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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 Greenman Phone: (630) 829-9662/e-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

RIII-97-106

December 9, 1997

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet

December 16 with representatives of American Electric Power Company to discuss the readiness for restart of the two reactors at the D.C. Cook Nuclear Power Station. The station is located near Bridgman, Michigan.

The meeting will be at 10:00 a.m. in the Training Building at the D. C. Cook plant on Red Arrow Highway north of Bridgman, Michigan. It will be open to public observation.

NRC Regional Administrator A. Bill Beach will be available to brief news media representatives on NRC activities at

D. C. Cook following the meeting.

The two units have been shut down since September 9 of this year to resolve questions on the ability of certain emergency systems to operate during the long-term reactor cooling mode following a potential major reactor accident. These issues and related matters were identified during an NRC design inspection in August and September and in additional inspections and reviews by the NRC Region III staff.

Design inspections focus on reviews of a plant's original design and configuration and the utility's conformance with the plant's safety analysis report. The inspection at D.C. Cook was conducted by an inspector from the NRC's Headquarters in Maryland and five contract engineers from Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation.

A Confirmatory Action Letter was issued to American Electric Power on September 19 as a result of the NRC inspection findings. The letter confirms the utility's agreement to evaluate and resolve the issues related to the functioning of certain safety systems and components prior to starting up either of the D.C. Cook reactors. On December 2, the utility submitted its formal response to the NRC.

Copies of the letter, American Electric Power's response, and the inspection report are available from the NRC's internet web site at <http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/reports>.