Rod problem shuts Duke Energy nuclear unit at McGuire plant
One unit of Duke Energy Carolinas’ McGuire Nuclear Station is likely to be out of service through this week following a problem with control rods in the reactor.
Duke reported the outage to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Saturday. The utility said the plant had been running at 44 percent of capacity because a control rod dropped in the reactor. Then operators received indications that a second rod had dropped, and the plant was shut down.
Duke says the plant is stable after the shutdown, and control rods have been inserted. The company could not say when the unit would return to operation.
Reuters quotes unnamed electricity traders as expecting the plant to return to service within a week bad credit payday loans.
The second unit at McGuire is unaffected and is producing power normally.
The McGuire station has two 1,100-megawatt nuclear units. The plant is on Lake Norman, north of Charlotte.
Duke Energy Carolinas is a subsidiary of Charlotte-based Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK), which operates utilities in the Carolinas, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.