NRC TO MEET WITH NUCLEAR MANAGEMENT CO. MAY 3 TO DISCUSS INSPECTION FINDING AT KEWAUNEE NUCLEAR PLANT

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members will meet May 3 in Lisle, Illinois, with representatives of the Nuclear Management Company to discuss a recent finding concerning the fire protection systems at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

The meeting, called a Regulatory Conference, will begin at 1 p.m. CDT in the Third Floor Conference Room of the NRC's Region III Office, 801 Warrenville Road in Lisle. The meeting is open to public observation. NRC staff members will be available after the session to address questions and comments from members of the public.

During a two week inspection which was completed in February, NRC inspectors questioned whether an electrical box in the auxiliary feedwater pump 1B room was properly constructed to protect the cables inside from damage during a possible fire. The NRC requires that the insulating fire barrier withstand a fire for three hours.

The electrical box in question was installed in 1983 and contains cables for various plant systems such as portions of the auxiliary feedwater system. The auxiliary feedwater system is designed to remove heat from the reactor if the normal feedwater system is lost.

The purpose of the regulatory conference is to discuss the concern about a potential problem and its causes, the proposed safety significance categorization, and the apparent violation. The licensee - in this case the Nuclear Management Company - is provided with an opportunity to clarify aspects of the NRC inspection report, as necessary, and to outline its proposed corrective action.

The NRC uses a four category rating system for its inspection findings; from green, through white and yellow, to red, depicting increasing safety significance.

This inspection finding preliminarily has been evaluated as "yellow" which means it concerns an issue of substantial safety significance.

The color assessments are used to determine the NRC's response to the findings, which may include additional meetings with plant officials as well as follow-up inspections to review the company's response.

Following the May 3 meeting, the NRC staff will continue its review of the finding and determine its final assessment and the agency's resulting actions. The outcome of the NRC staff's review of the finding, which normally takes four to six weeks, will be on the NRC's enforcement web page at:

http://www.nrc.gov/OE/ Select the "enforcement actions" link.

Additional information on the NRC's reactor inspection and assessment program is on the web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/index.html.

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Thursday, February 22, 2007