Radiation safety

Water leak shuts down one of two nuclear reactors at North Anna Power Station

Dominion Energy has shut down one of its two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Power Station after operators discovered what a spokesman for the company called a “small leak of water” in the reactor’s coolant pumps.

Unit 2 at the plant in Louisa County was shut down at about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday and remained offline on Friday afternoon. Unit 1 was unaffected and was still operating at 100% capacity on Friday.

The water leak was about 0.1 gallons per minute at the time the unit was shut down, said Ken Holt, a spokesman for Dominion.

“The water from the leak was contained in the containment building and did not go into the environment,” Holt said. “The source has been identified, and repairs are underway. All the systems operated as designed during the shutdown, and the reactor is currently offline and stable while repairs are being made.”