Lost Screw Shuts Down Reactor

An elusive metal screw that worked loose and paralyzed a Bavarian nuclear reactor has defied two weeks of around-the-clock searching and may never be found, a spokesman at the plant said Wednesday.

Norbert Eickelpasch said engineers conducting an annual overhaul of the 1,300-megawatt Gundremmingen reactor on the Danube River had discovered that five 15-ounce screws were missing from a water pump in the cooling system.

“We abandoned the search this morning and we now hope to have permission by sometime next week to restart the reactor, providing the authorities are satisfied there is no danger,” Eickelpasch said.

Four of the errant screws were retrieved by search teams using underwater cameras lowered into the 114-foot-high pressure vessel after the fuel rods were removed.

Eickelpasch said that the missing screw had no safety function.