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Chemical leaks at North Anna

Water-treatment chemical spills at nuclear power plant

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 4/6/2004

By RUSTY DENNEN Pipe bursts; no one injured

A sheared pipe leaked about 500 gallons of a water-treatment chemical on the ground at North Anna Power Station over the weekend.

The leak of the water-softening agent--designed to keep water flowing through the nuclear power plant's turbines clean and free of algae and chemical deposits--was reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Saturday.

"Most of it was absorbed into the ground," Richard Zuercher, a spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power's nuclear operations, said yesterday.

However, some of the chemical reached the plant's discharge canal, Zuercher said. The discharge canal is downhill from the treatment building and several hundred yards away.

"We sampled the discharge canal and found no detectable amount in it," he said. No one was injured and no radioactivity was released, Zuercher said.

Water that runs through the nuclear power plant's turbines is treated with the water softener, which contains bromine, in a building behind the reactor complex. Bromine is a caustic liquid that at high concentrations can irritate the eyes and throat.

Zuercher said a half-inch pipe at the water-treatment building burst, spilling the chemical, Calgon H-901-g.

"We're still looking at the pipe problem," he said. "It appears that it sheared."

There have been no recent reports of any problems with the water-treatment system or piping, Zuercher said.

The breach, which was discovered at 1:14 p.m. on Saturday, was reported to the NRC a few minutes later.

The North Anna plant sits on the Louisa County shoreline of the 13,000-acre Lake Anna.

The spill also was reported to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which determined that it was contained on the plant site.

Since none of the material reached state waters, "there was not a role for us," said DEQ spokesman William Hayden.

To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 4/6/2004