Tagged: energy

The NRC has confirmed a finding that an electrical fire last June at the Fort Calhoun Station was a serious safety risk.

Tuesday’s report follows a preliminary finding issued last month by the Commission. The June 7, 2011 fire caused an alert to be issued at the nuclear plant. It was closed at the time due to Missouri River flooding.

NRC Region 4 spokeswoman Lara Uselding says the finding is a so-called “red” threat, meaning it’s a high safety significant issue.

Uselding says OPPD accepted the findings and corrected the problem. A team of NRC inspectors remains at Fort Calhoun Station, and the plant won’t reopen until all issues there are corrected.

The Nebraska Public Power District plans to borrow $235 million dollars for general improvement projects, including work at Cooper Nuclear Station.

NPPD plans to issue the bonds Monday. Spokesman Mark Becker says $62 million dollars will be used for upgrades at Brownville’s Cooper Station, as part of the utility’s license renewal.“Also there’s a number of what I call paper projects, basically, we are going to a 24 month refueling cycle from 18 months, which means we have to do a lot of changes in procedures and how we go about doing testing to validate things, so there’s a lot of that that goes on as well, but a lot of it has to do with equipment.”

Becker says a 24 month refueling cycle will save the utility and its customers money.