PNO-II-92-055C, on 920824,Hurricane Andrew Passed Directly Over Turkey Point Nuclear Plant W/Wind Reported as High as 140 Mph & Gusts Up to 152 Mph as Measure Before Meterological Equipment Disabled

PNO-II-92-055C:on 920824,Hurricane Andrew Passed Directly Over Turkey Point Nuclear Plant W/Wind Reported as High as 140 Mph & Gusts Up to 152 Mph as Measure Before Meterological Equipment Disabled

ML20203F147
Person / Time
Site:	Turkey Point
Issue date:	09/03/1992
From:	NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:
References
PNO-II-92-055C, PNO-II-92-55C, NUDOCS 9712170296
Download: ML20203F147 (2)

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september 3, 1992 -

s P m rur my uOTryICATION OF EYararr OR UmuSUAL f.,Cuusa--um PNO-II-92-055C This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety-or public interest significance. The informatio dis as initially

• received without verification or evaluation,-and is basically all that is

• known by the Region II staff on this date. 84 m _

Facility Licensee R($rgency Classificatic Florida Power & Light Co. X Notification -of Unusual Event Turkey Point 3 4 Alert

. Miami, Florida Site Areat Emergency Dockets:' 50-250,50-251 General Emergency Not Applicable

Subject:

DOWNGRADE OF EMERGENCY CLASSIFICATION AT TURKEY POINT Shortly af ter 5:00 a.m. (EDT) on August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew passed directly over the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant (Units 3 and 4). The nucleur plant is located approximately 25 miles south of Miami, Florida, on Biscayne Bay. The licensee (Florida Power and Light-FP&L) declared an

" Alert" at 9:18 a.m.(EDT) on August 24 1992. Winds at the site were reported as high as 140 mph with gusEf #up'to 152 mpn as measured before

, )he meteorological equipment was disabled. -

.ho U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) activated the Region II Incident Response Center in Atlanta, Georgia, ar.d the Headquarters Incident Response Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at 4:00 p.m. on August 23, 1992. At 4:15 a.m. on August 24, 1992, both centers entered the Monitoring Mode.

1 Prior to the storm, FP&L had shutdown both nuclear units and placed them -

in the " Hot Standby" condition (approximately 300 degrees F) as required by tha Turkey Point Emergency Procedures. At approximately 4:40 a.m. on August 24, 1992, Unit 3 lost offsite electrical power and at approximately 5:30 a.m. Unit 4 lost offsite power. However, the emergency diesel generators started automatically and provided electrical power to the nuclear safety systems in both of the units. The emergency diesel generators supplied the electrical power for cooling the reactor cores

, until electrical power was restored on August 30, 1992. The units were placed in the " cold shutdown" condition (less than 200 degrees F) on'

__ _ August 26, 1992.

Communications were lost to the Turkey Point site at approximately 5:40 a.m., on August 24, 1992. At 6:40 a.m. on August 24, 1992, the NRC d!

reestablished communications with the licensee's Emergency Operations Facility (EOF) . At 7:45 a.m. , the plant established radio contact with h['U;A' the licensee's EOF. Cellular phone communications with the site were reestablished the afternoon of August 24, 1992. On August 25, 1992, hackup communications were established. Commercial communications were 3 established by August 28, 1992.

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-II- 2-055C PDR c DISTRIBUTION: CIDI, CMRS.

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PHO-II-92-055C The NRC response centers in Atlanta and Bethesda remained staffed with Airect communications _to the licensee's EOF and the site until 9:00 a.m.

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on August 31, 1992. At this time both centers were deactivated. Two NRC inspectors were onsite on August 23, 1992, reviewing licensee preparations for the storm and remained in the plant control room during the duration of the hurricane. Three additional inspectors from the Region II Office and one from the St. Lucie plant arrived onsite on August 26, 1992. NRC iuspectors have been onsite monitoring licensce activities through September 3, 1992.

The Turkey Point nuclear safety systems function a as designed throughout 1 -

the event. Damage incurred was primarily at the adjoining fossil plants and buildings surrounding the nuclear facility. The licensee conducted

" ' radiological surveys of the site with portable hand hsid survey meters on August 25, 1992. No radiation levels above background were detected and no other evidence of damage to radiological systems were present. There was no evidence of any radiological release or leak. The licensee also reported that all radioactive material contained in the plant had been accounted for onsite. The NRC inspectors conducted an independent radiological survey at the site boundary and confirmed.the findings of the previously conducted licensee surveys.

The Turkey Point plant fire protection water system was damaged when an elevated potable water tank fell on The water supply tank and associated

-piping during the event. However, the licensee took compensatory measures -

'ntil the system was restored to an operable status on August 28, 1992.

amage was also incurred to the physical security systems; however, the _ . -

licensee took compensatory actions to insure security of the plant. Some danage was also evident in the electrical swithchyard.

Damage was also evident to a fossil unit exhaust stack, the fossil unit oil metering tank (resulted in a spill of approximately 105,000 gallons of Buncker C oil which is used for fuel in the fossil plants), and surrounding buildings including the nuclear materials warehouse and the mechanical fabrication shop.

The current status of the plant is: Unit 3 and 4 remain in Cold Shutdown, emergency electrical buses are on commercial power, emergency diesel generators are in standby, two sources of offsite power are available, the fire system is operable in the manual mode, the non-safety related

.. diesels are available, if needed.

..The licensee is continuing to assess damage and to make repairs to the switchyard, fire protection water system, and security systeme and cleaning up debris throughout the plant and site. The licensee is projecting restart of Unit 4 in approximately 30 days. Unit 3 will remain shut down for a previously scheduled refueling outage. The licensee has not projected the restart date for Units.

-The licensee is also assisting employees whose residences were damaged

'uring the storm.

this information is current as of 7:00 a.m., September 3, 1992.

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