ML081090310

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PNO-III-08-004: Cook & Palisades, Unusual Events Declared Due to Earthquake
ML081090310
Person / Time
Site: Palisades, Cook  Entergy icon.png
Issue date: 04/18/2008
From: Garmoe A D, Lipa C A, Pelchat J M
NRC/RGN-III
To:
References
PNO-III-08-004
Download: ML081090310 (2)


Text

April 18, 2008

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE -- PNO-III-08-004

This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. The information is as initially received without verification or evaluation, and is basically all that is known by the Region III staff on this date.

Facilities D.C. Cook Indiana Michigan Power Company Bridgman, MI Docket Nos. 50-315, 50-316 License Nos. DPR-58, DPR-74

Palisades Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

Covert, MI Docket No. 50-255 License No. DPR-20 Licensee Emergency Classification x Notification of Unusual Event Alert Site Area Emergency General Emergency _ Not Applicable

SUBJECT:

UNUSUAL EVENTS DECLARED DUE TO EARTHQUAKE

DESCRIPTION:

At approximately 6:02 a.m. EDT on April 18, 2008, Indiana Michigan Power Company declared an Unusual Event, the lowest of four NRC emergency notification classifications, at the D.C. Cook Nuclear Plant. At approximately 6:03 a.m. EDT on April 18, 2008, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. declared an Unusual Event at the Palisades Nuclear Plant. The Unusual Events were declared due to an earthquake, magnitude 5.2 on the Richter Scale (source: U.S. Geological Survey), centered in West Salem, Illinois, approximately 250 miles south of the D.C. Cook plant and approximately 280 miles south of the Palisades plant.

The earthquake was felt at the facilities and instrumentation installed in the plants also alerted the operators of the event. The facilities continued to operate normally with no indications of any adverse effects. D.C. Cook Unit 2 and Palisades continue to operate at full power. D.C. Cook Unit 1 was in a refueling outage at the time. To confirm that the earthquake had no adverse impact on the facilities, and in accordance with their procedures, personnel at D.C. Cook and Palisades performed detailed walkdowns of the facilities. No damage has been identified.

NRC inspectors at the sites responded to the event and are monitoring licensee activities from the control room. NRC inspectors also conducted walkdowns of safety significant portions of the facility to independently verify that the event did not have a negative impact on plant equipment. No damage was identified. The NRC's Region III office has maintained contact with the sites to ensure appropriate actions are being completed.

The Unusual Event at D.C. Cook was terminated at 9:05 a.m. EDT. Palisades remains in an Unusual Event pending completion of ongoing assessments.

The State of Michigan has been informed. The information in this preliminary notification has been reviewed with licensee management.

The D.C. Cook event was reported to the NRC Operations Center at 6:20 a.m. EDT and the Palisades event was reported to the NRC Operations Center at 6:23 a.m. EDT on April 18, 2008.

NRC Region III contacted all other operating reactors, large material licensees, and research reactors within Region III. The earthquake was not strong enough to set off seismic alarms, however, all operating reactors in Region III that felt the earthquake have commenced equipment walkdowns. In addition, NRC inspectors are conducting independent walkdowns at all operating reactors that felt the earthquake. No facilities have identified damage and no other emergency declarations were entered.

NRC Region II contacted the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky and the Honeywell facility in Metropolis, Illinois. Seismic activity was felt at both facilities. Plant personnel performed precautionary walkdowns of the facilities and found no evidence of damage. No emergency declarations were made at either facility.

This information is current as of 11:40 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 18, 2008.

CONTACTS:

Alex Garmoe Christine Lipa John Pelchat 630/829-9738 630/829-9619 404/562-4729