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Utility Expects to Spend Millions to Repair Wake County, N.C., Nuclear Plant

Posted on: Thursday, 6 October 2005, 00:00 CDT

By John Murawski, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Oct. 6--Progress Energy expects to spend at least several million dollars to fix insulation that fails federal fire-safety standards at its Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County, the company said Wednesday. The Harris plant uses 6,500 feet of the insulation, more than any other U.S. nuclear plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is awaiting Progress' proposal on how to fix the problem. Replacing the ceramic fiber could cost as much as $10 million, the utility has said. The insulation, called Hemyc, protects power cables that feed safety equipment used during emergencies and routine operations. "That could very well mean they would have to replace the Hemyc in this plant," said NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.

The Harris plant is regarded as safe and not in immediate need of replacing the insulation, Burnell said. Hemyc has been used at the plant since it started running in 1987, but it fails stricter safety standards adopted this year, said Julie Hans of the company.

In lab tests conducted this summer at 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit, a 2-inch thick coating of Hemyc withstood the intense heat for a half hour, but failed to meet the one-hour requirement. As a ceramic, Hemyc does not melt or burn, but it can transfer heat to the electrical cables it's blanketing. "Thickness is the issue," Hans said, adding that Progress has surplus Hemyc available to increase the protective layer.

In August, the utility said lab tests proved the insulation worked. Hans explained that the purpose of the lab test was to demonstrate that the Hemyc used at Shearon Harris doesn't shrink like the Hemyc tested by the NRC. Nonshrinking insulation leaves open the possibility of fixing the problem through partial reinforcement, rather than total replacement.

The Raleigh-based utility will conduct more tests on reinforced Hemyc to determine whether power cables should be double-wrapped or the Hemyc should be replaced. Fourteen nuclear reactors around the nation use Hemyc.

The NRC has been studying fire safety for three decades, since a major fire erupted at the Browns Ferry plant in Tennessee in 1975.

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PGN,

Source: The News & Observer

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