On February 29, 2016, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that the agency launched a Special Inspection into two recent events at the Perry nuclear power plant. According to NRC, neither event affected public health or safety at the plant.

The Perry nuclear power plant is operated by FirstEnergy Operating Co. and is located in Perry, Ohio—approximately 35 miles northeast of Cleveland.

Background

On February 8, 2016, operators at the Perry nuclear power plant manually shut down the reactor when they observed an increase of the temperature in the suppression pool.  The suppression pool is designed to condense steam and is also a water source for emergency cooling systems.

On February 11, 2016, while the reactor was shutdown, there was a temporary loss of power to certain plant cooling equipment.  Operators were able to use a redundant system and restore power to the cooling systems.

Inspection

“Even though the two events are not related, we have questions related to the response of the equipment and operator actions,” said NRC Region III Administrator Cynthia Pederson.  “Our team of specialists in reactor operations and electrical equipment will review the technical details to better understand what happened.”

On February 29, 2016, the four-member inspection team began work and will spend time both on and off site conducting their reviews.  After the inspection, a report documenting the team’s findings will be made publicly available.

For additional information, please contact Viktoria Mitlyng at (630) 829-9662 or Prema Chandrathil at (630) 829-9663.