NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-97-16

February 13, 1997

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has rescheduled a previously announced meeting with representatives of Commonwealth Edison Company. The predecisional enforcement conference on apparent violations at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station (Cordova, Illinois) will be held on Thursday, February 27.

The meeting will be at 11 a.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of the NRC Region III Office, 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois. The meeting is open to public observation.

This meeting was previously announced as being on February 19. The meeting was postponed at the request of Commonwealth Edison Co. to allow additional time for its staff to prepare for the meeting.

Apparent violations involving the safety-related control room ventilation system and reactor building siding will be discussed at the meeting. The control room emergency ventilation system would be needed during certain accident conditions. An NRC inspection in November and December determined that the system was inoperable longer than permitted and that the utility failed to adequately test the system and perform a required safety evaluation.

NRC inspections last year also found that Commonwealth Edison failed to maintain and perform an adequate safety evaluation of the reactor building siding. Blow-out panels on the reactor building are designed to protect the reactor building's steel structure from excessive pressure. When inspecting the blow-out panels, NRC inspectors noted damaged bolts and two pipe supports attached to the panels. The utility failed to conduct an evaluation as to how the pipe supports would affect the safety function of the panels.

The utility has made repairs to both the control room ventilation system and the reactor building blow-out panel bolts.

The decision to hold an enforcement conference does not mean the NRC has determined that a violation has occurred or that enforcement action will be taken. Rather, the purpose is to discuss apparent violations, their causes and safety significance; to provide the licensee an opportunity to point out any errors that may have been made in the NRC inspection report; and to enable the company to outline its proposed corrective actions.

No decisions on the apparent violations or any contemplated enforcement action, such as a fine, will be made at this conference. Those decisions will be made by senior NRC officials at a later date.