North Carolina Nuclear Units Forced Offline for Repairs

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The 2,200-megawatt (MW) McGuire Nuclear Power Station (Huntersville, North Carolina) was taken offline on Thursday, January 20, when the units' strain header began malfunctioning. Officials said that the problem was caused by fish clogging the intakes during routine maintenance on the feed water pumps. The plant is owned by Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina).

Plant sources said that output of one of the units had been reduced about 10%. The other unit was functioning at full capacity, but was still taken offline. Plant officials stated that they will complete their evaluation before proceeding with clearing the intake and that they anticipate both units will be offline at least five or six days. Officials have projected that Unit 2 should return online Wednesday, January 26, and Unit 1 should be back online January 25, if there are no delays.

Unit 1 of the McGuire plant began operating in 1981, and Unit 2 in 1984.

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