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Nuke Plant

EBass

By EBass
in Mississippi River North Fishing Reports

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EBass Grand Master

EBass

Posted
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From the Strib.

MONTICELLO, Minn. - Operators of the Monticello nuclear power plant are investigating what caused a transformer to lock out, prompting the plant to automatically shut down.

Xcel Energy says the plant shut down safely Friday afternoon. The company says the shutdown was not expected to last long. Xcel Energy spokeswoman Patti Nystuen says the process of getting the plant back online had not started as of 7:15 p.m. Friday.

Xcel says the transformer lockout briefly interrupted non-safety-related power from the grid to part of the site. The company says all plant safety systems functioned as designed, and there is no danger to the public or plant workers.

The 600-megawatt plant is located about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

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Dylan33 Proficient

Dylan33

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I saw that yesterday. It shouldn't be a big deal. I doubt the shutdown caused a dramatic enough change in water temp to cause a fish kill. (hopefully).

Glad it happened now, and not in january

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  • 3 weeks later...
Dylan33 Proficient

Dylan33

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Is it usual for the plant to go offline every couple of months? Looks like it was down again....from the STRIB....Nov 20th.

The Monticello nuclear power plant was automatically shut down over the weekend as a result of safety concerns, Xcel Energy officials said Sunday.

The plant, owned and operated by Xcel, shut down at 11:12 p.m. Saturday when relays that are part of the reactor protection system activated, the company said, adding that all plant safety systems functioned as designed, and the situation posed no danger to the public or to plant workers.

Plant operators are investigating what caused the relays to activate. The shutdown was not expected to be lengthy.

The plant is about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis. It generates enough electricity to power nearly 500,000 homes.

Xcel will purchase energy from other sources until the plant comes back online.

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Dylan33 Proficient

Dylan33

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It might be slow.

Best case scenario, water temps are cooler, fish will be more sluggish and fishing will be slower.

Worst case scenario; the rapid water temp change caused a massive fish kill and the remaininng fish in the Monti area will be in lockjaw.

the further downstream you get from the plant, the less the effects of the shutdown would be (less temperture change)

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bassfishingnerd Community Regular

bassfishingnerd

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My son and I went out in the boat today. The plant was still offline and the water temps were from 35-36, with the warmer water being WAY shallow, and on the north side of the river, which is VERY odd. I managed to catch one decent smallmouth, break off a big smallmouth and had one more bite but came off sight fishing. There were lots of small dead catfish, suckers, and carp scattered all around. I did see quite a few smallmouth hunkered around rocks and snags, but they were very negative and were easily spooked. I knew it would be tough out there, but hopefully things will pick back up when the plant fires up again.

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CAMAN Experienced

CAMAN

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My brother in law works for Xcel and is in and out of the plant from time to time. He said the plant shutdown because low oil pressure was detected in the turbines and it went into emergency shut-down mode. It may be down longer than usual if any damage may have been done, but chances are it was caused by human error or similar and will be back up shortly.

It's normal for nuke plants to go down once in a while because things do go bad. And when nuke plants are almost completely controlled by humans, and computers are only used to monitor things and take over to put into emergency mode if needed. Errors and malfunctions do happen. The only reason these shut downs are getting the press right now is because of the broken Japanese plant, it makes good headlines, and gets people to read it, since it's so close to the disaster.

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Dylan33 Proficient

Dylan33

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The plant was still down yesterday.

Caman- I don't think anyone on this site is too worried about any major disaster. Most of us are more worried about the negative effects that the fish are feeling (swans too) with the quick change in water temps.

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CAMAN Experienced

CAMAN

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Caman- I don't think anyone on this site is too worried about any major disaster. Most of us are more worried about the negative effects that the fish are feeling (swans too) with the quick change in water temps.

I understand that, I was just answering your question and giving a little insight from your earlier post... "Is it usual for the plant to go offline every couple of months?"

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Brad B Mentor

Brad B

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heck there is nothing to worry about I have lived right across the freeway from the plant until I was 14 then moved a mile south of the old place and can still see the plant stacks from where I am at now. I'm not glowing and the fish from the river are not glowing. the plant was built back in I believe 1972 and over the years has been redone and safety features added. they have one or two scheduled outages a year. if it wasn't for the plant the river would lock up tight every winter and we wouldn't have the good smallie fishing we do.

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MSRiverdog Proficient

MSRiverdog

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Look close at the stack and you will see where they got off track with the slip forms when they were building the plant. I worked for a company that was doing the ventilation construction when it was being built, they jogged off center and then jogged the form back in line.

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CAMAN Experienced

CAMAN

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Look close at the stack and you will see where they got off track with the slip forms when they were building the plant. I worked for a company that was doing the ventilation construction when it was being built, they jogged off center and then jogged the form back in line.

Is that why you moved closer to Three Mile Island? laugh

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
eyeguy 54 Grand Master

eyeguy 54

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
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RT hit a breaker with a dare devil. bwaaa haaaa haaaaaa good one dog.

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Dylan33 Proficient

Dylan33

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Is the plant still offline?

Yep....still down.

You can check the status here. http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/reactor-status/ps.html

That'll show the % of power the plant was running at yesterday....its updated everyday with all reactors in the US.

Monticell is region 3.

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tsande00 Proficient

tsande00

Posted
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Yep....still down.

You can check the status here. http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/reactor-status/ps.html

That'll show the % of power the plant was running at yesterday....its updated everyday with all reactors in the US.

Monticell is region 3.

Thanks! That is a great link.

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CAMAN Experienced

CAMAN

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Yeah I check that site now and then myself, pretty interesting to see what's going on at the local plants. They also have a page where all nuclear issues are reported... HERE!!

Here is the event that caused the shutdown on November 21st...

Quote:
AUTOMATIC REACTOR SCRAM WHILE PERFORMING TURBINE BYPASS VALVE TESTING

"While performing a regularly scheduled Turbine Bypass Valve surveillance, prior to Turbine Bypass Valve movement, a 'B' half scram [signal] was received. Operators immediately suspended testing. Approximately 10 seconds later, a full Reactor Protection System actuation occurred. Following the reactor scram, reactor water level lowered below the Group II isolation initiation setpoint of +9 inches, [resulting in containment valve isolations]. There were no radioactive releases associated with this event.

"No other alarms were received prior to the RPS actuation. The cause of the reactor scram is under investigation at this time.

"Also, due to the reactor scram, discharge canal temperature rate of change exceeded plant requirements. As a result, the State of Minnesota, and appropriate local agencies will be notified."

All control rods inserted and the scram is considered uncomplicated. The plant is in a normal shutdown electrical configuration.

The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

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Brad B Mentor

Brad B

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Lots more ice than usual on the river in Monticello.

Plant must still be offline.

yes it is still down. go back to the first page and follow the link Dlyan33 posted(on december 1st). it is updated daily. I checked today and Monti is still down.

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misterj1954 Explorer

misterj1954

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A phone call earlier this week to XCel indicated that the plant is supposed to come back online next week. Hope that it happens soon, the swans are running out of open water in Monti.

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Presco Contributor

Presco

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If it comes back on next week, by Christmas things should be back to normal correct? I had plans to get up there a few times over Christmas break.

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Dylan33 Proficient

Dylan33

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If it comes back on next week, by Christmas things should be back to normal correct? I had plans to get up there a few times over Christmas break.

Scott- There is a chance i might be able to get out around Christmas also. If the river is back to "normal", shoot me an email, maybe we can chase some smallies together.

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