The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dispatched a Special Inspection Team to the Robinson nuclear power plant to review the circumstances surrounding a fire in an electrical panel at the plant that led to an Alert being declared late Sunday evening.
An Alert is the next to lowest NRC emergency classification for plant events. The Robinson plant is operated by Progress Energy near Hartsville, S.C., about 26 miles northwest of Florence.
On Sunday, March 28, the Robinson plant experienced an automatic shutdown and a fire was reported in a non-safety-related electrical system. The plant was stabilized and plant employees formed an event response team. About three and a half hours later, another fire was reported in a different non-safety-related electrical system. The second fire affected the operation of some safety-related systems and led to the Alert declaration at about 11 p.m. No one was injured and the plant remained safely shut down. The Alert was terminated about two and a half hours after it was declared.
The inspection will begin today, and the three NRC inspectors will identify the circumstances surrounding the reactor trip and the two fires. The team will also review the company's actions in response to the incident and evaluate the plant's electrical systems.
The NRC inspectors will issue a publicly available report within 45 days of the inspection's completion.
