NRC STAFF COMPLETES SAFETY REVIEW OF RADIATION PROTECTION PLANNING AT QUAD CITIES NUCLEAR POWER STATION

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has determined deficiencies in radiation protection planning during a recent outage at Unit 1 of the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station to be of "low to moderate safety significance." The two-reactor facility at Cordova, Illinois, is operated by Exelon Generating Co.

The NRC staff made the determination following a regulatory conference at the agency's regional office in Lisle, Illinois, with the utility on February 13 to review the safety significance of radiation dose planning for workers during the Unit 1 refueling outage in October of last year.

The decision made final a preliminary assessment of the issue as a "white" finding, meaning it was of "low to moderate safety significance." The NRC uses a four-category rating system for its inspection findings; from green, through white and yellow, to red, depicting increasing safety significance.

A "white" finding requires the company to take necessary corrective actions and leads to additional NRC inspection in the area of the finding. No fine or other enforcement action was warranted.

An NRC inspection found planning problems concerning occupational radiation doses that were incurred during the refueling outage when workers were replacing safety relief valves.

These planning problems caused the actual radiation dose for the valve replacement work to exceed the projected doses by more than 50 percent. Although the cumulative dose for the job exceeded the company's projected dose for all workers involved in the valve project, no individual worker received radiation doses above NRC limits.

Further information on these inspection findings, including the text of the inspection reports, is available on the NRC's web site at: <http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/QUAD/quad_pim.html>

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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Friday, December 05, 2008