The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authorised the restart of Entergy’s Waterford 3 nuclear unit near Taft in Louisiana, which was shut down as a precautionary measure ahead of the landfall of hurricane Katrina.
Workers are performing maintenance unrelated to the hurricane prior to initiating procedures leading to restart of the reactor. The plant was essentially undamaged by the storm, although it did lose offsite power and some communications systems were affected.
NRC chairman Nils Diaz said: “We are confident the plant can be operated safely.”
