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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406

NRC, CONSOLIDATED EDISON TO DISCUSS INDIAN POINT 2 INSPECTION FINDINGS

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and representatives of Consolidated Edison Company of New York will meet on Tuesday, September 26, to discuss the findings of an NRC inspection that reviewed the cause of the February 15^th steam generator tube failure at the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant.

The Regulatory Conference is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC's Region I office in King of Prussia, Pa. It will be open to the public for observation.

In its report issued in late August, the NRC inspection team preliminarily concluded that the overall direction and execution of Consolidated Edison's 1997 steam generator in-service examinations at the Buchanan, N.Y., facility were deficient in several respects. Deficiencies in the steam generator inspection program resulted in the company's failure to adequately account for conditions which adversely affected the detectability of, and increased susceptibility to, tube flaws. The team concluded that these failures resulted in tubes with flaws being left in service following the 1997 inspection.

The NRC has preliminarily characterized the findings as "red." (Under the NRC's revised reactor oversight process, the agency assesses inspection findings and characterizes their risk significance by color, specifically green, white, yellow or red. A green finding results in normal NRC oversight, while white, yellow or red assessments are considered progressively more serious and receive commensurately greater oversight.)

At the Regulatory Conference, Consolidated Edison will have an opportunity to provide NRC staff with additional information, including its position on the significance of the issues discussed in the inspection report. This information will be used by the NRC in determining its final characterization of the issues.

The inspection report is posted on the NRC's web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/REACTOR/IP/index.html

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