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

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-98-41

July 2, 1998

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet on July 7 for a predecisional enforcement conference with Commonwealth Edison Co. on an apparent violation associated with the compromise of an NRC reactor operation examination at the Dresden Nuclear Power Station. The plant is located near Morris, Illinois.

The meeting, which is open to public observation, will be at 1 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room, NRC Region III Office, 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois. NRC staff members will be available at the close of the meeting for questions and comments from members of the public.

On July 1, 1996, the utility notified the NRC that the operator license examination, due to be administered by the NRC staff on July 8, appeared to have been compromised.

An investigation by the NRC's Office of Investigations determined that two applicants for NRC operator licenses were responsible for compromising the examination. Both individuals were subsequently prosecuted for criminal charges associated with the examination compromise. The charges were filed in January of this year, and the individuals pleaded guilty to those charges.

Based on the results of that investigation, the NRC staff identified an apparent programmatic problem with the utility's overall security of materials related to the examination. This finding is being considered for possible enforcement action.

The purpose of the predecisional enforcement conference is to discuss the apparent violation and provide the company an opportunity to respond and to provide details of its corrective actions and other additional information.

The information presented in the predecisional enforcement conference will be considered in determining the appropriate enforcement action. The enforcement action will not be determined at the meeting; a decision on the enforcement action, if any, is usually issued several weeks after the conference.