Press Release-II-10-059, NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Inspection Results for Crystal River Nuclear Plant Containment

Press Release-II-10-059: NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Inspection Results for Crystal River Nuclear Plant Containment

ML102300291
Person / Time
Site:	Crystal River
Issue date:	08/18/2010
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-10-059
Download: ML102300291 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 245 Peachtree Center Ave. NE, Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-10-059 August 18, 2010 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416 NRC SCHEDULES MEETING TO DISCUSS INSPECTION RESULTS FOR CRYSTAL RIVER NUCLEAR PLANT CONTAINMENT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a meeting in Crystal River, Fla.,

to discuss the results of an NRC special inspection looking into the circumstances surrounding a gap discovered in the concrete of the containment building at the Crystal River nuclear power plant last fall. The Crystal River plant is operated by Progress Energy on the west coast of Florida about 80 miles north of Tampa.

The meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2 in Room 150 of the Crystal River nuclear plant training center, 8200 West Venable Street in Crystal River, will be open to members of the public and the news media. NRC team members will also be available to answer questions after the results are presented.

The NRC inspection team has continued its work since October, conducting multiple inspections and reviews of the companys analyses and other information. The Crystal River plant staff first discovered the containment separation during a planned refueling outage which was also used to replace the steam generators inside containment. To move the large steam generators inside the containment building, workers removed concrete to create the necessary opening, and found a gap in the concrete in that area. The Crystal River containment is about 42 inches thick and contains both horizontal and vertical tensioned steel tendons. The separation was found about 9 inches from the outer surface of the concrete.

The plant will not restart until the NRC is satisfied that the analyses and repairs to the containment building provide the required safety margin. The agency will schedule another public meeting in the Crystal River area prior to the restart of the plant.

The NRC will also issue a written report of the inspection teams review in the next several weeks and that report will be available on the NRCs web site at www.nrc.gov.

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address:

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 Web site.