The inspectors identified an apparent violation of
10 CFR 50.54(q), associated with emergency planning standard
10 CFR 50.47(b)(4), which will be subject to the NRC traditional enforcement process not the revised Reactor Oversight Process. Specifically, the licensee failed to maintain a standard scheme of emergency action levels (
EALs). Eight
EALs were changed in 1998 and 1999. The changes decreased the effectiveness of the
Emergency Plan in that emergency conditions that would have resulted in classifications at the General Emergency (
GE), Alert, and Notification of Unusual Event (
NOUE) levels would result in a lesser classification under the current
EAL scheme. Approval of the NRC was not obtained prior to the changes being made. Since the identification of the issue by the inspectors, the licensee has revised the eight
EALs to be equivalent with those approved by the NRC in 1984.
In a letter dated March 17, 2004, a
Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty - $60,000, was issued.
