ML19325C175
| ML19325C175 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Comanche Peak  |
| Issue date: | 09/19/1989 |
| From: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Bentsen L SENATE |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8909280025 | |
| Download: ML19325C175 (1) | |
Text
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION n
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September 19, 1989 4
The' Honorable Lloyd Bentsen I
United States Senator 1
961 Federal Bulding m
Dear Senator Bentsen:
-This responds-to your letter of August 21, 1989 which requested that you be kept apprised of the continuing status of the Comanche Peak power plant. We discussed _the request with your staff and we understand that you are particularly interested in the results of the Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) investigation-of check valve failures during " hot functional ' testing," and the general status-of the licensing activities.
We have enclosed a copy of the AIT report and TV Electric's response to that report. This.-matter was also addressed in our letter to you, dated July 7,1989, 3
responding to the concerns raised by your constituent, J. C. Dodson.
The AIT's findings have raised two_ concerns. The first is a fairly straight-forward hardware problem, the failure of the check valves.
The second concern
' relates to broader organizational weaknesses divulged by this-event.
In both-cases, we are following TV Electric's corrective' actions, as we-would with any other significant inspection findings, to assure that these problems are effec-
-tively resolved before we would grant a license.
TV Electric has indicated that they expect to complete all of the construction l:
work and operational preparations for licensing in October 1989.= The NRC staff
- is carefully monitoring all of these activities. There is still a considerable amount of work -to be completed before TU Electric will be able to certify that l
the plant hat, been_ completed in accordance with'their license application;
,however, they are continuing to make substantial progress. The NRC. staff will' send'an Operational Readiness Assessment Team to the plant in the middle of L
October. Based on that inspection, we will determine the extent to which the plant _is ready for a low-power license (for the purpose of loading fuel-and l
conductingstart-uptesting). Our decision-on whether to grant a low-power license will_also depend on satisfactory resolution of the issues that have been
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L raised during the course of the staff's technical review and inspection activ-3 L
ities, including the check valve failures and the organizational weaknesses l-identified by the AIT.
We hope that this information is responsive to your request.
Sincerely, e*geemm%
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Acting Executive Director mes k{%%wnewee *j#
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nciosures:
1.
AIT Report FULLTEXT ASCll SCAN
,2.
TV Electric Letter, W.J. Cahill to USNRC dated 8/18/89
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