Tagged: fermi 2

FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Federal officials are planning a special inspection of the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant this year because the Monroe-area facility's reactor was shut down too many times in 2012.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the supplemental inspection will be in addition to routine or required inspections conducted annually at the plant and is required because Fermi 2 had three unplanned shutdowns within 7,000 hours of reactor operating time.

The Monroe Evening News reports the most recent unplanned shutdown happened in November when a hydrogen gas leak developed in the cooling system of the plant's main electrical generator and operators shut down the reactor. The plant was idled for nearly two months.

Plant spokesman Guy Cerullo says officials have "instituted rigorous corrective actions to minimize these types of shutdowns."

Call it Fermi 2 plus one.

DTE Energy wants to build "Fermi 3," an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) at its Enrico Fermi Nuclear Plant on the shores of Lake Erie near Monroe, Michigan.

The company's Fermi 2 nuclear power plant has been operating there since 1988.

If Fermi 3 is built, it would bring the number of nuclear reactors operating in Michigan up to five (two reactors at the Donald C. Cook nuclear power plant, one at Palisades, and DTE's Fermi 2).

The company has cleared a regulatory hurdle with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that oversees nuclear power plants across the country.

The NRC approved Fermi 3's environmental impact statement (EIS), finding there are no major environmental concerns that would keep the project from going forward.

Power magazine has more on the announcement:

FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - DTE Energy Company says it has restarted its Fermi 2 nuclear power plant after an eight-week shutdown for repairs to a reactor water pump.

The plant began running at reduced power in July and went off line November 7th when operators saw that water in part of the cooling system for the generator contained higher than normal amounts of hydrogen.

The 1,100 megawatt reactor is next to Lake Erie in Monroe County's Frenchtown Township, near Monroe.

DTE Energy's Fermi 2 nuclear power plant was shutdown yesterday morning after workers discovered excess hydrogen in a generator cooling system.

From the Detroit News:

DTE spokesman Guy Cerullo said Thursday that workers will be checking equipment to find the root of the problem. The company would not provide a timetable for the power plant to be back online.

"Customers won't see any difference," Cerullo said. "We are always are able to get additional power from other plants."

No one at the plant or in surrounding areas was in any danger, Cerullo said.

The Fermi 2 nuclear power plant is near Monroe, Michigan and it sits on Lake Erie.

There are 38 nuclear power plants operating in the eight Great Lakes states. Four are in Michigan. Five nuclear power plants are operating in Ontario.

The reactor of the Fermi 2 nuclear plant in Monroe County is back up and running after a monthlong shutdown.

The Monroe Evening News reports that the plant began generating power at 3:28 a.m. Sunday and was operating at about 62 percent of its power early Monday.

DTE officials say they expect to gradually raise power at the plant during the new few days.

Fermi 2's reactor was shut down June 25 when a feedwater pump broke down. The Evening News says the cause of the pump problem hasn't been made public. Utility officials restarted the reactor briefly a week ago, but shut it down within a day when operators noticed a valve wasn't operating correctly.

DTE Energy plans to submit an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would allow the company to operate the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant through 2045.

From the Detroit Free Press:

The utility’s license to operate Fermi 2 expires in 2025 and the application, if approved, would allow DTE Energy to operate it for an addition 20 years.

Fermi 2 began commercial operation in 1988. The renewal is in addition to the utility’s request to the NRC for a new nuclear power facility located at the Fermi site. DTE filed that application in 2008, but the licenses has not been issued yet.

The state agency charged with monitoring radiation at Michigan’s three nuclear reactors has so far not recorded any increased radiation coming from Japan. Japan’s troubled nuclear reactors might be a half a world away, but it wouldn’t be the first time a nuclear accident overseas had an effect on Michigan. 

The state of Michigan has been monitoring radiation levels since January of 1958. Ken Yale is the acting chief of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Radiological Protection Section. His office monitors radiation levels at Michigan’s three nuclear plants (Fermi 2, DC Cook and Palisades). He says the last time his office recorded abnormal radiation readings was back in the mid-1980’s, at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Ukraine.

Experts do not expect a ‘Chernobyl’ level of radiation release from the Japanese reactors, due to improved containment technology.