Press Release-IV-09-026, NRC Conducting Special Inspection at Waterford 3 Nuclear Plant
| ML092010149 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Waterford  |
| Issue date: | 07/20/2009 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs Region IV |
| To: | |
| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-IV-09-026 | |
| Download: ML092010149 (1) | |
Text
No. IV-09-026
Contact:
Victor Dricks Phone: (817) 860-8128 July 20, 2009 E-Mail: opa4@nrc.gov NRC CONDUCTING SPECIAL INSPECTION AT WATERFORD 3 NUCLEAR PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a special inspection at the Waterford 3 nuclear plant in response to problems discovered with an electrical relay in a plant safety system during testing. The plant, about 25 miles west of New Orleans, La., is operated by Entergy Operations.
Operators encountered problems starting a high pressure safety injection pump during testing on June 22. They traced the problem to a faulty electrical relay, replaced it and were subsequently able to start the pump satisfactorily. The pump is used to supply cooling water to the plants reactor core during some accident conditions.
There have been six prior failures of similar electrical relays at Waterford in the past year.
We want to thoroughly understand the failure and its significance because of the repeat nature of the problem and the importance of this piece of equipment in protecting plant safety, said Region IV Administrator Elmo E. Collins.
A two-person team of NRC inspectors will review the circumstances related to the problem, the licensees root cause evaluation and the effect it had on the availability and reliability of plant safety systems.
The inspection will begin today and is expected to take several days. The team will write a report about 30-45 days after completion of the inspection. The report will be available on the agencys online document library at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html.
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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region IV 612 E. Lamar Blvd., Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011-4125 Telephone: (817) 860-8128