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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011

NRC Inspection Team Sent to Diablo Canyon

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a Special Inspection Team to Diablo Canyon, a nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo, California, to gather information on the electrical fire and automatic reactor trip that occurred on Monday.

The team began work yesterday and is expected to spend about one week onsite. A team report will be issued about 30 days after completion of the inspection.

Operators at Diablo Canyon declared a Notice of Unusual Event, the lowest emergency action level in the NRC required emergency response plan for nuclear reactors, early Monday morning when a fault in electrical cabling led to a fire, a protective shutdown of the main generator and an automatic reactor shutdown. Offsite electric power was restored to safety-related equipment and the Notice of Unusual Event was terminated at 9:59 a.m. PDT on Tuesday. The NRC closely monitored conditions at Diablo Canyon throughout the event.

Items the two-man inspection team will examine include the sequence of events, the licensee's root cause determination and corrective actions, effectiveness of the fire brigade notification and response, timeliness of the emergency classification and notifications, and whether there are lessons to be learned that could benefit other nuclear plants.

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