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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532
	CONTACT:	Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov
		Angela Dauginas (630) 829-9662/e-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-97-35

April 10, 1997

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet April 17 with representatives of Wisconsin Public Service Corporation for a predecisional enforcement conference on apparent violations at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station. The plant is in Carlton, Wisconsin.

The meeting will start at 12:30 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of the NRC Region III Office, 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois. It will be open to public observation.

The enforcement conference will focus on Wisconsin Public Service's failure to implement an effective testing program for two safety systems. One is the auxiliary feedwater system, a backup system for providing water for reactor cooling system heat removal and the production of steam. The other is the residual heat removal system, which keeps the reactor core cool when the plant is shut down and which is used in some emergency situations. The conference was scheduled as the result of findings from an NRC inspection in January.

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 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.