Yankee springs another hot leak
Toolbox
Published: April 2, 2009
BRATTLEBORO — Entergy Nuclear announced late Wednesday afternoon that it had another radioactive leak, this time in a filter that removes radioactivity from other water leaks.
The company, in its weekly newsletter to the media, said the leak was not affecting the operation of the plant. The leak was found in a filter in a portion of the plant that was plagued by another leak that was fixed last week after three months of leaking thousands of gallons of radioactive water.
Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said the two leaks were not related. None of the radioactive water was released into the environment; it was filtered and returned to service, Williams said.
The filter/demineralizer removes impurities from the water in the cleanup system in the reactor, and also removes radioactivity.
He said while the leaking demineralizer filter was taken off line today, there is still another filter on the system.
The reactor can operate for an "extended period of days" with only the one filter/demineralizer.
He said Entergy Nuclear technicians were already working on developing a repair plan.
The older leak was finally fixed last week after several tries. That leak was in the reactor water cleanup check valve and was finally sealed by expert technicians brought in by Entergy.
Today's announcement is the third radioactive leak at the plant in the past three months.
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