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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, NNECO TO MEET ON MILLSTONE 2 INSPECTION FINDING ON NOV. 28

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with officials of Northeast Nuclear Energy Company (NNECO) on Tuesday, November 28, for a regulatory conference to discuss a finding of low to moderate safety significance identified during a recent inspection at Millstone 2 in Waterford, Conn.

The meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. in the public meeting room in the NRC's Region I office, 475 Allendale Road, in King of Prussia, Pa. It is open to the public for observation.

The NRC has characterized the inspection finding to be discussed as a potentially "white"

finding. Under the NRC's new reactor oversight process, inspection findings are evaluated under a significance determination process and assigned a color that indicates safety significance. Findings with very low safety significance are labeled "green." "White" findings have low to moderate importance to safety and may require additional NRC inspection. Progressively more serious findings are labeled "yellow" and "red," and receive commensurately greater oversight. A more detailed explanation of the NRC's new reactor oversight process can be found on the NRC's website at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ROP/description.html.

The finding at Millstone involved a turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump, one of three pumps that supplies water to the steam generators if the normal feedwater pumps are lost. Also, the turbine-driven pump is designed to operate for events involving a loss of electrical power. NRC inspectors determined NNECO failed to take prompt and comprehensive corrective actions in August, after the pump exhibited erratic operation during a surveillance test. During the next test on September 20, operators determined that the pump was unable to perform its function. Further, it was determined that the pump failure in September was related to the problem identified in August, which was not corrected at that time. This failure has preliminarily been characterized as "white" because of the pump's importance in mitigating plant events.

A regulatory conference is being held to provide NNECO officials an opportunity to present information to the NRC that will help it to reach a final determination of the significance of the inspection findings.

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