Northeast sees April Millstone 2 restart

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Let's get her up and running!

Wednesday February 17, 7:56 pm Eastern Time

Northeast sees April Millstone 2 restart

WATERFORD, Conn., Feb 17 (Reuters) - Northeast Utilities, New 
England's biggest electric utility, said Wednesday it expects to 
have its idled Millstone 2 nuclear power plant physically ready for 
restart by mid-April.  

``We plan to get to Mode 2, physically ready for restart, in the 
middle of April,'' Northeast Nuclear spokesman Terrence McIntosh 
told Reuters.  

The 880-megawatt plant in Waterford, Conn., has been closed for 
safety reasons since March 1996.

Northeast hopes to reach Mode 4, starting the plant's reactor 
coolant pumps, in early March, McIntosh said.  

Berlin, Conn.-based Northeast had previously given March or April 
as a rough timetable for likely restart of Millstone 2, which originally 
opened in 1975.  

Once Northeast deems the plant ready for restart, the federal 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must give its approval 
before the facility can come back into commercial operation.  

No final meeting dates with the NRC have been set yet, McIntosh 
said.

NRC officials held a key meeting Wednesday with Millstone staff 
regarding steps being taken to ensure a safe restart of the plant.  

``This was one of the many inspections we needed to go through in 
our effort for recovery,'' McIntosh said.  

``We know we have some significant work that needs to be done, 
but at this point our (planned restart) dates are still holding,'' he 
said. 

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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