HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Browns Ferry nuclear plant in north Alabama had a fire in one of its control rooms in January, but the Tennessee Valley Authority didn't issue a public notice of the fire until this week.

The Huntsville Times reports (http://bit.ly/MsfSRS ) that the TVA incident report indicates that the fire lasted about 10 minutes and was caused by an electrical component that was about four times older than its recommended shelf life.

TVA's sent its report on the Jan. 26 fire to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on March 26. An NRC spokesman said Friday he had no explanation why the report wasn't made public by the federal regulatory agency until Monday.

TVA determined the fire didn't affect safety systems and didn't last long enough to warrant immediate reporting to the NRC.