Nuke plant reactor's rating downgradedNov 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Elizabeth Skrapits The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has lowered the performance rating of one of the two nuclear reactors at the PPL Susquehanna Steam power plant. The Unit 2 reactor at the Salem Township facility, already under scrutiny by the federal agency for three previous unplanned shutdowns in the past year, had a fourth on Sept. 14, moving it into a category with only five other of the nation's 104 nuclear power plants. Read the NRC's letter "The overarching thing is we never did anything that affected public health or safety. We never operated the plant (in an unsafe manner)," PPL Susquehanna spokesman Joe Scopelliti said. Despite the facility's status, NRC Public Affairs Officer Neil Sheehan said the agency does not believe there is a safety risk to the public or employees. "But we will continue to dedicate additional inspection resources to that plant until they turn it around," he said. The NRC sent a letter to PPL Susquehanna Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Timothy S. Rausch on Monday to formally let the company know of the situation, and that "we will be following this very specific process to make sure they address the issues," Sheehan said. The Unit 1 reactor is at a normal level of NRC oversight, but the Unit 2 reactor is under additional oversight after three unplanned shutdowns last year. The NRC performed an inspection in September to see if root causes had been addressed, and to see if there were similar conditions to those that caused the issue. Scopelliti said PPL adequately followed up on the three shutdowns, and the NRC was satisfied. But as the plant was being shut down on Sept. 14 for an inspection of the turbine, it shut down in a way the operators didn't plan, he said. Operators addressed the issue before the plant started back up, Scopelliti said. The NRC marks the number of unplanned shutdowns per 7,000 hours of operation, and because this was PPL Susquehanna's fourth in that time, it was put in the "degraded cornerstone" category. The NRC has five categories, or columns, in its Reactor Oversight Process. Designations are based on seven "cornerstones" of safety performance, which are judged during inspections. Only six other nuclear reactors are in the "degraded cornerstone" category: Browns Ferry Unit 2 in Alabama, Monticello in Minnesota, Point Beach Unit 1 in Wisconsin, Sequoyah Unit 1 and Sequoyah Unit 2 in Tennessee and Watts Bar Unit 1 in Tennessee. The next lowest category is "multiple/repetitive degraded cornerstone," which only one reactor -- Browns Ferry Unit 1 -- is in. After that is "unacceptable performance," which means the NRC shuts down the plant. But the goal is to prevent PPL Susquehanna from reaching that level. "The objective is to deal with these problems now, at an early stage, before they show any signs of worsening," Sheehan said. "We will continue to do additional inspections at the plant, and we will have a higher level of engagement with plant management." The NRC will hold a special inspection at a time to be determined, Scopelliti said. It will address the actions PPL took, how the company looked at the problem, what the root cause was, and check out extended conditions to see if there is anything else that could be addressed, he said. "They look at everything," Scopelliti said of the NRC. eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072 http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=30697651 |