Louisiana's River Bend Nuclear Plant Prepares For Unplanned Outage

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is preparing for an unplanned outage at one of its nuclear power plants today due to a mechanical issue. The 967-megawatt (MW) River Bend nuclear plant located in St. Francisville, Louisiana, was forced to drastically reduce output to 18% of its normal capacity due to a problem in the recirculation pumps. Engineers are anticipating an even further reduction in output, and as one plant official stated, "We are trying to resolve the issue while reduced, but most likely will come offline later tonight."

In a nuclear power plant, the recirculation pump's primary purpose is to pressurize the water that is circulating through the reactor. This extreme pressure enables the reactor to generate enough steam to power the turbines. It is very difficult for a nuclear plant to generate at full capacity without the complete functionality of all the recirculation pumps. Engineers are hoping to have the issue resolved by next week.

The River Bend nuclear station's 967-MW unit was manufactured by General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut). It began operations in 1986 and is licensed to continue operations until August of 2025.

Entergy Corporation, which owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 MW of electric capacity, is currently the second largest nuclear-power producer in the United States.

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