United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region I

475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406

Fax: 610/337-5241

Internet: dps@nrc.gov or nas@nrc.gov

I-98-3 January 8, 1998

Contact: Diane Screnci (610/337-5330) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan (610/337-5331)

NRC, NORTHEAST UTILITIES TO DISCUSS APPARENT VIOLATIONS;

SIX OTHER MEETINGS ALSO SCHEDULED REGARDING MILLSTONE

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and Northeast

Utilities (NU) officials will meet on Tuesday, January 13, to

discuss apparent violations at the Millstone nuclear power plant

that were found during a safety system functional inspection

conducted in August and September. The meeting is scheduled to

begin at 1 p.m. in the Training Center at the Millstone site, in

Waterford, Conn. It is open to the public for observation.

The NRC’s Special Projects Office performed the

inspection of the plant’s chemical volume and control systems.

During the review, the NRC found that NU’s staff had failed to

recognize and evaluate the potential for air in certain portions

of the recirculation spray system to be swept into the suction of

the charging and safety injection pumps under certain accident

conditions, possibly preventing the system from working as

designed.

In addition, the inspectors discovered an apparent

shortcoming in NU’s program to minimize leakage outside the

containment building, as required by the plant’s technical

specifications. Specifically, the program addressed leakage from

valve stems, piping joints and other direct leakage pathways,

while failing to adequately account for potential valve leakage

from systems carrying highly radioactive water following an

accident.

The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement

conference does not mean the NRC has determined that a violation

has occurred or that enforcement action will be taken. Rather,

the purpose is to discuss apparent violations, their causes and

safety significance; to provide the company with an opportunity

to point out any errors that may have been made in the NRC

inspection report; and to enable the company to outline proposed

corrective actions.
No decision on the apparent violations will be made at

this conference. Those decisions will be made by senior NRC

officials at a later time.

In addition to the predecisional enforcement conference,

the NRC staff will hold the following upcoming meetings:

ˇ On Tuesday, January 13, at 9 a.m. at the Training Center,

NRC staff will meet with officials of NU, Sargent and Lundy

and Parsons Power Group to discuss the status of the

Millstone Units 2 and 3 Independent Corrective Action

Verification Programs (ICAVP). Sargent and Lundy is

performing the ICAVP for Units 1 and 3, Parsons Power for

Unit 2.

ˇ On Wednesday, January 14, at 1 p.m. at the Training Center,

the NRC Special Projects Office will hold another in a

series of periodic meetings with NU to discuss plans,

schedules and progress toward recovery of the Millstone

units. Topics will include the status of restart

activities, the ICAVP and the employee concerns program.

ˇ On Thursday, January 22, at 10 a.m. at the Training Center,

NRC staff will hold the exit meeting for the agency’s

evaluation of Millstone’s employee concerns program.

ˇ Also on Thursday, January 22, NRC staff will hold a meeting

at 11 a.m. with Little Harbor Consultants, the firm hired to

perform an independent assessment of the employees concerns

program at Millstone. During that meeting, the NRC will

provide the results of its evaluation of Little Harbor’s

oversight activities. That meeting will be held at the

Training Center.

ˇ On Tuesday, January 27, at 10 a.m. at the Training Center,

NRC staff will meet with representatives of NU and Little

Harbor Consultants to discuss Millstone’s employee concerns

program, safety conscious work environment and Little

Harbor’s findings and recommendations.

ˇ Also on Tuesday, January 27, NRC staff will meet with the

public to provide an update on the status of Millstone

recovery efforts. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7

p.m. in the Waterford Town Hall.

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