Twenty two years ago, safety concerns closed Tennessee Valley's the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant. After 8.1 billion dollars and one day's operation it is closing again.

©Tennessee Valley Authority
Terminally ill Brown's Ferry nucleaer reactor


Operators at the newly restarted Unit 1 at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant manually shut down the reactor this morning following a leak in a control system.

While attempting to repair the leak, piping separated and dumped about 600 gallons of fluid onto the turbine building floor, according to an incident report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The report said cleanup of the fluid is in progress and the site is being monitored to contain the spill.

NRC spokesman Ken Clark said two workers were sprayed with the slightly corrosive - but non-radioactive - fluid. Those workers were taken to a hospital as a precaution and released this morning, Clark said.

He said no safety systems at the plant were activated because they were unnecessary.

"It's an operating problem, it's unfortunate, but it was not a safety problem," Clark said.

The reactor first achieved a nuclear chain reaction early Tuesday after a five-year, $1.8 billion restart. It had been operating at a low level, not yet sending electricity to TVA's grid. The system affected by the leak controlled valves that bypass the power-generating turbine.

"We do not expect that it will cause any long-term delay in their startup process," Clark said.