NRC wants Robinson nuclear plant to explain problems (AUDIO)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is having public meeting at its Atlanta offices Monday, November 8, to discuss the safety significance of inspection findings at the Robinson Nuclear Plant near Hartsville. The plant is operated by Progress Energy.

The NRC says this is a regulatory enforcement conference and will focus on the safety significance of a preliminary findings and second apparent violation being considered for potential escalated enforcement. The findings are associated with electrical problems with one of the plant’s emergency diesel generators. Emergency diesel generators at nuclear plants provide backup power to safely shut down the plant if the site were to lose all other sources of offsite power.

AUDIO: NRC spokesman Roger Hannah explains the issues to SCRN’s Ashley Byrd (3:00)

A Robinson spokesman says the problems were caused by a defect in the generator’s circuit breaker. Communications specialist Andy Cole said a cotter pin would occasionally vibrate into a position that prevented the breaker from closing properly.

Cole said investigators were not able to determine the problem until the breaker’s manufacturer alerted them to the design flaw.

Nobody identified that. So, even when we tested it throughout our testing, we didn’t repeat the failure… It just didn’t get repeated after several tries.

The NRC said Robinson officials at the time gave investigators “materially inaccurate” information about their tests on the breaker. In its event report, Robinson said it formally tested the breaker after the incident and could not find any problems.  However an NRC report said investigators later learned Robinson workers had not gone through all of the necessary steps and had only returned the breaker to service after not being able to repeat breaker failure.

Members of the public may attend the meeting and NRC officials will be available to answer questions after the discussion.

The meeting notice and the relevant NRC inspection report are available through the agency’s electronic reading room.  The documents can be accessed using the number ML102810633.

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