Press Release-III-13-032, NRC Finalizes White Finding for Flooding Protection Issue at Dresden Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-13-032: NRC Finalizes White Finding for Flooding Protection Issue at Dresden Nuclear Power Plant

ML13213A242
Person / Time
Site:	Dresden
Issue date:	08/01/2013
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
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Category:Press Release
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Press Release-III-13-032
Download: ML13213A242 (1)

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No: III-13-032 August 1, 2013 CONTACT: Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 NRC Finalizes White Finding for Flooding Protection Issue at Dresden Nuclear Power Plant The Dresden nuclear power plant will receive additional oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission due to an inspection finding involving the plants failure to establish a procedure that would effectively address a flooding scenario. The finding was identified by NRC inspectors during one of the agencys extensive post-Fukushima reviews of U.S. reactors.

Dresden, located in Morris, Ill., about 25 miles southwest of Joliet, is operated by Exelon Generation Co., LLC.

The NRC uses a color-coded system to classify inspection findings, which range from green, for an issue of very low safety significance, to red, for a finding of high safety significance. In this case, the NRC has determined the inspection finding to be white, meaning it has a low to moderate safety significance. The finding will result in the plant moving from the Licensee Response Column to the Regulatory Response Column of the NRCs performance Action Matrix. The NRC will conduct a supplemental inspection to make sure the company has understood the cause and extent of the problem and has taken sufficient corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Protection against flooding at U.S. nuclear plants is one of the areas to receive additional focus from the NRC following the March 2011 events at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan, said NRC Region III Administrator Charles Casto. We will conduct reviews to make sure the flooding issue at the Dresden station has been addressed in a thorough and comprehensive manner.

NRC inspectors determined that the company failed to establish a procedure addressing all of the effects of flooding on the plant from February 1991 to November 2012. Specifically, the existing procedure did not account for an effective way to add water to the reactor if the plant had a leak resulting in the lowering of the coolant level in the reactor during a severe flooding event. This situation could cause the coolant water in the reactor to become dangerously low.

This issue is not a current safety concern since Exelon has revised the procedure and is now in compliance with NRC requirements.

The inspection report' related to this issue is currently available shortly on the NRCs website and notice of violation will be available shortly. .