Minn. has a nuke plant event

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant automatically shut down safely this afternoon when a transformer locked out, briefly interrupting non-safety-related power from the grid to part of the site. Operators were still investigating what caused the transformer lockout. All plant safety systems functioned as designed, and the situation posed no danger to the public or plant workers. The shutdown was not expected to be lengthy. The 600-megawatt plant, which is about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis, generates enough electricity to power nearly 500,000 homes. Earlier today, operators restored Unit 2 at Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant near Red Wing to full power after replacing seals on two reactor coolant pumps during an outage that started Oct. 4. The two-unit Prairie Island plant generates enough electricity to power about 1 million homes. Whenever a generating unit is in an outage, Xcel Energy purchases electricity from the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator or
other utilities or increases production at its other generating plants to ensure an adequate power supply for customers.
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[MineralMan]

1. Another safe shutdown due to a problem.

Another example of safety measured designed into the plant.

Nuclear power generation is not safe. It has never been safe, and cannot be made to be safe.

However, safety measures have been designed into all of these nuclear power generation plants to shut the system down when any problem develops. Most of the time, these systems work as designed. You have successfully pointed out one of those times that everything worked as intended.

As an aside, open water fishing in the Mississippi river near this plant is possible even during the depths of winter.