An improperly programmed training simulator at Entergy's River Bend nuclear power plant contributed to the errors made by operators attempting to respond to an emergency shutdown.
The Times-PicayuneNola.com reports those were among the conclusions that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made in violation notices sent Friday to Entergy Operations Inc.
The unit of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. runs the nuclear reactor near St. Francisville.
The reactor "scrammed" on Christmas Day 2014, dropping control rods into the reactor's fuel core to halt the nuclear fission reaction. Fission creates the heat that turns steam turbines at the 29-year-old plant, generating roughly 10 percent of Louisiana's electricity.
The violation notice concluded that "the simulator failed to demonstrate expected plant response to operator input and to normal, transient and accident conditions to which the simulator has been designed to respond."
Commission officials rated the violation as "white," the second lowest level on a four-color violation schedule. The notice did not include a fine amount. The notice provided the company with an opportunity to contest the finding by requesting a hearing, which Entergy turned down.
"The identified issues have been corrected to ensure that conditions in the simulator accurately reflect conditions in the plant, and River Bend Station remains safe and secure," said Entergy River Bend spokeswoman Elizabeth Fako.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Under the NRC's matrix program, the company remains in the "Regulatory Response" column, the notice said, which will result in another comprehensive inspection involving the plant's strategic performance plans.
Other errors cited in a report on the inspection results sent to Entergy on July 7 resulted in several "green" violations, the lowest level of violation. One was inadequate troubleshooting procedures of one motor generator set resulted in a breaker tripping, which caused the reactor scram.
The scram occurred at 8:37 a.m. on Christmas day, when the plant was producing power at 85 percent of its capacity. The plant was restarted on Dec. 27, but an electrical circuit was not working properly and the restart process had to be repeated
