ML120050290

Press Release-III-12-002: NRC to Hold Two Regulatory Conferences on January 11 to Discuss Preliminary White and Preliminary Yellow Findings at Palisades Nuclear Plant

ML120050290
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	01/05/2012
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
References
Press Release-III-12-002
Download: ML120050290 (2)

See also: see also:Press Release-III-12-002

Text

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Region III

2443 Warrenville Road

Lisle IL 60532

Site: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov

No. III-12-002 January, 5 2012

Contact: Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-Mail: OPA3.RegionIII@nrc.gov

Prema Chandrathil (630) 829-9663

NRC TO HOLD TWO REGULATORY CONFERENCES ON JANUARY 11 TO

DISCUSS PRELIMINARY WHITE AND PRELIMINARY YELLOW FINDINGS AT

PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two regulatory conferences with Entergy

Nuclear Operations on Wednesday, Jan. 11, to discuss two preliminary inspection findings

issued to the plant. The plant is located in Covert, Mich., approximately 50 miles west of

Kalamazoo.

The first meeting for the preliminary white finding is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and

the second for the preliminary yellow finding will begin at 1:30 p.m. Both meetings will take

place at the NRCs Region III office, 2443 Warrenville Rd. Suite 210, in Lisle, Ill. The public is

invited to observe and will have an opportunity to talk with NRC officials after the business

portion of the meetings.

The preliminary white finding of low-to-moderate safety significance is related to the

service water system.

The system is comprised of three motor-driven pumps that are used to provide cooling to

safety-related equipment, such as containment air coolers and diesel generators. Last August, one

of the service water pumps failed due to cracking in one of the couplings. This was a repeat of a

previous event in 2009. The NRC conducted a Special Inspection and preliminarily concluded

the utility failed to prevent a recurrence of the cracking condition and failed to completely

consider the properties of the steel material used in the coupling.

The preliminary yellow finding of substantial significance to safety is related to an

electrical fault caused by personnel at the site. The electrical fault resulted in a reactor trip and

the loss of half of the control room indicators, and activation of safety systems not warranted by

actual plant conditions. This made the reactor trip more challenging for the operators and

increased the risk of a serious event occurring. The NRC conducted a Special Inspection and

preliminarily determined the actions and work preparation for the electrical panel work were not

done correctly.

The two regulatory conferences are being held to discuss the preliminary findings and

their safety significance, and to assist the NRC in making a final enforcement decision. No

decisions will be made at these conferences. After the conferences, the NRC will review the

information received and make a final determination on the safety significance of both findings.

The NRCs inspection reports detailing the findings are available online at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The number to access the preliminary white report

is ML113330819. The number to access the preliminary yellow report is ML113330802.

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 NRC's website.