Nebraska Public Power District officials say work is underway to repair a hydrogen leak in the main turbine building at Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville. The utility declared a “Notification of Unusual Event” at 11:18 a.m. due to the leak.
"Our maintenance crews were working to replace some valves on a non-nuclear system and as they were going through this process they went to check the main turbine generator and they found there was a leak of hydrogen," NPPD spokesman Mark Becker says.
Becker says the small leak doesn't represent a safety threat and the plant is still fully operational. He hopes the leak is repaired byt he end of Tuesday. The hydrogen is used to help cool the main turbine generator.
The utility notified regulators about the problem, and issued what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls a notice of unusual event.