Startling sound was power plant letting off steam
SALEM — A loud noise that lasted several minutes woke up residents early Wednesday morning all the way from the downtown to Salem Willows.
"I thought it was a plane landing on my house," said Gina Atwood, who lives near Derby Street.
"It went on for at least five minutes," said Pat Gozemba, an environmental activist who lives in the Willows. "It sounded like a huge roar, like a locomotive coming at you."
On Boardman Street, several people walked out into the street to see what was happening, according to an e-mail from a resident on that street.
The noise around 12:50 a.m. — shortly after President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech — came from Salem Harbor Station, the oil- and coal-fired power plant on Fort Avenue.
After getting phone calls from residents, police cruisers and a firetruck both responded to the plant. They left after an employee told them it was a "steam release."
A company spokesman gave the same answer yesterday.
"This was a routine test that we do on these valves and, for some reason, one just got stuck in the closed position," said Dan Genest, a spokesman at the Virginia headquarters of plant owner Dominion.
"When that happens, the safety valve opens and lets out steam, and that's loud," he said.
The noise lasted for about three minutes, which is how long it took for the valve to be opened by a worker at the plant, a spokesman said.
This is the first time in about a decade that a valve has become stuck like that during a test, according to the company.
Dominion said it conducts weekly tests of about a dozen valves that control the flow of steam to the turbines. These are routine tests, the company said, to make sure all the valves are working properly.
