No. III-07-023 

Contact: Viktoria Mitlyng 

Phone: 630-829-9663 

 October 16, 2007 

 E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov 

Web site: www.nrc.gov

NRC CONDUCTS SPECIAL INSPECTION AT FERMI PLANT

DUE TO PIPE DAMAGE 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a special inspection at the Fermi 

Nuclear Power Station to further review recently identified damage on steamline pipes. The 

Fermi Plant, located in Newport, Mich., is owned and operated by the Detroit Edison Company. 

 On October 11, 2007, during a refueling outage, plant personnel discovered a small 

unexpected hole and several indentations on steamline pipes. Under certain circumstances, these 

pipes would relieve reactor pressure. Even if the pipes had to be used for this purpose, there 

would have been no radiation released to the environment. 

 The plant remains shutdown in a stable condition. Appropriate safety systems have been 

and continue to be available. 

 

 The utility has been conducting a review of what caused damage to the pipes. Tampering 

was initially considered as one of the potential causes. This led the utility to declare an Unusual 

Event, the lowest level of emergency in the NRC four-level emergency classification system. 

 On October 12, the utility concluded that there was no evidence of tampering and exited 

from the Unusual Event. 

 Based on interviews and reviews of maintenance activities, the utility’s preliminary 

conclusion is that the damage occurred during the removal of pipe insulation. 

 The NRC began monitoring the utility’s activities as soon as the agency was informed of 

the situation. The NRC reviewed activities at the plant around-the-clock from the Region III 

Incident Response Center, in Lisle, Ill., by resident inspectors and other regional inspectors at the 

plant while the plant was in an Unusual Event. The NRC continued close monitoring at the plant 

after the Unusual Event was exited. 

 On October 15, the NRC dispatched a 4-person Special Inspection team to continue this 

review. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Region III 

2443 Warrenville Road 

Lisle IL 60532 
 The goal of the Special Inspection is to review the facts and circumstances of the 

incident. The inspection will focus on the events that led to the pipes being damaged; the review 

of the utility’s Emergency Plan in the context of security-related events; an assessment of the 

plant’s response to a potential security issue; the plant’s immediate and long-term corrective 

actions; and a review of the utility’s evaluation of the issue. 

 James Caldwell, regional administrator for Region III said, “The plant remains safe and 

there is no threat to public health. However, the NRC needs to understand how and why there 

was damage to the piping and evaluate the plant’s response to the event to gain confidence that 

such situations will not occur in the future.” 

 The duration of the special inspection cannot be determined in advance, but is expected to 

last approximately one week. The Inspection Report will be issued 4 to 6 weeks after the 

inspection is completed. The report will be available from the Region III Office and in the NRC’s 

online document library at: 

 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html

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