No. IV-12-020

Contact: Victor Dricks (817) 200-1128

 Lara Uselding (817) 200-1519

 

May 30, 2012 

 E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov

NRC CONDUCTS AUGMENTED INSPECTION 

AT RIVER BEND NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent an Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) to 

the River Bend nuclear power plant to review the circumstances surrounding a shutdown of the 

reactor caused by an electrical switchgear malfunction on May 24. The plant, operated by 

Entergy Operations, is located in St. Francisville, La.

Shortly before 2 p.m. on May 24 operators manually shut down the reactor after an 

electrical fault occurred in a main feedwater pump. The plant was operating at 33 percent power 

at the time. Protective relays should have isolated the electrical fault. Instead, in a cascading 

effect, other pieces of equipment were affected, causing a loss of main feedwater to the reactor 

core.

The plant’s Reactor Core Cooling Isolation System activated as designed to provide 

cooling to the reactor core. Plant personnel are continuing to investigate the cause of the failure 

and determine necessary repairs. Workers reported seeing some smoke around the reactor feed 

pump and the plant’s fire brigade was dispatched, but no fire was reported. 

The plant is in safe shutdown condition. No emergency action level declaration was 

necessary, and there were no radiological releases as a result of the event.

NRC resident inspectors responded to the control room to monitor site activities during 

the event and were onsite during the weekend to monitor licensee activities and initial recovery 

actions.

AIT’s are used by the NRC to review more significant events or issues at NRC-licensed 

facilities. The four-member team has assumed responsibility from the resident inspectors for 

gathering information about the shutdown event. The team leader arrived on site Saturday; other 

members are expected later today. The team is expected to remain on site through June 8.

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Region IV

 1600 E. Lamar Blvd.

 Arlington, TX 76011 - 4125

Site: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov
The team includes fire protection and operations specialists from the NRC’s Region IV 

office. The team is led by NRC Region IV Branch Chief Geoffrey Miller of the Division of 

Reactor Safety.

“An AIT is used when the NRC wants to promptly dig deeply into the circumstances 

surrounding an operational event,” said NRC Region IV Administrator Elmo E. Collins. “We 

want to make sure that all of the circumstances that contributed to this event are well understood 

in order to prevent a recurrence.”

The team will put together a detailed chronology of the event, evaluate the adequacy of 

licensee actions in response to the incident and assess the impact of the prolonged loss of off-site 

power to non-safety related equipment. The team’s report will not contain inspection findings, 

but will identify areas for further inspection follow-up.

The NRC will hold a public exit meeting with the licensee upon completion of the 

inspection to discuss its preliminary findings. The meeting will be open to interested members of 

the public and the news media, and team members will be available to answer questions after the 

results are presented. The AIT will also issue a written report within 30 days of completion of the 

inspection.

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