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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 July 30, 1996
Home: (415) 674-1024 RIV 47-96
Pager: (800) 916-4952 e-mail: mfh2@nrc.gov
NRC, APS OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS
APPARENT VIOLATIONS AT PALO VERDE PLANT
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a predecisional
enforcement conference this week with officials of the Arizona Public
Service Co. to discuss two apparent violations related to fires on April 4
at the three-unit Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, about 50 miles
west of Phoenix.
The conference will be at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 1, at the NRC
Region IV office in Arlington, Texas. The meeting will be open to the
public for observation; NRC officials will be available afterwards for
questions.
A fire which brought the apparent violations to light was detected at
about 5 p.m. on April 4 when an APS employee smelled smoke from the back
panel area of the Unit 2 control room. At about the same time, a second
fire was discovered in a Unit 2 battery equipment room. Both fires were
promptly extinguished. At the time, Unit 2 was shut down for a refueling
outage.
The fires resulted from an electrical fault in a transformer in the
battery equipment room. The fire in the control room occurred because
grounding protection that by design should have been located in the battery
equipment room was actually located in the control room. The condition has
been corrected by locating the ground in the battery equipment room.
An NRC inspection found that APS had failed to ensure that two
independent electrical distribution systems, called Train A and Train B,
which are designed to achieve safe shutdown and maintain the plant in that
condition, were adequately protected from a fire in the Train B battery
equipment room. A fire in that room could have impacted both trains of safe
shutdown equipment.
The inspection also found that APS had not ensured that commitments
made as the plant was designed were translated into construction
requirements as the plant was built.
The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement conference does not
mean that NRC has made a final determination that violations did occur or
that enforcement action, such as a monetary fine, will be taken. The
purpose is to discuss the apparent violations, their causes and safety
significance; to provide APS an opportunity to challenge or correct
portions of the inspection report; and for the licensee to outline its
corrective actions.
No decision on the apparent violations or any enforcement action will
be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made later by senior NRC
officials.
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