SEABROOK, N.H. (AP) — A spokesman says the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant's reactor shut down this week due to a malfunction in the plant's turbine, but it is not causing a threat to safety.
Neil Sheehan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells the Portsmouth Herald (http://bit.ly/1pqrEXY) the turbine, spun by steam from ocean water heated by the reactor to generate electricity, stopped shortly before 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Sheehan said the cause of the shutdown is unknown. He could not say when the plant was expected to go back online.
He said the reactor is designed to automatically turn off in the event the turbine stops turning because the reactor has no purpose for generating steam if the turbine cannot spin to create electricity.
