Regulators to review handling of water problem at nuke plant - San Antonio Express-News: BROWNVILLE, Neb. (AP) - Federal inspectors plan to review how well a Nebraska nuclear power plant handled a water service safety problem blamed on a silt buildup from the Missouri River, which overwhelmed or broke through levees last spring.
The Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville was operating on full power Dec. 6 when employees detected that water wasn't flowing through a pipe that sends water to cool plant safety equipment, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a news release Thursday. Another service water system was operable throughout the situation, the release said.
The plant generated power throughout the problem. The plant owner and operator, the Nebraska Public Power District, soon determined that silt had built up and blocked the pipe outfall, the NRC said. The district had the silt removed within a week.
The plant's water intake site was normal and there had been no indication of any problem at the discharge site, said power district spokesman Mark Becker.
"We've never had that happen before," Becker said. Officials were still trying to determine where the silt came from because the river water taken in for cooling is heavily filtered before it begins its
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