By Kelly Kazek
kelly@athensnews-courier.com
—
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled an April 4 meeting to determine if discovery of a faulty valve at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant constitutes a violation of NRC requirements.
Ray Golden, spokesman for Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the local plant, said TVA officials requested the conference, to be held at 1 p.m. EDT at Hilton Downtown Atlanta Hotel.
Golden said Browns Ferry officials reported the failure of a low-pressure coolant injection valve when it was discovered last fall.
“We identified the problem and alerted the NRC to it,” he said.
The issue arose during a routine refueling outage on Reactor 1 at the plant. During this process, systems are shut down and water is pumped through the reactor.
“They went to turn on the redundant system and there was an indication in the control room that the valve had opened, but we saw no water flowing through the pipes,” Golden said.
The flow was switched to an alternate system and the water flowed properly.
When the first valve was checked, engineers discovered it was faulty.
However, Golden said had the water been allowed to continue through the defective valve, within minutes water pressure would have pushed the valve open and water would have flowed properly.
The NRC statement said: “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the safety significance of an apparent violation associated with the failure of a Unit 1 low pressure coolant injection outboard injection valve. The valve would have been unable to fulfill its safety function if it had been needed.”
TVA officials want to express this fact to NRC officials, as well as detail some engineering work done to the system since the problem was detected.
“We asked for the regulatory conference,” Golden said. In NRC’s press release on the issue, it states the faulty valve was an “apparent violation” of regulations.
Golden said following the meeting, NRC officials would take the issue under advisement before determining whether it was a violation and, if so, the degree of seriousness.
The meeting is open to the public.
Members of the public interested in attending the meeting or participating by toll-free audio teleconferencing should contact the NRC’s Eugene Guthrie at 404-997-4662 or eugene.guthrie@nrc.gov.
The meeting notice and an inspection report (No. ML110610641) are available through the Region II office or at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
