ML15264A986

Press Release-I-15-034: Dominion Institutes Corrective Actions at Millstone Nuclear Plant Under Settlement Agreement with NRC

ML15264A986
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	08/27/2015
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
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Press Release-I-15-034
Download: ML15264A986 (2)

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No: I-15-034 August 27, 2015 CONTACT: Diane Screnci, 610-337-5330 E-mail: opa1.resource@nrc.gov Neil Sheehan, 610-337-5331 Dominion Institutes Corrective Actions at Millstone Nuclear Plant Under Settlement Agreement with NRC Under a settlement agreement reached with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dominion is implementing a broad range of corrective actions at its Millstone Unit 2 nuclear power plant in Waterford, Conn. These actions are designed to address violations of certain regulations, prevent recurrences and respond to questions the NRC raised regarding changes involving a reactor safety system at the facility. lternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process Office of Investigations. he part of Dominion that are designed to prevent these kinds of issues from occurring in the future, at Millstone Director of the Division of Inspection and Nuclear Reactor Regulation. submitted requests for NRC approval of amendments to the Millstone Unit 2 operating license that charging pumps and irradiated fuel decay time. The Office of Investigations initiated an investigation in November 2011 to determine if wrongdoing had occurred. In an inspection report issued on April 29, 2015, the agency notified Dominion that the violations were being considered for heightened, or escalated, enforcement. The first violation considered for escalated enforcement was for a willful violation for changes , without a license amendment, that removed credit for a specific type of safety-related pump in the mitigation of a postulated accident. The second violation was a non-willful violation for a failure to provide complete and accurate information to the Page l 2 license amendment prior to making changes related to spent fuel pool heat-load analysis, was not considered for escalated enforcement. The NRC offered Dominion a choice of attending an enforcement conference or ADR to address the apparent violations. ADR entails a trained neutral mediator working with the parties to reach resolution on the issues. ADR can result in broad, long-term corrective actions. Based on those discussions, a settlement agreement was reached. In exchange for the array of corrective actions by Dominion, the NRC agreed not to pursue further enforcement action against the company related to the apparent violations. The NRC issued a legally binding Confirmatory Order on Aug. 26, 2015, that requires the company to, among other things: ny needed changes to plant procedures governing the operation and testing of the charging pumps, and perform an evaluation of the use of the pumps. -wide communication to reinforce the importance of providing complete and accurate information to the NRC. -load analysis. regulations that allows plant owners to make changes to their facilities without prior NRC approval, provided certain criteria are satisfied.) The results of the assessment will be provided to the NRC and any corrective actions deemed necessary will be performed. 2002 to identify whether other deficiencies exist in this program. tory Order. The NRC will follow up to ensure the corrective actions are fully implemented. A copy of the ADAMS electronic documents system under Accession Number ML15236A207.