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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV
1450 Maria Lane, Walnut Creek, CA 94596 |
| CONTACT: |
Mark Hammond (510) 975-0254/E-mail: mfh2@nrc.gov |
CONTACT: Mark Hammond FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Office: (510) 975-0254 March 28, 1996
Home: (415) 674-1024 RIV-9623
Pager: (800) 916-4952
NRC STAFF TO HOLD OPEN PREDECISIONAL
ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE APRIL 1 WITH COOPER NUCLEAR STATION
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a
predecisional enforcement conference with officials of the
Cooper Nuclear Station, operated by the Nebraska Public Power
District, on Monday, April 1, at 9 a.m. at NRC Region IV
headquarters in Arlington, Texas.
The conference will be open to public observation, but
participation will be limited to NRC and Cooper officials.
The Cooper plant is near Brownsville, Neb.
Scheduled to be discussed at the conference are apparent
violations disclosed through NRC inspections conducted in
February. Three apparent violations were identified and are
being considered for escalated enforcement. In the first,
inspectors identified that a blowout panel in the main steam
tunnel was modified in 1985 such that the panels would not
function to relieve pressure at design values. No required
analysis was performed, and as a result the plant was not
maintained in a configuration consistent with the Updated
Final Safety Analysis Report and associated licensed design
basis for about 10 years.
The second and third violations involve design
configuration control of the plant emergency diesel
generators. In one case, an unauthorized modification to the
solenoid valves, which control the muffler bypass valves,
rendered one diesel generator inoperable under certain
conditions for about 20 days. In the other, diesel control
power circuitry was found to be inadequately isolated from
the effects of a potential control room fire. This could
have prevented the diesel generator from performing its
intended function of providing emergency power necessary for
the plant to achieve and maintain hot shutdown in the event
of a control room fire.
The decision to hold an enforcement conference does not
mean the NRC has determined that a violation has occurred or
that enforcement action will be taken. Rather, the purpose
is to discuss the apparent violations, their causes and
safety significance; to provide the licensee an opportunity
to point out any errors that may have been made in the NRC
inspection report; and to enable the company to outline its
proposed corrective actions.
No decision on the apparent violations or any
contemplated enforcement action, such as a civil penalty,
will be made at this conference. Those decisions will be
made by senior NRC officials at a later time.
The conference will be open to the public as part of a
trial program to open some of these sessions for public
observation.
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