NRC, Vermont Yankee to Discuss Apparent Violations Found by Special Inspectionof Plant's Design, Configuration

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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
	CONTACT:	Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov

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I-98-21

February 26, 1998

NRC, VERMONT YANKEE TO DISCUSS APPARENT VIOLATIONS
FOUND BY SPECIAL INSPECTION OF PLANT'S DESIGN, CONFIGURATION

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with officials of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on Monday, March 2, to discuss apparent violations of agency requirements involving, among other things, a failure to promptly and adequately address problems at the Vernon, Vt., facility.

The predecisional enforcement conference is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC Region 1 office in King of Prussia, Pa. It will be open to the public for observation.

An NRC architect/engineer team conducted a special inspection between September 29 and November 20 at the plant, which is owned and operated by the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation. The objective was to review the plant's design and configuration, as well as its conformance with the utility's safety analysis report.

Based on that inspection, the NRC found multiple apparent infractions, including: several examples of failure to maintain control of the plant's design process; inadequate corrective actions to deal with conditions adverse to quality; and a failure to report to the NRC when the facility was being run in a manner contrary to the plant's operational blueprint.

The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement conference does not mean that the NRC has determined a violation has occurred or that enforcement action will be taken. Rather, the purpose is to discuss apparent violations, their causes and safety significance; to provide the licensee with an opportunity to point out any errors that may have been made in the NRC inspection report; and to enable the licensee to outline its proposed corrective action.

No decision on the apparent violations will be made at this conference. That decision will be made by NRC officials at a later time.