Palo Verde nuclear power plant declares 'unusual event'

TONOPAH, Ariz. - Officials at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix are investigating what they call an "unusual event" that happened on Saturday afternoon.

The "unusual event" occurred when water caused a junction box to short out inside a containment building for the Unit One reactor.

Jim McDonald of Arizona Public Service Company said an "unusual event" is the lowest level of emergency notification.

"I can tell there is no danger to the plant. No danger to the public," said McDonald. "This situation has, in essence, been resolved as far as I know."

McDonald went on to say that "some water got into a junction box. It shorted out. As a result, we declared a notification of unusual event. That is an emergency level, but a very, very, low one. The lowest one."

APS said the three-hour incident started at 4:19 p.m. Saturday and lasted until just before 7:30 p.m. McDonald said Unit One was already shut down for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage when the incident happened.

McDonald said none of the plant's three reactors were affected.

It's not known how the water got into the junction box.

Another APS spokesman later said that the water was not radioactive.