Press Release-IV-11-024, NRC to Hold Regulatory Conference with Omaha Public Power District on Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant on June 2

Press Release-IV-11-024: NRC to Hold Regulatory Conference with Omaha Public Power District on Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant on June 2

ML111390869
Person / Time
Site:	Fort Calhoun
Issue date:	05/19/2011
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region IV
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-IV-11-024
Download: ML111390869 (2)

Text

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 Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov No. IV-11-024 May 19, 2011

Contact:

Victor Dricks (817) 860-8128 E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov Lara Uselding (817) 276-6519 NRC TO HOLD REGULATORY CONFERENCE WITH OMAHA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT ON FORT CALHOUN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ON JUNE 2 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a regulatory conference June 2 with representatives of Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) to discuss issues related to the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant. OPPD operates the plant, located about 20 miles north of Omaha.

The conference, which is open to public observation, will begin at 8 a.m. in NRCs Region IV office at 612 E. Lamar in Arlington, Texas. Conferees will discuss a preliminary violation associated with an electrical component that is part of the reactor protection system at the plant.

During a scheduled test on June 14, 2010, one of four electrical contacts failed in a system used to trip or automatically shut down the reactor. The condition appears to have existed for 63 days before it was discovered. The failure did not pose a danger to public health or safety, because other means existed to perform that safety function if necessary. OPPD has replaced the defective electrical component.

The NRC evaluates performance at nuclear power plants with a color coded process which classifies regulatory findings as either green, white, yellow or red, in order of increasing safety significance. The NRC has preliminarily determined that the violation was yellow, meaning it has substantial safety significance.

A phone bridge is available to members of the public by calling 1-800-952-9677 and asking to be transferred to the meeting. Members of the NRC staff will be available to answer questions from members of the public after the business portion of the meeting.

No decision on the final safety significance, the apparent violation or any contemplated enforcement action will be made during the conference. Those decisions will be made by NRC officials at a later time.

The NRC inspection report is available through the agencys electronic reading room at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html and ML111260664. Help in accessing these documents is available from the NRC Public Document Room staff by calling 1-800-397-4209.

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 NRCs website.