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Progress Energy to review findings on crack in nuclear plant wall

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2009

Utility officials and regulators next week will review an analysis of what caused a crack in the concrete wall of the Crystal River nuclear plant's containment building.

Progress Energy also will present repair plans for the crack discovered Oct. 2 as the utility was cutting a hole in the containment building wall to replace two generators.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also share its findings of what caused the concrete in the 42-inch-thick wall that surrounds the nuclear reactor to crack. The NRC sent its own team of inspectors to survey the plant.

The crack, about a half-inch wide, did not represent a safety hazard, said Roger Hannah, spokesman for the regulatory commission.

The company and agency will meet on Nov. 20.

The plant was in a scheduled shutdown to replace the two 550-ton generators.

The crack was 9 inches from the outside of the wall and did not reach its surface. There were 33 inches of sound concrete between the crack and reactor as well as a steel plate that lines the inside of the wall, said Jessica Lambert, Progress Energy spokeswoman.

Once the NRC reviews its findings and the company's study, Progress Energy will decide details of how to fix the wall, Lambert said. That will determine how long repairs will take and when the plant will start.

The company originally scheduled the plant, commissioned in 1977, to be shut down from October to December.

Workers discovered the crack while using high-pressure water jets to cut a 23-foot by 23-foot opening in the wall to replace the generators that are each 75 feet long.

The utility did not find evidence of other cracks in the rest of the containment building wall and the separation of the concrete may have happened while the opening was being cut, she said.

"Our preliminary analysis is that it was just in the area cut out," Lambert said.

The containment building houses the reactor vessel and generators and is built to contain any radiation leaks. It also protects the reactor from outside damage such as hurricanes.

Progress Energy has been using reserve generating capacity while the plant is shut down.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731.

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