Arkansas Nuclear Facility Offline Following Fire, Possible Explosion

Via ArkansasOnline,

Authorities are responding to a fire that was reported Monday morning at an Entergy auxiliary transformer at Arkansas Nuclear One Unit Two in Russellville, company spokesman Mike Bowling said.

The blaze started about 7:50 a.m. after there was a "fault in the transformer that resulted in the fire," Bowling said.

The facility's Unit Two is offline, but Unit One is still online, Bowling said. No injuries have been reported, and the fire has been contained.

The auxiliary transformer is an electrical device that transfers energy and is not a nuclear portion of the plant, Bowling said.

The London Fire Department and Entergy's onsite responders are working the scene.

Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman Tommy Jackson said that the fire was not extinguished within the 15 minutes of detection.

"The auxiliary transformer exploded in Unit Two, and there was fire within the protected area," he said.

Gov. Mike Beebe said after a speech Monday at the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Directors' Winter Conference in Little Rock that he had been briefed on the fire and that there was "no damage to the actual nuclear reactor."