No. IV-12-045

Contact: Victor Dricks (817) 200-1128

 Lara Uselding (817) 200-1519

 

 Oct. 25, 2012

E-Mail: OPA4.Resource@nrc.gov

NRC ISSUES TWO WHITE FINDINGS AND A SEVERITY LEVEL III FINDING

TO COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that two inspection findings at the 

Columbia Generating Station on the plant’s emergency preparedness program are “white,” 

meaning they had low to moderate safety significance. The plant, operated by Energy Northwest, 

is located near Richland, Wash.

The first white finding involved the licensee’s failure to maintain a plan to appropriately 

characterize emergency action levels which could have delayed recognition of some radiological 

emergency conditions.

The second white finding involved the licensee’s failure to maintain adequate methods 

for assessing and monitoring actual or potential offsite radiation releases from the plant during 

emergencies. This adversely affected the licensee’s ability to assess the consequences of a 

radiological release and had the potential to impact protective action recommendations necessary 

to protect public health and safety. 

These conditions existed between 2000 and 2011 when they were identified and corrected 

by the licensee. The violations were evaluated by NRC during an inspection conducted between 

Oct. 18, 2011 and June 27, 2012.

A violation is also being issued because regulations require the licensee to make prompt 

notification to the NRC of any event that results in a major loss of emergency assessment 

capability. The NRC identified these issues during its inspection but the licensee did not report 

them to the NRC in a timely manner, as required.

After the NRC staff issued preliminary findings, a conference was held on Sept. 20 

during which Energy Northwest officials presented their perspective on the root cause of the 

findings and violations and corrective actions. After consideration, the NRC staff has determined 

that the inspections findings are appropriately characterized as “white.” 

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 NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a 

color coded process which classifies findings as either green, white, yellow or red in order of 

increasing safety significance.

The two white findings will move the Columbia Generating Station into the “degraded 

cornerstone” column of the NRC’s action matrix, resulting in a higher level of NRC scrutiny. 

This is the third highest level of NRC oversight and Columbia joins seven other nuclear plants in 

that category. The position of all nuclear units within the NRC action matrix is available at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/actionmatrix_summary.html .

The NRC staff will determine the most appropriate response and notify Energy 

Northwest of any additional inspections, meetings or activities the agency may plan.

###

News releases are available through a free Listserv subscription or by clicking on the EMAIL UPDATES 

link on the NRC homepage (www.nrc.gov). E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are 

posted to NRC's website. For the latest news, follow the NRC on www.twitter.com/NRCgov.