By SUSAN PARROTT
Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP)--A reactor at a Texas nuclear power plant was shut down after a leak of radioactive water, leading to government scrutiny of the utility's plan for finding such leaks.

Operators shut down the TXU Energy's Comanche Peak twin-reactor plant well before leakage exceeded federal guidelines, TXU spokesman David Beshear said Tuesday. They have since repaired leaking and corroded lines.

``There was never a danger to the safety of the plant, the safety of the employees or the safety of the public,'' he said. Comanche Peak is about 80 miles southwest of Dallas.

A report by Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors said radiation monitors inside the plant's Unit 1 sounded alarms after recording high radiation readings on Sept. 26.

Radiation levels peaked six more times before operators shut down the reactor two days later, the inspectors said.

The leak was found in a small tube carrying radioactive water in one of four generators that make steam to turn the reactor's electric turbines.

The utility's own report to the NRC said a subsequent TXU check found corrosion in 667 other tubes in Unit 1, but none was leaking. That number, according to TXU, represented more than 3 percent of the tubes.

NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said an inspection of the plant focused on Comanche Peak's system for finding and responding to leaks.

``What we're interested in is whether they should have picked up on this earlier,'' he said.

The utility said it was the first unplanned shutdown of the plant, which returned to service Nov. 11.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the leak could have quickly developed from debris in the water or over time if corrosion had been overlooked.

``If it was missed and they had the opportunity to prevent this in the past and missed it, that's one thing,'' he said. ``But if it happened randomly, then there was nothing they could do to prevent this.''

Lochbaum said similar leaks have shut down about a dozen plants in the past decade.

The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Toledo, Ohio, has been shut down since February because an accumulation of acid nearly ate through a 6-inch-thick steel reactor cap. That leak, discovered in March, was the most extensive corrosion ever found on a U.S. nuclear reactor and led to a nationwide review of 69 similar plants.

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On the Net:

Comanche Peak: http://www.txu.com/us/ourbus/elecgen/comanche.asp

NRC: http://www.nrc.gov

AP-NY-12-03-02 1627EST

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