Press Release-92-022, NRC Staff Proposes $15,000 Fine Against Duke Power Company.`
| ML003702563 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/18/1992 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
| To: | |
| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-92-022 | |
| Download: ML003702563 (1) | |
Text
No.
92-22 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tel.
301-504-2240 (Tuesday, February 18, 1992)
NRC STAFF PROPOSES $15,000 FINE AGAINST DUKE POWER COMPANY The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a
$15,000 civil penalty against Duke Power Company for alleged violation of NRC requirements at the Catawba nuclear power plant located near Rock Hill, South Carolina.
NRC officials said the civil penalty was being proposed because of five examples of failure to adequately implement plant procedures which agency officials said were repetitive in nature and indicative of an adverse trend in the area of configuration control.
Specifically, the NRC said the violation involved an incorrect breaker alignment which resulted in both trains of the control room ventilation system being inoperable for about 90 minutes on September 13, 1991; a valve misalignment during testing of a safety injection pump on November 17, 1991; an inappropriate verification of a steam generator pressure-operated relief valve's drain line isolation valve as being closed when it was actually open on November 16, 1991; an inappropriate verification, on November 18, that a steam generator outlet header drain block valve was closed when it was actually open; and a November 18 verification of an inside containment isolation lineup when verification of outside containment lineup was required.
The NRC said these events are in the agency's Level IV violation category which does not normally involve proposal of a civil penalty.
However, NRC officials told the company that it has not implemented effective corrective action for previous similar violations and that a trend of failure to establish adequate measures for plant configuration control was of significant concern to the NRC staff to propose and led to a fine being proposed in this case.
The company has 30 days from receipt of the Notice of Violation to either pay the civil penalty or to protest it, in whole or in part.