Officials at Louisiana’s nuclear power plants are monitoring the progress of now-Tropical Storm Isaac, but say there have been no problems thus far.
Mike Bowling, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, says the Waterford 3 plant, located in Killona, La. came offline at 5 p.m. yesterday, and has a core team of about 100 employees remaining on site.
The River Bend plant, located in St. Francisville, remains 100 percent operational, with a sequestered team on site as well.
“We don’t perceive a problem at our plants,” said Bowling. “We have severe weather procedures at all of our plants, which are activated under certain environmental conditions,” Bowling said. Severe weather procedures at the plants are usually activated by high winds or flood waters, but those weren’t a factor in Waterford 3’s shutdown.
Entergy Nuclear may still shut down both the plants, if requested to do so by the local power carriers, Bowling said.
Waterford 3 will restart based on grid conditions and concurrence from federal authorities.