Allegan County —
Days after receiving a passing grade in a simulated emergency exercise,
the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant near South Haven was shut down on
Sunday.
A steam leak on a drain valve was detected at 11:15 a.m. Sunday and the plant initiated shutdown at 12:30 p.m., according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission document. The event was classified as a non-emergency incident.
“The steam leak could not be isolated or repaired while the plant was in service, so operators removed the plant from service so repairs could be made,” Mark Savage, spokesman for the plant, said this morning
Repair work begins today.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave a passing review following a drill last week at the facility, according to the Associated Press. During the two-day drill, plant officials had to react to a simulated release of radiation. Agencies from Michigan and Indiana also took part in the drill.
New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. has said the drill was part of usual emergency exercises held at the plant in Van Buren County’s Covert Township.
Earlier in October, area emergency crews, volunteers and state officials from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan Humane Society and state Department of Environmental Quality checked the readiness of decontamination equipment at Fennville High School, a designated center for 2,000 evacuees. The drill included how to decontaminate animals that people might bring with them to the site.
The exercise was part of continuing readiness training overseen by Allegan County Emergency Management that started in September when emergency officials practiced how to coordinate police, fire and health services from a command center in Allegan.
The plant was listed as one of the four lowest-rated power plants in the nation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Several public meetings with plant officials and the NRC have addressed the safety concerns.
Parts of Allegan County in Casco Township are within a 10-mile-radius Emergency Planning Zone — the prime area where people could be effected by a radiation leak from the plant and evacuations would be mostly likely in an emergency.
The rest of the county, as well as Holland and Ottawa County, are in a 50-mile secondary emergency zone where people could receive indirect exposure to radiation through contaminated food and water if there was a radiation leak.
A steam leak on a drain valve was detected at 11:15 a.m. Sunday and the plant initiated shutdown at 12:30 p.m., according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission document. The event was classified as a non-emergency incident.
“The steam leak could not be isolated or repaired while the plant was in service, so operators removed the plant from service so repairs could be made,” Mark Savage, spokesman for the plant, said this morning
Repair work begins today.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave a passing review following a drill last week at the facility, according to the Associated Press. During the two-day drill, plant officials had to react to a simulated release of radiation. Agencies from Michigan and Indiana also took part in the drill.
New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. has said the drill was part of usual emergency exercises held at the plant in Van Buren County’s Covert Township.
Earlier in October, area emergency crews, volunteers and state officials from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan Humane Society and state Department of Environmental Quality checked the readiness of decontamination equipment at Fennville High School, a designated center for 2,000 evacuees. The drill included how to decontaminate animals that people might bring with them to the site.
The exercise was part of continuing readiness training overseen by Allegan County Emergency Management that started in September when emergency officials practiced how to coordinate police, fire and health services from a command center in Allegan.
The plant was listed as one of the four lowest-rated power plants in the nation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Several public meetings with plant officials and the NRC have addressed the safety concerns.
Parts of Allegan County in Casco Township are within a 10-mile-radius Emergency Planning Zone — the prime area where people could be effected by a radiation leak from the plant and evacuations would be mostly likely in an emergency.
The rest of the county, as well as Holland and Ottawa County, are in a 50-mile secondary emergency zone where people could receive indirect exposure to radiation through contaminated food and water if there was a radiation leak.
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