Anderson-Reed Nuclear
Our Shortcomings
Over the years, we've made mistakes. It's our duty as a company to learn from them.
We humbly present these shortcomings as a reminder to ourselves and to you that Anderson-Reed is committed to holding itself accountable.
2016 Anchorage Explosion
On May 12, 2016, a malfunctioning valve resulted in the buildup of steam pressure in a pipe. The subsequent release of pressure when the valve broke resulted in an explosion that heavily injured two Anderson-Reed employees. An investigation revealed that maintenance teams had not followed proper maintenance protocols and the replacement window for the valve had gone and passed. Steps were taken to ensure this does not happen again, including termination of the employees responsible.
2014 Las Vegas SCRAM
On June 11, 2014, control rods in Reactor #3 at Las Vegas Nuclear Station failed to insert properly. Engineers were closely monitoring the situation and made the decision to shutown (SCRAM) the reactor immediately. This decision prevented a much larger catastrophe. The other three reactor cores were able to continue operating normally, and Reactor #3 was brought back online 3 days later. After an investigation, it was determined that the cause of the control rod failure was due to improper manufacturing of the control rods, which Anderson-Reed is not responsible for. Steps have been taken to ensure this does not happen again.
2012 Las Vegas Radiation Leak
On September 15, 2012, a small amount of non-lethal radiation leaked out of a faulty valve in Reactor #3's water pipe. No harm was caused to any employees or the surrounding community, and the valve was replaced quickly. Steps were taken to ensure something similar doesn't happen again.
2006 Los Angeles Power Outage
On March 2, 2006, roughly 48% of Anderson-Reed customers in the Los Angeles area lost power for two and a half hours. This outage was caused by improper maintenance to a transformer, leading to an electrical failure. Electrical power through the transformer had to be turned off to prevent risk of a transformer explosion. In the end, nobody was injured, and Anderson-Reed customers received compensation for the downtime. To date, this remains the only power outage of Anderson-Reed to last more than 30 minutes.
2002 Las Vegas Explosion
On December 19, 2002, a cooling pipe reached too high of a temperature and ignited a diesel tank nearby. After a few seconds, the diesel reserve exploded. Only about a quarter of on-hand diesel was lost, allowing operations to continue. Two Anderson-Reed employees were injured in the explosion. They were given a compensation package, and measures were instituted to prevent something similar from happening again.
1995 Los Angeles Test Reactor Shutdown
On February 15, 1995, it was discovered during routine operations on the test fission reactor at Los Angeles Nuclear Station that the cooling control unit had malfunctioned and was sending incorrect control codes to the cooling machinery. The reactor was forced to shutdown. After an investigation, it was revealed that a bug in the control unit's software had caused a buffer overflow, leading instructions to become corrupted. Nobody was injured as a result of this event, no machinery was damaged, and steps were taken to ensure this doesn't happen again.