| {Omaha Public Power District} Rumor: Because of a fire at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station on June 7, the plant's spent-fuel pool was in danger of boiling and releasing radioactivity. There was no such imminent danger with the Fort Calhoun Station spent-fuel pool. Due to a fire in an electrical switchgear room at FCS on the morning of June 7, the plant temporarily lost power to a pump that cools the spent-fuel pool. The fire-suppression system in that switchgear room operated as designed, extinguishing the fire quickly. FCS plant operators switched the spent-fuel pool cooling system to an installed backup pump about 90 minutes after the loss of power. During the interruption of cooling, temperature of the pool increased a few degrees, but the pool was never in danger of boiling. Due to this situation, FCS declared an Alert at about 9:40 am on June 7. An alert is the second-least-serious of four emergency classifications established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At about 1:15 pm on June 7, FCS operators declared they had taken all appropriate measures to safely return to the previously declared Notification of Unusual Event emergency classification. (See first item above.) www.oppd.com |
