A Louisiana nuclear plant that shut down as Hurricane Ida battered the state last week will soon resume normal operations, the utility company that owns the site said this week.
Entergy Nuclear has “completed all necessary internal readiness reviews and has received recommendations and approvals” from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart Waterford Steam Electric Station, a spokesperson for the company told RadWaste Monitor in an email Tuesday morning.
“A safe, deliberate power ascension will begin soon,” the spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not comment on when Waterford would be back at 100% power, citing “security and regulated market reasons.”
Entergy’s comments come after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) gave NRC the go-ahead Saturday to restart Waterford’s single reactor. FEMA told the agency in a letter dated Sep. 4 that an investigation determined that “appropriate measures can be taken to protect the health and safety of the public in the event of a radiological emergency” at Waterford.
“[W]e have no objections to plant startup and full-power operations,” FEMA said in the letter.
Waterford, located about 25 miles from New Orleans, has been offline since Aug. 29, when it shut down in anticipation of Ida’s landfall. The plant was operating under an ‘unusual event’ condition, the lowest level of nuclear emergency, until Sep. 1 following a loss of offsite power.
Like most nuclear plants, Waterford stores its spent fuel on site. A spokesperson for Entergy refused to comment via email last week on the size of Waterford’s waste inventory for “security reasons.”
Meanwhile, FEMA told NRC in a separate letter Sep. 2 that no formal disaster review was necessary for Mississippi’s Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, which the commission said in a Sep. 1 statement didn’t experience any weather-related issues.
Entergy’s other Louisiana nuclear plant — River Bend Nuclear Generating Station near Baton Rouge, La. — experienced “no significant impact” from Ida, NRC said Sep. 1.
Hurricane Ida first made landfall in Louisiana Aug. 30 and pressed north throughout last week, bringing 45-mile per hour winds and flooding conditions up the eastern seaboard.
