Bad Day At The Office :o(

Due to the serious nature of this event, and the fact that the low pressure turbines were replaced in 2006, and legal and insurance issues, I can not give any details beyond the below press release.  The picture to the left is a typical turbine steam path for a power plant.This is a huge impact to our plant and our company, as a single unit power replacement cost is in the neighborhood of $500K to $1M per day.

COOK UNIT 1 GENERATOR FIRE INSPECTIONS CONTINUE

BRIDGMAN, Mich., Sept. 22, 2008 – Initial indications are that Saturday night’s fire at American Electric Power’s (NYSE: AEP) Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 1 occurred when turbine vibrations led to a generator hydrogen leak that ignited. Damage to the turbines and generator from the fire is minimal, but vibrations did damage the low pressure turbines, bearing supports and some steam piping.

The cause of the vibrations is believed to be an imbalance from the loss of turbine rotor blades.

Hydrogen is used in a closed system to keep the generator cool during operation and the seals that contain the hydrogen were likely damaged by the vibrations.

“We know how to fix and operate equipment, but we are most gratified that there were no personal injuries as a result of the incident,” said Mike Rencheck, AEP senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. “Our plant operations crews, fire brigade, security officers and other emergency responders all performed well. We are also very appreciative of the excellent response and support of local fire fighters and law enforcement.”

The small fire was quickly contained by the plant fire brigade. Fire personnel from Lake Township, Bridgman, Lincoln Township, Royalton Township and Chikaming Township responded to the site or mobilized. Berrien County Sheriff’s deputies and Baroda/Lake Township law enforcement also responded.  

One the plant’s three fire pumps was damaged and a 12-inch water supply line broke. Cook uses Lake Township water as a back-up to on site water storage tanks and is currently connected to that system.

An estimate for returning the unit to service will be made after the turbine casings are removed and the turbines fully inspected. It is expected to take about one to three weeks to complete turbine inspections.

The generator is in the Turbine Building and is separate from the nuclear reactor that is located in the Containment Building. The nuclear systems were unaffected by the generator fire. AEP has sufficient reserve generating capacity so the loss of the Cook unit had no impact on customers. Cook Unit 2 remained at 100 percent power through the incident.