A "significant industrial accident" occurred at Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear One on 31 March, leading to one fatality and leaving eight workers injured.

The accident occurred when a generator stator, weighing around 600 tons, fell as it was being moved out of the turbine building, Entergy said.

The falling stator damaged a fire main and electrical equipment. However, the plant’s emergency diesel generators started and power was quickly restored to the decay heat removal systems.

At the time of the event, unit 1 was in a refueling outage. Unit 2, which was operating at full power, shut down automatically when power was lost.

Both plants are now in a stable shutdown condition and there is no danger to the public.

Entergy said its greatest sympathy is with the family and friends of the employee who lost his life, and with those who sustained injuries.


Photo: Arkansas Nuclear One, courtesy Entergy Nuclear