LOUISA, Va. (AP) - Dominion Virginia Power is investigating what caused one of the two nuclear reactors at its North Anna power station to automatically shut down on Wednesday.
A report filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Unit 2 at the Louisa County plant tripped automatically shortly before 2 a.m. The shutdown came less than a week after the unit had been restarted following repairs.
Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said that the shutdown was traced to four valves that control the flow of steam in the turbine system for the generator. He says the valves all inadvertently closed, which caused the unit to sense the issue and shut down automatically.
NRC officials say the unit's automatic shutdown system worked flawlessly and was likely unrelated to the repair work.
