PERRY, Ohio — A reactor coolant system leak caused the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Lake County to shut down for two days last week.
A spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells 3News in an email that the plant is back up and running and "there was no negative impact on public safety."
According to a report filed by the NRC, the shutdown was initiated at Perry at 4 a.m. on Thursday, May 23. The action was taken after a reactor coolant system leakage that exceeded five gallons per minute was detected at midnight. The plant was required to reduce leakage to within specified limits within four hours.
"This required action was not completed within the completion time, therefore a technical specification required shutdown was initiated," the report stated.
The reactor coolant leakage was stable at approximately 6 gallons per minute when the plant was shut down, according to the report, which classified the incident as "non-emergency."
A spokesperson for the NRC told 3News inspectors from the agency "responded and closely monitored the plant's actions to shut down and address the issues." The plant started back up on Saturday.
"The NRC requires plants to have technical specifications that require the licensee to shut down for certain issues such as a reactor coolant system leak that is unidentified and if it exceeds a certain threshold. The NRC’s requirement is in place to ensure there is no leak coming from the wall of a pipe, called pressure boundary leakage. The NRC was informed by the plant that there was no pressure boundary leakage, the source of the leak was identified and has been stopped," the agency added in its statement.
Energy Harbor, the owner of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, provided the following statement to 3News:
"Perry shut down temporarily to repair a valve on a water piping system that cools the reactor. The repair work has been completed, and the unit is now operating at full power. As the online NRC report notes, this was a non-emergency event and notification."
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