U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region II

61 Forsyth Street, Suite 23T85

Atlanta, GA 30303

No: II-97-82 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ken Clark or Roger Hannah (Monday, November 24,

1997)

NRC STAFF SCHEDULES PREDECISIONAL ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE

TO DISCUSS ST. LUCIE NUCLEAR PLANT REGULATORY CONCERNS

DECEMBER 3 MEETING WITH FP&L IN ATLANTA IS OPEN TO PUBLIC

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a predecisional

enforcement conference with Florida Power & Light Company on December 3 in Atlanta

to discuss regulatory concerns at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant, located on

Hutchinson Island near Ft. Pierce, Florida, involving deficiencies in the testing and

operation of Unit 2 containment cooling fans.

NRC officials said that, during testing on October 8, FP&L employees

discovered that one of four Unit 2 containment cooling fans was running in the reverse

direction when set at slow speed. A company investigation concluded that electrical

leads were apparently misconnected when the fan motor was replaced last May 9.

Post-maintenance testing failed to identify the reverse rotation while in slow speed

operation, and an additional test on May 19 also failed to identify the problem.

St. Lucie’s containment cooling system includes two trains with two fans each.

The fans are powered by a two-speed motor to allow for fast and slow operation. The

system is normally operated with three fans in service at high speed with the fourth in

standby. During certain conditions, the three operating fans shift to slow speed, and

the idle fan starts in slow speed.

NRC officials said that, while no safety problem occurred, during certain postulated

circumstances involving a loss of normal electrical power and failure of an emergency

diesel generator to start, one train of cooling fans could be lost and the fan circulating

in the wrong direction would negate the effects of the remaining train’s second fan,

complicating containment cooling efforts.
The NRC inspection report which outlines the apparent violations commends an

Assistant Nuclear Plant Supervisor who, although the fans were tested over a fourweek period in fast speed, expressed concern that they were not being tested in their

emergency configuration, leading to identification and correction of the problem.

The conference will begin December 3 at 10:00 a.m. in the NRC’s Atlanta

regional office , located on the 24th floor of the Atlanta Federal Center, 61 Forsyth

Street, S.W. The meeting is between the NRC and FP&L but is open to the public for

observation, and NRC officials will be available at its conclusion to answer questions

from interested observers.

The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement conference does not mean that a

determination has been made that a violation has occurred or that enforcement action

will be taken. The Purpose of the conference is to discuss apparent violations, their

causes and safety significance; to provide the licensee an opportunity to point out any

errors that may have been made in the NRC inspection report; and to enable the

company to outline its proposed corrective actions. No decision on the apparent

violations or any contemplated enforcement action, such as a civil penalty, will be made

at the conference. Those decisions will be made later by senior NRC officials.

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EDITORS: Recorded information on all upcoming NRC predecisional enforcement

conferences may be obtained by calling 1-800-952-9674. A copy of the inspection report

upon which this predecisional enforcement conference is based is available by request at

the above mail, E-mail, telephone or fax address.