[Pontiac]

On June 7, almost a full week before the heatwave, a reactor at the Comanche Peak nuclear plant outside of Dallas dropped offline because of a transformer fire. Although the flames were quickly doused, the reactor is still down, and owner Vistra Corp. hasn't said when it may return.

If this transformer fire could take the plant off-line it was more than likely a BIG transformer.

You don’t just go down to Quiky Mart and get one off the shelf.

The people at Comanche Peak are probably on the phones to electric utilities around the country looking for a replacement.

If they find one it will probably take weeks to get it to their plant.

Just arranging shipping of a big transformer can take a month. The big transformers take special trailers to move due to their weight.

Once the transformer is in place then you can spend days testing it before actually using it.

We learned a hard lesson at our plant a few years ago. So, now we have a spare sitting on its own concrete pad ready to be hooked up if it is needed.

It is a very expensive option that most utilities won’t spring for.

[jz638]

We learned a hard lesson at our plant a few years ago.

I do hope the Texas government and the energy companies in Texas start learning some of these hard lessons soon. Two very public, very embarrassing failures to do the thing that they are being paid to do within a single year. If there was a hint of journalism still left in this country, there would be reporters digging into the money spent on the Texas energy grid over the past decades and data being collected about who got wealthy by cutting corners, neglecting maintenance, or investing in things like prepositioning critical spare parts.