Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417
Joey Ledford (404) 562-4487

NRC STAFF TO HOLD REGULATORY CONFERENCE WITH VIRGINIA POWER

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a regulatory conference with officials of Virginia Power, operator of the Surry nuclear power plant near Surry, Virginia, this Friday (November 30). The discussion will focus on an inspection finding with a preliminary determination of "yellow" involving the emergency diesel generators at the plant.

The meeting, which is open to public observation, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the NRC Region II offices located on the 24^th floor at 61 Forsyth Street in Atlanta, Georgia. NRC officials will be available after the meeting to answer any questions.

The NRC will discuss with Virginia Power an inspection finding with a preliminary determination of "yellow," meaning it may have substantial safety significance. The finding was identified in an inspection ending in late September and involves failed components in an emergency diesel generator which is shared by the two units at the plant. The inspection finding appears to have substantial safety significance because the components may have caused the generator to fail if it had been required to operate for an extended period to mitigate accident scenarios involving the loss of offsite power.

Using the agency's significance determination process, NRC officials classify certain conditions at nuclear power plants as being one of four colors which delineate increasing levels of safety significance, beginning with green and progressing to white, yellow or red.

Two apparent violations, one involving the failure to promptly identify and correct the problem and the other involving the failure to comply with the plant's Technical Specifications, are related to this preliminary finding and are being considered for enforcement action. No decision on the violations, any enforcement action, or the final significance determination of the inspection finding will be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made later by NRC officials.

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Friday, December 05, 2008