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

NRC SCHEDULES PUBLIC MEETING WITH PROGRESS ENERGY
TO DISCUSS CRYSTAL RIVER NUCLEAR PLANT CONTAINMENT ISSUE
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a public meeting for Friday, Nov. 20, with Progress Energy to discuss the recently identified gap in the concrete containment at the Crystal River nuclear power plant. The plant is located on the west coast of Florida about 80 miles north of Tampa.

The meeting is scheduled to be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the Commissioners’ Conference Room at the NRC’s headquarters office, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.
 
Progress Energy, which operates the plant, requested the meeting to give the NRC a status report on the company’s efforts to evaluate the possible causes and extent of the gap, as well as its future activities.

The gap was discovered after the plant had been shut down for a planned refueling outage, which included replacing the steam generators inside containment. Workers found the half-inch separation in the concrete about 9 inches from the outer surface of the 42-inch thick reinforced concrete containment wall. The gap is located near the area where a hole was cut in the concrete to remove the very large steam generators to the containment building.

The NRC launched a Special Inspection Team in early October to review the situation, and the NRC will soon announce a meeting in the Crystal River area, tentatively scheduled for early December, to discuss the agency’s preliminary inspection findings. The team will also issue a written report, available to the public, several weeks after the completion of the inspection. In addition, the NRC will review any repair plans and subsequent repairs before the plant resumes operation.

The meeting between the NRC and Progress Energy on Nov. 20 will be open to public observation, and NRC staff will be available to answer questions before the conclusion of the meeting. Persons who cannot attend the meeting but are interested in participating by telephone should contact either Farideh Saba at 301-415-1447 or Farideh.Saba@nrc.gov or Trace Orf at 301-415-2788 or Tacy.Orf@nrc.gov.

NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.

Privacy Policy | Site Disclaimer
Monday, November 16, 2009