Press Release-III-13-011, NRC Cites Kewaunee for an Issue in Emergency Preparedness
| ML13095A336 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Kewaunee  |
| Issue date: | 04/05/2013 |
| From: | Prema Chandrathil, Viktoria Mitlyng Office of Public Affairs Region II |
| To: | |
| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-III-13-011 | |
| Download: ML13095A336 (2) | |
Text
NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov No. III-13-011
Contact:
Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 Prema Chandrathil (630) 829-9663 April 5, 2013 E-Mail: OPA3.Resource@nrc.gov NRC CITES KEWAUNEE FOR AN ISSUE IN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff issued a violation to Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant, which will result in additional oversight. The plant operated by Dominion Energy Kewaunee is located near Kewaunee, Wisc., approximately 27 miles southeast of Green Bay.
NRC inspectors identified the violation during a December 2012 emergency preparedness inspection. The violation involved the plants failure to identify the loss of an indicator to monitor system and effluent parameters for accurately classifying and declaring a general emergency and a site area emergency. Alternative methods were available to make the necessary emergency classification and declaration.
The utility has restored the instrument, returned it to service and has taken corrective actions to better assess emergency equipment failures.
Even though the issue did not have an impact on the public, the NRC requires measures be in place and maintained to ensure the health and safety of the public is protected during certain emergency events, said Region III Administrator Charles Casto. We have inspected the plants corrective actions and know there were alternative means to classify these events, but we will conduct additional inspections to ensure emergency equipment is in working condition.
As a result of this finding Kewaunee will move from Column 1 to Column 2 of the NRCs Action Matrix effective the fourth quarter of 2012 leading to a supplemental inspection.
The inspection will determine if the plant staff has understood the cause of the problems, look at the plants ability to correctly assess and plan for activities involving emergency preparedness, and assess their ability to identify and resolve problems with appropriate priority.
The NRC evaluates a nuclear plants performance with a color coded process that classifies regulatory findings as green, white, yellow or red, in order of increasing safety significance. After consideration of the information the NRC staff has characterized the inspection finding as white or as having a low to moderate safety significance.
The company has 30 days to contest the finding. The NRC inspection letter detailing the final determination will be publically available through the NRC's website. The number to access the letter is ML13094A270.
Even though Dominion announced its decision to decommission the Kewaunee plant, it currently remains under the NRCs oversight program for operating reactors.
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