Alert And Heavy Smoke Coming Out Of Quad Cities.

Was the water pipe corroded...

April 4:

Water pipe to blame for Exelon plant emergency

Operators of Exelon Nuclear's Quad-Cities Generating Station in Cordova know the cause of an electrical short that resulted in the facility going on emergency status Wednesday afternoon.

Now the investigation will center on why it happened and what measures can be taken to ensure it doesn't happen again, plant spokesman Bill Stoermer said Thursday.

"There was a malfunction of a water pipe," he said. "It caused water to spray on a cable tray where there were electrical wires. And where these lines are hooked together, there are connections. It caused a spark, which caused the insulation of the wiring to melt. When that happens, that caused the smoke. There is a safety feature in the pipe that was supposed to prevent it from leaking."

Stoermer said workers noticed smoke in a turbine building in Unit 2 at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday. He said on-site firefighters handled the possible electrical short "within seconds." Some employees were evacuated from the unit, and no one was injured. The plant immediately declared an alert, which was removed at 9:32 p.m.

He said the reactor was taken offline Monday night to replace a valve on the control-rod drive system. It was about two hours from being brought back into service when the incident occurred. The reactor cannot be brought back online until the investigation into the leak and electrical short is concluded, Stoermer said...
Smoke from electrical problem shuts down Unit 2 reactor at nuclear plant in Cordova

Heavy smoke was visible from a reported electrical fire at the Exelon Nuclear Plant in Cordova, Illinois.

Fire was reported at the facility just after 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at the Quad Cities Generating Station at 22710 206th Avenue.

Initial, unconfirmed reports indicated an electrical fire happened inside the plant, and that heavy smoke was visible outside the facility.

Firefighters and equipment from at least four departments were sent to the plant. Cordova Fire Protection District Chief Chuck Smalley later said a total of 68 personnel responded from various departments.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries or area impact associated with the possible fire. Exelon spokesman Bill Stoermer later said employees were evacuated as a precaution, but that no one was in any danger from the incident.

Exelon classified the incident as an “alert,” saying that is the second-lowest of four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Stoermer confirmed smoke was visible, but said it may have come from an electrical “short” and that actual fire was not yet confirmed.

“It appears that there could have been an electrical short,” Stoermer said. “There is a lot of electrical cabling, as you can imagine, inside the power plant. So, they’ll take a hard look at all of their electrical cabling and determine, ‘Did something short out or what happened there?’ that would have caused maybe some smoke or some sparks.”

The activity happened in Unit 2, the same reactor that was taken out of service the evening of March 31 to “replace a valve on the control rod drive system,” according to a statement from Exelon. The valve replacement could not be performed while the unit was operating. That shutdown did not affect electrical service.

The April 2 incident happened as Unit 2 was being re-started after the shutdown.

Stoermer said they would assess Unit 2 before it was restarted. He said representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would investigate the April 2 incident.

“The NRC’s primary concern right now is to make sure the public is protected and that the plant operator is taking swift and appropriate action to continue to maintain plant safety,” said NRC spokesperson Viktoria Mitlyng. “Once the situation is resolved, the NRC will fully inspect the cause of and contributing factors to the event.”

“We train with these guys, we know this plant, so it all went very well today,” Chief Smalley said.

“There is no impact to public health or safety or to plant personnel,” Stoermer said. Unit 1 remained at full power.