NRC to conduct special inspection at Oconee Nuclear Plant

Jan 05 - Easley Progress, The (SC)

Jan. 05 -- SENECA -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission began a special inspection Tuesday at Duke Energy's Oconee nuclear power plant to assess the degradation of power cables on start-up transformers for two of the plant's three units.

The plant is located near Seneca , about 30 miles west of Greenville .

A plant operator making routine inspections on Dec. 7 discovered a cable that should have been connected to the Unit 3 start-up transformer was disconnected.

Upon further inspection, it was determined that other cables linked to the Unit 1 start-up transformer were in a degraded condition. All of the cables have been repaired and the transformers are available for use if needed.

"There was not an event in which the start-up transformers were needed, but they play a very important role in some circumstances by providing electrical power to plant safety equipment," said Leonard Wert , acting NRC Region II administrator. "We felt a special inspection was warranted to gather more information about Duke's response and also determine if there are generic issues that may apply to other plants."

The on-site inspectors for the special inspection are the senior resident inspector from the Oconee plant and an inspector from the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta .

Another NRC expert from Atlanta will not travel to the site, but will assist in reviewing the data gathered. The team's work will include a review of the circumstances surrounding the degradation and failure of the cables and the utility's actions after the degraded conditions were identified.

It will also develop a timeline on when the cables were damaged and or failed, and review Duke's testing and maintenance practices.

The on-site portion of the inspection will take several days. A report documenting the results should be issued within 45 days of the completion of the inspection.

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