Clinton Gets A Special Inspection

NRC Launches Special Inspection at Clinton Nuclear Plant  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has launched a Special Inspection at the Clinton nuclear power plant to review the circumstances surrounding the failure of a transformer and a subsequent manual shutdown of the reactor on Dec. 9. The two-member inspection team arrived onsite Monday to better understand the event, review the operation of equipment and evaluate the plant’s actions in response. NRC inspectors, who will spend time both on and off site, also plan to review the corrective actions taken and the extent of condition evaluation, as a similar event occurred in 2013 on another transformer. The event did not impact public health and safety. As part of the inspection, the NRC team will independently review the technical details regarding this operational failure, and the plant’s response to the previous event. Following the inspection, a report documenting the team’s findings will be made publicly available. When the operational failure occurred, operators in the control room received numerous alarms indicating a transformer failure, which resulted in a loss of power to certain safety related equipment. Redundant safety systems remained available and operable. Other plant systems responded as expected. Workers installed a new transformer before the plant restarted operations. The single-unit plant is operated by Exelon Nuclear Generation Co., and is located in Clinton, Ill., about 23 miles southeast of Bloomington, Ill.