NRC: News Release - Region II - 2006-039 - NRC Schedules Regulatory Conference to Discuss Harris Nuclear Plant Concern


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NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region II
61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303
www.nrc.gov

No. II-06-039		September 29, 2006
CONTACT:	Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417	E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov
NRC SCHEDULES REGULATORY CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS HARRIS NUCLEAR PLANT CONCERN Printable Version
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a regulatory conference with officials of Progress Energy on Friday, October 13, in Atlanta to discuss an apparent violation of NRC requirements at the Harris nuclear power plant, located southwest of Raleigh. NRC and Progress Energy officials will discuss the significance of a finding involving inadequate maintenance on a water chiller which would be needed to cool certain emergency components designed to add water to the reactor in the event of some accident scenarios. The maintenance problem, discovered by plant employees, resulted in this system being inoperable for longer than allowed under the plant’s Technical Specifications. The chiller has been returned to service and the condition no longer exists. The finding was not an immediate safety concern because another fully redundant system was available during that time to provide cooling if needed. The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a color- coded system which classifies findings as either green, white, yellow or red, in increasing order of safety significance. The NRC’s preliminary evaluation determined that this issue at Harris is “white,” meaning it is of low to moderate safety significance. The meeting is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. in the NRC’s Region II office, located on the 24th floor of the Atlanta Federal Center at 61 Forsyth Street SW in Atlanta. The public is invited to observe and will have one or more opportunities to talk with NRC officials after the business portion, but before the meeting is adjourned. Persons wishing to participate in this meeting by toll-free audio teleconference should contact the NRC’s Son Ninh at 404-562-4532 or Son.Ninh@nrc.gov. No decisions on final safety significance, any apparent violations or possible enforcement action will be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made by NRC officials at a later time.
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