ML20132B179

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Press Release IV-96-64, NRC PG&E Officials to Discuss Apparent Violation at Diablo Canyon
ML20132B179
Person / Time
Site: Diablo Canyon  Pacific Gas & Electric icon.png
Issue date: 12/16/1996
From:
NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To:
References
PR-IV-96-064, PR-IV-96-64, NUDOCS 9612170090
Download: ML20132B179 (1)


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UNITED STATES i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION I l

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Walnut Creek Field Office, Region IV 1450 Maria Lane Walnut Creek California 94596 1

CONTACT: Mark Hammond Dec. 16, 1996  !

Office: (510) 975 0254 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE i Home: (415) 674 1024 RIV 6496 1 Pager: (800) 916 4952 email: mfh2@nrc. gov I NRC, PG&E OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS APPARENT VIOLATION AT DIABLO CANYON l The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a predecisional enforcement conference this week with officials of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to discuss an apparent violation of NRC requirements at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

The conference will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the NRC Region IV office in Arlington, Texas. PG&E operates the Diablo Canyon plant near Avila Beach, California. The meeting will be open to the public for observation: NRC officials will be available afterwards for questions.

The violation to be discussed was discovered during an NRC inspection of Diablo Canyon conducted from late September through early November. NRC inspectors determined that PG&E had failed to conduct a required safety evaluation.

The safety evaluation should have been conducted in 1984, when changes were made to the plant's emergency o)erating procedure as to certain steps that operators should take if primary coolant to t1e reactor was lost.

The evaluation was required because the revised emergency operating procedure, although technically acceptable, differed slightly from the steps outlined in the alant's Updated Final Safety Analysis Report. That document, reviewed and approved by the 4RC, provides the design basis for the safe operation of the plant.

The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement conference does not mean that NRC has made a final determination that a violation did occur or that enforcement action, such as a monetary fine, will be taken. The puraose is to discuss the a) parent violation, its cause and safety significance: to provide )G&E an opportunity to clallenge or cc rect l portions of the NRC inspection report: and for the licensee to outline its coriective actions.

No decision on the apparent violation or any enforcement action will be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made later by senior NRC officials.

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