Washington (Platts)--28Jun2007

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday said it will step up its
oversight of Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in
Nebraska after agency inspectors determined that plant workers had improperly
installed a valve that "degraded the condition of a safety system" for well
over a year. 

     "The NRC remains confident in the ability of the Omaha Public Power
District to operate Fort Calhoun safely," NRC Region IV Administrator Bruce
Mallett said in a statement, "but there are performance problems that need to
be addressed by the licensee."

     The NRC categorized the Fort Calhoun finding as being of low to moderate
safety significance.

     The agency said that based its inspection determined that a valve in the
reactor's containment spray system was improperly installed on May 11, 2005.
The system sprays water in the building containing the reactor to reduce
pressure under some accident conditions.

     The valve remained improperly positioned for 454 days until the problem
was discovered during a refueling outage in October 2006. The NRC said it
satisfied that the licensee completed a thorough review and analysis of the
event and has taken appropriate corrective actions.