NRC COMPLETES REVIEW OF FIRE PROTECTION EXEMPTION REQUESTS AT 

INDIAN POINT; REQUESTS INFORMATION FROM ENTERGY

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has denied the majority of requests for 

exemptions from fire protection requirements at Indian Point Units 2 and 3. The two units, 

operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations, are located in Buchanan, N.Y.

Based on the information received in a March 6, 2009, exemption request from Entergy, 

the NRC staff has decided that most of the requests to substitute operator manual actions 

(OMAs) for fire protection features do not meet NRC’s criteria. For Indian Point Unit 2, the 

NRC is denying the use of OMAs for 24 of the 30 fire zones for which OMAs were requested. 

At Unit 3, the agency is rejecting the use of OMAs for 18 of the 20 fire zones requested. The 

company has implemented compensatory measures in these fire zones. They will remain in effect 

until the company completes its corrective actions. 

“After considering the compensatory measures, the NRC does not have an immediate 

safety concern,” Michele G. Evans, Director of Operating Reactor Licensing in the NRC’s Office 

of Nuclear Reactor Regulation said. “Although the two units have some deficiencies in their 

defense-in-depth, they have extensive fire protection programs, including an on-site fire brigade 

trained to respond to and extinguish fires. In addition, each unit has established fire watches to 

monitor areas containing the deficiencies.”

During inspections conducted at all plants beginning in 2000, NRC inspectors found that 

some licensees were inappropriately relying on operator actions to meet NRC fire protection 

requirements, which are designed to maintain at least one set of equipment that can achieve safe 

shutdown free of fire damage. Certain NRC regulations do not specifically allow operator 

manual actions in order to meet the requirements, although the NRC staff can approve such 

actions as part of an alternative compliance strategy through an exemption request. In June 2006, 

the NRC provided the industry with guidance on what is required by NRC fire protection 

regulations. And, in June 2007, the agency told reactor operators that the NRC would not take an 

enforcement action against a plant that was out of compliance due to the use of operator actions 

if the plant completed corrective actions by March 6, 2009. 

Specifically, Entergy’s exemption request relied on post-fire operator manual actions to 

compensate for possible fire-induced failures of electrical circuits in lieu of the circuit protection 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov 

Site: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov

No. I-12-003

Contact: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330

 Neil Sheehan (610) 337-5331

February 1, 2012

Email: opa1.resource@nrc.gov
requirements in NRC regulations. Methods such as fire detection, fire suppression, fire barriers 

and physical separation are used to meet the regulatory requirements, but operator manual 

actions can be approved by NRC as an acceptable means of meeting the rule. The NRC has been 

conducting an extensive review of Entergy’s requests, including three rounds of requests for 

additional information to supplement the original Entergy submittal. 

The NRC also issued a letter to Entergy requesting its plans and schedules to achieve 

compliance with the fire protection rules. The NRC will complete inspections and inform the 

company of enforcement decisions regarding this matter at a later date. Entergy has 30 days to 

respond to the NRC’s request for information. 

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