2 TVA nuclear plants shut down unplanned in August - WSMV Channel 4

2 TVA nuclear plants shut down unplanned in August

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - Both of TVA's nuclear power plants in Tennessee had unplanned reactor outages of 2 days each in August.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/RCSclA ) reported Unit 2 at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant tripped on Aug. 16 when an electrical short occurred in 1 of the four nuclear coolant pumps.

The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant's only operating reactor shut down Aug. 28. TVA spokesman Ray Golden said human error caused the outage when an incorrectly calibrated testing device was plugged in.

Golden acknowledged having two nuclear units trip in a short time is unusual. The Sequoyah unit had been online for 421 days and Watts Bar had been operating nonstop for 319 days when the outages occurred.

Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.