By Colin Kellaher 
 

Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) on Sunday said initial water tests from its L.V. Sutton plant in Wilmington, N.C., show discharges from the plant's cooling lake to the Cape Fear River aren't harming water quality.

The Charlotte, N.C., utility holding company said water samples captured on Friday upstream and downstream from the plant show little to no impact to river water quality, with all results well within the state's standards.

The rising Cape Fear River on Friday overtopped the dam at the cooling lake next to a coal-ash landfill at the Sutton plant. The flooding causing a number of smaller cuts and a larger breach on the southern end of the 1,100-acre man-made reservoir. Duke said crews will begin repairs to stop water exiting the south side of the lake as soon as the river stops flowing over the north end.

Duke said the dams at two coal ash basins at Sutton remain stable, and that while water has filled the 1971 basin, the company believes ash is being contained by a steel wall.

Duke on Friday said lightweight hollow beads of alumina and silica known as cenospheres--another type of waste from burning coal to generate electricity--had entered the river. The company on Sunday said it has deployed booms to try to capture any other material before it leaves the lake.

The Sutton plant, which burns natural gas since the coal-fired units were retired in 2013, was shut down Friday after the breaches were discovered. Duke said flooding resulted in about a foot of water throughout the plant's footprint. The company said it is beginning to assess equipment at the plant, but noted it still has adequate electricity to serve customers even without the plant operating.

 

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2018 13:59 ET (17:59 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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