Safety system fails test at Browns Ferry

Terry Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, said a problem early Monday that prevented the cooling system from getting enough steam is being checked to determine the cause. He said the reactor will be shut down if the system isn’t operable within 14 days.

The reactor was shut down last Thursday after the leaky pipe burst and spilled about 600 gallons of non-radioactive fluid inside a building housing power-generating turbines. It later was restarted.

Officals with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the spill didn’t pose a safety threat and the test failure Monday also wasn’t considered a safety problem.

TVA, which operates the three-reactor plant in north Alabama, restarted Unit 1 on May 22 after it had remained out of operation for 22 years. All three reactors were taken down in 1985 for safety reasons, with the other two returning online in the 1990s.

Power generation by the reactor is to be increased gradually amid a series of tests that Johnson said would last a period of weeks.