The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet Wednesday, July 28, with officials of Consumers Energy Company to review the findings of recent NRC inspections of spent fuel storage activities at the Palisades Nuclear Power Station.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the training building at the Palisades plant, which is located at 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway, Covert, Michigan. The meeting is open to public observation.

The NRC inspections covered the loading of three spent fuel storage casks, beginning in June of this year. The 3 casks bring the number of loaded storage casks at Palisades to 16.

Topics to be discussed in the meeting include the NRC findings on:

• Handling and loading of spent fuel into the casks, including radiation protection and contamination control;
• Testing performed to verify the quality of welds used to seal the storage casks;
• Handling and movement of the loaded casks to the storage pad;
• Minor ignition of hydrogen gas from ventilation tubing during cask welding activities on June 9; and
• The consequences of a fire on June 17 which damaged the offices of the dry cask storage project staff at Palisades.

A written report of the inspection findings will be issued in several weeks. Copies of the report will be available from the Region III Office of Public Affairs.