Press Release-IV-15-003, NRC Begins Special Inspection at River Bend Station

Press Release-IV-15-003: NRC Begins Special Inspection at River Bend Station

ML15026A727
Person / Time
Site:	River Bend
Issue date:	01/26/2015
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region IV
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-IV-15-003
Download: ML15026A727 (1)

Text

No: IV-15-003 January 26, 2015 CONTACT: Victor Dricks (817) 200-1128 Lara Uselding (817) 200-1519 NRC Begins Special Inspection at River Bend Station The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at the River Bend Station nuclear power plant to review circumstances surrounding an unplanned reactor shutdown that occurred on Dec. 25, 2014. The plant, operated by Entergy Operations, Inc., is located in St. Francisville, La.

The plant was operating at 85 percent capacity Christmas morning when an unplanned shutdown with complications occurred. Following the shutdown some problems were experienced with the plants feedwater system, which supplies short-term cooling water to the reactor core, as well as several electrical circuit breakers. Operators took compensatory action to ensure the plant would remain in a safe shutdown mode.

The purpose of this special inspection is to better understand the circumstances surrounding the event, determine if there are any generic implications, and review the licensees corrective actions to ensure that the cause of the event, including associated equipment problems have been effectively addressed, NRC Region IV Administrator Marc Dapas said.

Several NRC inspectors will spend about a week on site evaluating the licensees root cause analysis, maintenance of some plant systems and adequacy of corrective actions. An inspection report documenting the teams findings will be publicly available within 45 days of the end of the inspection.