Press Release-I-11-042, NRC Cites Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant for Inspection Findings of Low to Moderate Safety Significance

Press Release-I-11-042: NRC Cites Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant for Inspection Findings of Low to Moderate Safety Significance

ML113250691
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	11/21/2011
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
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Press Release-I-11-042
Download: ML113250691 (2)

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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov No. I-11-042 Nov. 21, 2011

Contact:

Diane Screnci, (610) 337-5330 Email: OPA1.RESOURCE@nrc.gov Neil Sheehan, (610) 337-5331 NRC CITES PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FOR INSPECTION FINDING OF LOW TO MODERATE SAFETY SIGNIFICANCE The Pilgrim nuclear power plant will receive additional oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission following the finalization of a White (low to moderate safety significance) inspection finding for the facility in Plymouth, Mass.

The inspection finding involves the failure of Pilgrim control room operators to follow appropriate standards and procedures on reactivity control during a start-up of the reactor on May 10, 2011. This failure contributed to an unrecognized subcriticality, or the reactor going below power-production levels, followed by an unrecognized return to criticality and a subsequent automatic reactor scram, or shutdown. The shutdown was safely carried out.

An NRC team identified the finding during a Special Inspection initiated on May 16th at Pilgrim, which is owned and operated by Entergy Nuclear. The Special Inspection was launched in response to the May 10th event.

When it comes to the job of controlling the reactor, unyielding adherence to standards and procedures is essential, NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said. While the plants automatic safety systems assured that this event did not compromise plant safety or adversely impact the environment, this clearly was a significant operational event. The NRC fully expects plant personnel to learn from this experience and take steps to ensure there is not a recurrence.

In an inspection report issued in September, the NRC issued Entergy a Preliminary White finding for the event. The company provided a written response to the finding on Oct.

3rd. In that response, the company said it disagreed with the NRCs determination of risk associated with the event. The NRC, as part of its final significance determination report, answered that it believes the risk classification is appropriate when all factors, including human performance errors identified during the inspection, are factored in.

Further, Entergy said it had taken the reactor scram event very seriously and instituted numerous corrective actions, including the completion of a case study of the event, the results of which were provided to control room operators; the retraining of control room operators on

criticality operations; and the establishment of management oversight in the control room for 100 percent of the time when the reactor is in start-up mode.

At a future date, the NRC will perform a supplemental inspection at Pilgrim to evaluate the companys root-cause analysis of what occurred during the event and its corrective actions.

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http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's website.