Press Release-IV-11-039, NRC Issues Confirmatory Action Letter for Fort Calhoun Restart Preparations

Press Release-IV-11-039: NRC Issues Confirmatory Action Letter for Fort Calhoun Restart Preparations

ML11250A039
Person / Time
Site:	Fort Calhoun
Issue date:	09/02/2011
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region IV
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-IV-11-039
Download: ML11250A039 (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-11-039 September 2, 2011

Contact:

Victor Dricks (817) 860-8128 E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov Lara Uselding (817) 276-6519 NRC ISSUES CONFIRMATORY ACTION LETTER FOR FORT CALHOUN RESTART PREPARATIONS The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a Confirmatory Action Letter documenting actions that Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) officials have agreed to take prior to restarting the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant.

The plant, located about 19 miles north of Omaha, Neb., has been shut down since April for a refueling outage. The outage was extended due to flooding along the Missouri River, which prompted operators to declare an Unusual Event on June 6. An electrical fire on June 7 also led to a declaration of an Alert and caused further restart complications. Both emergency declarations have been cancelled and the plant remains in a safe shutdown mode.

At a public meeting on July 27, OPPD officials discussed post flooding recovery actions and agreed not to restart the plant without NRC approval. They submitted a detailed plan to the NRC on August 10.

We intend to perform several comprehensive inspections to verify that the licensee has thoroughly evaluated the condition of key systems, structures and components at the plant before authorizing restart, NRC Region IV Administrator Elmo E. Collins said.

Based upon our review and discussions regarding your plans, we understand that OPPD commits to completing assessments and actions in six overall focus areas, Collins said in a letter to OPPD officials. These include: site restoration; plant systems and equipment; equipment reliability; design and licensing basis; emergency planning; and security.

Each of these six areas are broken down into specific action items in 20 individual action plans. Each plan outlines action items required prior to heating up the reactor coolant system above 210 degrees Fahrenheit, actions prior to achieving criticality, and longer-term recovery actions.

Copies of the confirmatory order will be posted on the NRC website. OPPDs Post-Flooding Recovery Action Plan is accessible through ADAMS using Accession Number ML112231755.

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