off line for about two weeks.

Plant manager Rick Mende said the loose part, weighing less than one-half pound, was detected by monitors that indicated unusual vibration in the steam generator.

"It's not a safety concern," said Mende. "We shut the unit down to remove the loose part and prevent damage to the steam generator."

A steam generator transfers heat from the reactor coolant system to make steam. The steam spins the turbine generator that makes electricity. The shutdown will last 10 to 14 days, because workers must first partially drain the steam generator before removing the loose piece of metal. Workers will also perform other maintenance work to improve the reliability of the plant when it returns to service.

Point Beach Units 1 and 2 generate about 1,022 megawatts of electricity. Wisconsin Electric has sufficient electric power supply to meet all customer needs during the maintenance outage.

A subsidiary of [Wisconsin Energy Corp.] (NYSE: WEC), Wisconsin Electric provides electricity, natural gas and/or steam service to about 2.4 million people in southeastern Wisconsin (including the Milwaukee area), the Appleton area, the Prairie du Chien area, and in northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Visit the company's Web site at http://www.wisconsinelectric.com SOURCE Wisconsin Electric

Publication date: Feb 21, 2000 ) 2000, NewsReal, Inc.

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-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 21, 2000

Answers

"not a Safety concern"sez Mende.Of course not.Silly to think it might be,never occured to me.

-- Roentgen (Radiation@good.4U), February 21, 2000.

With all the problems the nuclear plants are having now and possible problems going into the summer, when electricity use will be in higher demand, is it likely that we may have rationing?

-- Maggie (song bird@iwon.com), February 21, 2000.

Beautiful! Did someone leave his lunchbox in the generator when it was assembled? Where did half a pound of superflous junk come from?

-- W (me@home.now), February 21, 2000.

Steam turbines have blades machined to extremely tight tolerances. A nick in a blade would throw it off balance and shut the plant down for months while a repair was made. They were lucky to have the moniter. Beats me how they guessed at the weight of the object. Its nothing more than a surgeon leaving a sponge in side a patient.

-- JOHN (LITTMANNJ@AOL.COM), February 21, 2000.

Isn't that how "The China Syndrome" started - an "unusual vibration" ... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 21, 2000.