Palisades nuke plant down for refueling

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Operators of the Palisades nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan said they took it offline Sunday for refueling and maintenance.

The plant, owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., is along Lake Michigan near South Haven in Van Buren County's Covert Township.

The 41-year-old plant has been under scrutiny by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission because of recent safety problems. The NRC classifies Palisades as one of the four-worst performers of the 104 nuclear plants it regulates.

In one case, the commission said, an electrical fault caused by plant workers made the reactor and half of the control room indicators to shut down and triggered safety systems that actual plant conditions did not justify.

In another case, a water pump that cools safety equipment failed, the result of a crack in one of the couplings that hold together rods in the cooling system. The same failure happened in 2009, and the commission said an inspection showed the plant hadn't done enough to prevent a recurrence.

Entergy officials said last month that there has been a shift in the safety culture at the plant, with employees doubling the number of reports about problems at the plant in six months.

In an announcement, plant operators said crews removed the plant from service about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. A restart date wasn't announced.

During the outage, crews will place 64 new fuel assemblies, the plant's operators said. They said other major work includes an inspection of the reactor vessel head, replacement of five control rod seal packages, an inspection of the moisture separator and re-heater heat exchangers and an inspection of the plant's two steam generators.

According to the announcement, 1,165 supplemental employees will help the permanent Palisades staff complete the work.