Cooling pump problem shuts down forces ORNL reactor

OAK RIDGE (AP) — A cooling pump problem forced officials to shut down the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Jim Roberto, ORNL’s associate director for physical sciences, said one of the pumps automatically shut down on Monday because of “unexpected behavior.”

It required workers to shut nuclear operations down until they can find the problem in the electrical circuitry, Roberto said.

Officials don’t know what caused the malfunction, and the reactor had to be shut down for a time before workers could continue troubleshooting checks, he said.

“We’ve had pump shutdowns in the past that have not been a serious problem,” Roberto said.

Reactor managers had planned to shut down the nuclear facility on Friday for maintenance. Workers will take advantage of the cooling-pump problem to do the scheduled maintenance ahead of time, he said.