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Nuclear safety officials have dinged Raleigh-based Progress Energy for a minor safety violation at its Brunswick nuclear plant near Wilmington.
The plant's emergency diesel generators were not properly protected from possible flooding during a hurricane, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The generators are needed as a backup source of electric power to operate pumps and other emergency equipment required to keep nuclear fuel from melting down and releasing radioactivity.
The generators were not properly protected because the plant had not sealed off the fuel-oil tank room that stores the diesel to run the generators.
The agency said the oversight was of "low to moderate safety significance." It did not merit a fine, but the NRC will increase its oversight of the nuclear plant with an extra inspection.
Progress Energy did not contest the NRC's finding, which the agency outlined in a two-page letter.
The defect was fixed by adding "new sealant material" to the openings, sealing the cracks along the bottom of the wall of the storage room, and adding concrete barriers to limit waves from running up on the enclosures.
The NRC is also doing a special inspection of a mishap at the Brunswick plant which took place several weeks ago. In that incident, moderately radioactive boiling water overflowed from the reactor vessel of Unit 2 because the reactor lid was not properly fastened to contain the water.
