Segments of Arkansas’ Weather Ravaged Power Grid Could Be Functional by Mid-Week

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Last week, when most news channels were in “Super-Tuesday” political mode, Mother Nature decided to trump the Presidential candidates, and teach a lesson on what it is to be a real super-power in this world. Unfortunately there were no winners in the “Super-Tuesday Outbreak of 2008.”

Between Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday morning, in a span of nearly 15.5 hours, an estimated 103+ tornadoes touched down (63 confirmed), killing 59 and injuring dozens more. The February thunderstorms, although not abnormal, were very abnormal in their ferocity. It’s rare enough to have tornadoes during spring and fall, when conditions are typically in favor for their development, but such a February outbreak like this has not been seen in modern times. In fact, the Super-Tuesday totals rank it amongst the top-15 worst tornado-related causes of death in the U.S. in over 50 years…with most of those other outbreaks coming in the milder months following February.

Yet, there was a loss of another kind, electricity, which was a lingering reminder of how powerful a storm system this truly was. Thousands were without power days after the storms hit, and along with the toll on communities due to the loss of family members, friends, property, infrastructure, and the peace of mind that “it’ll never happen to ‘me,’” the loss of power always creates havoc amongst those trying to help, and those trying to cope.

In Arkansas alone, four large transmission towers were toppled, with three more sustaining heavy damage. One 500 kilovolt (KV) power line that connects Arkansas Nuclear One (Russellville, Arkansas) to the larger power grid was heavily damaged, causing Entergy Arkansas Incorporated, the facility’s operator, to force the plant’s two nuclear reactors into a de-rate situation. In this circumstance, the units are operated at a reduced capacity in order to not overload the power grid.

As of Monday, February 11, Entergy Arkansas personnel were hoping to have the two affected segments of the 500KV line repaired by this Wednesday. According to one source from the company, “They’re on the verge of getting the last few segments up right now; we’re almost done with it. Hopefully, we’ll have Russellville and Mountainview done; hopefully by tomorrow…or Wednesday at the latest.” The same source stated that she expected the nuclear power plant to be able to return to capacity generation over the course of the days following the line’s completion, although testing will have to take place before putting that much power back through new lines and the associated newly installed hardware.

Arkansas Nuclear One became operational in 1974, with its 836 megawatt Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO) 01 unit coming to life. Slightly more than five years later, ANO 02 became operational, adding 988 megawatts of generating capability to the facility. During this past week ANO 01 was forced to reduce capacity nearly 60%, and just two days later congestion on the grid forced the grid operators to de-rate ANO 02 by 20%. If repairs continue to go well over the next few days, plant personnel are hopeful for a return to full capacity by week’s end.

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