Wisconsin nuclear plant calls off reactor shutdown

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - The Point Beach Nuclear Plant began - and then called off - a shutdown of its Unit 2 reactor recently while workers scraped problematic paint from a pipe inside the reactor.

The shutdown was called off after just over an hour, and the plant resumed operating at full power, said Jim McCarthy, site director of operations at Point Beach for Nuclear Management Co., Hudson.

The event was classified as a non-emergency under Nuclear Regulatory Commission criteria, according to a recent report Nuclear Management filed with the NRC.

Point Beach, owned by Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Energy Corp., has two reactors and is located in Two Creeks, in Manitowoc County.

The problem concerned the quality of coatings inside the reactor area . Reactors across the country are required to keep paint in a condition that will not permit it to flake or peel , said Jan Strasma, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman. Flaking or peeling paint can result in paint chips clogging a drain in the event of an accident at a reactor, Strasma said.

Nuclear Management Co. discovered coating issues with the Unit 1 reactor, which is in a refueling shutdown, McCarthy said. The company then decided to analyze Unit 2 more closely.

During an inspection late Tuesday night, plant workers found an 11-square-foot area of paint on a pipe that didn't meet plant standards.

"The best way to characterize it is, it needed a little bit of work," McCarthy said.

Plant workers decided the best course of action would be to remove the paint, and the company began the process of shutting down the plant.

The pipe will be monitored and then evaluated again at the time of the next Unit 2 refueling shutdown, scheduled for late next year.

Reactor refueling shutdowns, which occur roughly every 18 months, are periods when nuclear plant operators make repairs and conduct other evaluations of plant equipment.

Point Beach is in the midst of its second shutdown this year. The Unit 1 reactor was shut earlier for several months for refueling, repairs and the replacement of the reactor's vessel head, or cover. During the current shutdown at Point Beach Unit 2, crews have already replaced the vessel cover.

Wisconsin Energy is spending $52 million this year to replace the vessel covers to prevent Point Beach from facing an aggressive and costly set of inspections relating to potential leaks of boric acid. Boric acid ate a football-size hole into the cover of the Davis- Besse nuclear plant in Ohio several years ago, resulting in the plant being shut down for two years.