Beaver Valley reactor shuts down due to improper cooling of main transformer
USA, Pennsylvania: One of FirstEnergy Corp.'s two reactors at the Beaver Valley Power Station failed because operators had not been briefed on how to operate the plant's aging main transformer.
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USA, Pennsylvania: One of FirstEnergy Corp.’s two reactors at the Beaver Valley Power Station failed because operators had not been briefed on how to operate the plant’s ageing main transformer.
The transformer, which connected the power plant’s electrical generation to the high voltage grid, shorted out, causing shutdown of the reactor, reports Cleveland.
Following the examination of the transformer, company engineers concluded that the a build-up of static electricity had caused the transformer to short circuit. Such transformers are cooled by oil, which does not conduct electricity. However, the flow of cold oil in the transformer on the cold day (known as the first polar vortex event) created friction causing the static electricity.
The transformer operating instrucions were six years old but ABB, which supplied the transformer, had updated its guidance on cold-weather operation years earlier.
The company has since incorporated those updated transformer operational instructions into plant operating procedures, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Young.
Although the plant shut itself down in an orderly and safe way, it was decided the company’s failure to include the update’s transformer operating instructions was a ‘performance deficiency’ that was ‘more than minor’ because it initiated a cascade of events that shutdown the reactor.
Source: Cleveland
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