Plant operators at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant shut down the reactor today when a problem was discovered in the condenser that helps covert steam back into water in the plant’s feedwater system on the non-nuclear part of the power plant.
The Unit 1 reactor ceased generating power about 11 a.m. today and will remain offline while TVA employees try to figure out what caused a loss of a vacuum in a part of the condenser.
TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said there was never any danger to the public or plant personnel but operators manually shut down the reactor when they saw the condenser problem. The Watts Bar unit, located near Spring City, Tenn., will remain offline until the source of the problem is determined and corrected, Hopson said.
“This was an uncomplicated trip, meaning that everything worked exactly as it was supposed to, but we had to bring the reactor offline until we determine the source of the problem,” he said.
Hopson said warmer weather over this weekend has significantly lowered TVA’s power demand fromThursday’s peak levels, “so we do not expect the temporary loss of Watts Bar Unit 1’s generation to create any issues for the transmission system.”