Grand Gulf up and running after repairs to broken seal|[05/26/07]

Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 26, 2007

Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant, idled since May 19 for repairs to a damaged vacuum seal, restarted its reactor Friday, according to Energy Nuclear officials.

&#8220The plant has been returned to the grid,” spokesman Tim Crisler said. &#8220There are no problems.”

Crisler had said the damage was not severe.

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Although Grand Gulf’s reactor is a key component in providing electricity in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, the Entergy system has generating capacity to serve customers without it.

Completed in 1985 for $3 billion, the plant sits on 2,100 acres on U.S. 61, just north of Port Gibson, and provides about 25 percent of the state’s electricity output.

Of its work force of more than 700, about 370 full-timers live in Port Gibson and Vicksburg.

Earlier this month, the plant received praise from industry trackers and federal regulators for safety and incident preparedness.

Grand Gulf was given high marks for output by energy and metals information provider Platts, ranking third of 100 power-generating nuclear plants nationwide. The plant also earned the highest safety rating possible from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in annual safety assessments.

Efforts to build a second reactor at the site are in progress. A consortium of power companies, NuStart, received an early site permit from the NRC in April after the plant was deemed suitable for additional construction.

A decision is expected during the next five years on whether a second reactor will be built, at a cost of about $4 billion.

If expected time lines stay true, however, it would be the first new nuclear reactor construction in the United States since the 1970s. The most recent time a reactor was licensed by the NRC was 1996.