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-1 2-0 0 2 Contact: Viktoria Mitlyng

(630) 829-966 2 Prema Chandrathil (630) 829-9663 January, 5 201 2 E-Mail: OPA3.RegionIII@nrc.gov

NRC TO HOLD TWO REGULATORY CONFERENCE

S ON JANU ARY 11 TO DISCUSS PRELIMINARY WHITE AND PRELIMINARY YELLOW FINDING

S AT PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two regulatory conference s with Entergy Nuclear Operations on Wednesday, Jan. 1 1, to disc uss two preliminary inspection finding

s 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 prel

iminary "yellow" finding will begin at 1:30 p.m. Both meetings will take place at the NRC's 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 meeting

s.

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 generator

s. 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 finding

s and their safety significance

, an d to assist the NRC in making a final enforcement decision. No decisions will be made at these conference

s. After the conference

s, the NRC will review the information received

and make a final determination on

the safety significance of both

findings. The NRC's inspection report

s 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.

1. 1. 1. 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.