NRC Requires Entergy to Fix Issues with Fire Prevention

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a report that will require to fix issues with its passive fire prevention systems to help employees respond more quickly in the event of a fire at the power plant, the NRC announced Aug. 16.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan sent the following information on Aug. 16, 2012:

We have issued a report (attached) on a team inspection performed in April at the Indian Point nuclear power plant with respect to the facility’s fire-protection program. You may recall that in February we denied Entergy’s proposed use of dozens of Operator Manual Actions (OMAs) as part of the plant’s fire-protection program. In a response on March 1, 2012, the company provided a schedule calling for the full compliance with our requirements without the use of OMAs by the fourth quarter of 2012 for all but two areas. Those last two areas will be addressed during a refueling outage planned for the spring of 2014. 

Our inspection was intended to review Entergy’s implementation of corrective actions to restore full compliance with fire-protection requirements after the denial of the OMA requests. The inspection has identified three “Green” (very low safety significance) findings. That means the company will have to address the issues through the Indian Point corrective action program. We will perform follow-up inspections to ensure this has occurred.

Indian Point Energy Center spokesman Jerry Nappi provided the following comment: 

We have plans in place to eliminate the need for operator manual actions, and in the interim, have added NRC-approved compensatory measures to enhance fire safety at Indian Point.

Read more in Michael Risnit's article on lohud.com and read the NRC’s report in the PDF attached to this article.