BY AUSTIN GRAHAM MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE Jan 24, 2001

MINERAL - A set of malfunctioning lights at the North Anna nuclear power plant forced the plant's operators to declare a low-level emergency situation yesterday, the second time in a week that the plant has reported operating trouble.

The problem was noticed about 1:30 a.m., as plant workers ran a test of the Louisa County facility's annunciators, box-shaped warning lights that flash in the event of an emergency.

"They came on, but they didn't go off automatically, as they typically do," said Dominion Virginia Power spokesman Richard Zuercher.

Instead, the lights stayed on for a full 48 minutes. When annunciator lights do not go out after 15 minutes during a test, Zuercher said, the plant is required to report an "unusual event" - the lowest emergency classification - to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Louisa County officials. The North Anna facility made its report at 2:24 a.m., according to NRC documents.

The problem was caused, Zuercher said, by "sticking relays" in the circuitry that were quickly fixed. He said the annunciator system is only one component of the plant's safety system, and that the malfunction never put plant workers or the public in danger.

In a separate incident, a valve leak forced the plant to shut down one of its two reactors on Friday. Zuercher said the valve was fixed Sunday morning and that the reactor was brought online shortly thereafter.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/MGBAF9LKCIC.html

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), January 25, 2001