Posted on 11/07/2010 9:49:23 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
BUCHANAN, N.Y. -- A transformer exploded at a nuclear power plant north of New York City, leading to an emergency shut down of one of its reactors.
An official with the Indian Point plant in Buchanan says no one was injured in Sunday's explosion.
The plant is owned by Entergy Corp. Company spokesman Jim Steets says no radioactive materials leaked.
He says the transformer was outside and not near the reactor. He said there was no fire despite earlier reports.
Indian Point 2 was shut down after the explosion just after 6:30 p.m. Indian Point 3 was operating normally.
It was the second shutdown within the hour at an Entergy-owned plant.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsmv.com ...
In other news the Buchanan area Wal-Mart reported record sales for underwear...
I've seen transformers explode before. They are quite spectacular.
If I was near a nuclear plant and saw such a pyrotechnic display, I'd probably be first in line at Wal-Mart. ;-)
did I just hear a drum riff with a rim shot?
Yep.
A few years ago one exploded about a block from the apartment I was living in.
It took me a week just to pry the cat lose from the ceiling. And I never could find our fish amongst all the brown goo in the fish tank...
ROTFL!
It went up like the Fourth of July, showering sparks all over the area.
One of my coworkers was standing next to me at the time. He jumped up onto the chest freezer we were moving, scrambled backwards, fell off the far side, hit the ground, and kept right on crabwalking back into the store.
We had a main transformer (the transformer that connects the main generator to the electrical grid) fire/explosion at the nuclear plant I work at a couple years ago. The transformer is about the size of a school bus and is filled with mineral oil used to cool the windings inside. Luckily, our on-site fire brigade responded quickly and professionally and was able to contain and extinguish the fire within a short time.
The heat from the fire partially melted stainless steel junction boxes across the access road in front of the transformer. It’s absolutely amazing that no one was hurt.
Do you remember the transformer explosion in New York a few years back that everyone thought was another terrorist attack? It knocked out power to a large portion of the city for a number of hours, forcing a mass evacuation by foot.
Transformers are nowhere near the reactors, and are outside of containment buildings. No big deal, other than possibly a few short power outages.
Sadly I don’t - everything is now a suspected terrorist attack, I can’t keep track anymore! I can imagine though. I have had two transformer burn up for new buildings I’ve wired over the years (one pole mount, one pad mount) - I need to start recording them. Most are made in Mexico these days and according to the line crews quite a few fail now, they were telling me about 30%.
Hard to imagine.
It seems the most important statement is at the end...”second plant shutdown within the hour” ?
It was the second shutdown within the hour at an Entergy-owned plant.
If you read the article at the link, you'll see that the Vermont Yankee plant had just shut down due to a leak.
I hope it wasn’t the transformer that was a truck and turned into a giant robot.
Those idiots at Entergy are working hard to get the state to shut down VY.
When I was working at a fossil plant, our auxiliary transformer blew up. Some of the guys who were working 100 feet up on the boiler said the flames were reaching above them.
I like the original headline better.
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