NRC Staff Withdraws Proposed Civil Penalty Against TVA at Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant

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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION II 61 Forsyth Street, Suite 23T85, Atlanta, GA 30303
	CONTACT:	Ken Clark (Phone: 404/562-4416, E-mail: kmc2@nrc.gov)
		Roger Hannah (Phone 404/562-4417, E-mail: rdh1@nrc.gov)

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No: II-98-07

February 10, 1998

NRC STAFF WITHDRAWS PROPOSED CIVIL PENALTY AGAINST TVA AT SEQUOYAH NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has notified the Tennessee Valley Authority that a $55,000 civil penalty, proposed by the NRC last December 8 for violations at the Sequoyah nuclear power plant near Chattanooga, is being withdrawn.

In a February 5 letter to TVA, James Lieberman, director of the NRC's Office of Enforcement, said the agency had reconsidered the proposed enforcement action at TVA's request and concluded that no civil penalty was appropriate in this case.

In July of last year, a senior reactor operator at Sequoyah failed to properly align a spare vital direct current battery to its board, resulting in its being inoperable for about 30 hours. Direct current batteries provide backup power to some safety equipment when the plant loses both offsite and emergency diesel power.

TVA agreed that the cited violations occurred but asked that the NRC reconsider imposition of the fine because TVA personnel eventually identified and corrected the problem.

Lieberman's letter said that, although TVA missed previous opportunities to identify and correct the violations, the NRC felt that it was appropriate in this case to credit TVA for the factor of identification to "recognize the diligence of the TVA training instructor whodiscovered the vital battery problem and took prompt action to ensure system operability."