Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bridgman Nuclear Plant Finds Cause Of July Shut Down

D.C. Cook Nuclear

Officials at D.C. Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman may have found what caused a steam pipe to burst in July. The plant was shut down for a week last month after pressure from a faulty steam pipe wore a hole in the wall of the turbine building. 

Turbines help power the plant - which Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials say ultimately keeps the reactor cool. Tom Taylor is the resident inspector at D.C. Cook for the NRC. He says the supports holding the steam pipe up likely weren’t sturdy enough, causing the steam pipe to vibrate and crack.

“Over time some vibrations might have caused some weakening of some of the joints that then led to the failure,” he says.

D.C. Cook Communications Manager Bill Schalk says the pipe was fixed before the plant came back online, but plant workers hope to have a more permanent solution by the fall.

“When we are shut down in October there’ll be a more comprehensive modification to that so that either there won’t be that vibration or that there’ll be sufficient hardening of that particular area so the vibrations wouldn’t result in any failure of the pipe,” says Schalk.

The NRC says problems at the plant are rare and that D.C. Cook operated safely last year.