Press Release-IV-03-045, NRC to Conduct Special Inspection at South Texas Project

Press Release-IV-03-045: NRC to Conduct Special Inspection at South Texas Project

ML033490581
Person / Time
Site:	South Texas
Issue date:	12/15/2003
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region IV
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-IV-03-045
Download: ML033490581 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011-4005 No. IV-03-045 December 15, 2003

Contact:

Victor Dricks E-Mail: opa4@nrc.gov Phone: 817-860-8128 NRC TO CONDUCT SPECIAL INSPECTION AT SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection to evaluate the recent failure of an emergency diesel generator at the South Texas Project nuclear plant near Bay City, Texas.

During monthly testing December 9, one of three emergency diesel generators suffered a mechanical failure. The same diesel generator experienced a failure in 1989. The diesel generators are used to supply power to safety-related plant systems in the event of a loss of off-site power.

The cause of the failures may or may not be similar, but the agency has decided to conduct a special inspection. The bases for this decision include the potential generic implications of the event; the potential that the failures may be repetitive; and the significance of a diesel failure along with the potential that the cause of the diesel failure could affect other diesels at the same plant.

The team is led by a senior reactor inspector and includes the resident inspector from the South Texas Project. The team will review the adequacy of the licensees response to the event, its root cause determinations and corrective actions.

An inspection report will be issued about four weeks after the inspection. It will be available on the NRCs web site: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html and through the Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS). Help in using ADAMS is available through the NRC Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209.