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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION g(k .j WASmNGTON. D. C. 20555
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1D The Honorable Edward J. Markey, Chairman Subcomittee on Energy Conservation and Power Comittee on Energy and Comerce United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Enclosed for your information is an announcement that the Nuclear Regulatory Comission staff has proposed to fine the Tennessee -
Valley Authority $112,500 for alleged noncompliance with NRC -
requirements at the Sequoyah nuclear power plant located at -
Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. , ;,,
It is planned to mail this information to the news media today, May 9, 1985.
Sincerely, i
Mihtqn Kamerer, Director j Offi ce of Congressional Affairs
Enclosure:
As stated cc: Rep. Carlos Moorhead IDENTICAL LETTER SENT T0:
Sen. Simpson/cc: Sen. Hart Rep. Udall/cc: Rep. Lujan Sen. Gore Sen. Sasser Rep. Lloyd B510230126 851004 ;
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Office of Public Affairs N, . . J' Washington, D.C. 20555 1
No. 85-66 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tel. 301/a92-7715 (Wednesday, May 8, 1985)
NRC STAFF PROPOSES $112,500 CIVIL PENALTY AGAINST TVA FOR ALLEGED NONCOMPLIANCE AT SEQUOYAH NUCLEAR PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Comission Staff has proposed to fine the Tennessee Valley Authority $112,500 for alleged noncompliance with NRC requirements at the Sequoyah nuclear power plant located at Soddy-Da by, Tennessee. -
The NRC action follows an event at the facility on April 19, 1984, in .
which a tube used to insert instrumentation into the Unit I reactor , core was ejected as workers were cleaning it while the reactor was operating at 30 percent power. Several workers hastily evacuated the room where the job was being done to avoid injury from radiation or scalding steam and water ejected from the reactor cooling system along with the tube.
The NRC told TVA that several violations were identified during special inspections at Sequoyah on August 27-31 and October 4-5, 1984 NRC inspectors found that the procedure used to clean thimble tubes had previously been used only while the reactor was in cold shutdown. They said the maintenance procedure being used while the reactor was at power was " inappropriate for use and specifically disallowed such use for the cleaning of this system while the facility was at power."
NRC inspectors also cited TVA for failure to follow technical specification requirements in that the cleaning activity was conducted without adequate review as required by the Plant Operations Review Comittee. And, the NRC said TVA modified the cleaning tool on several occasions without review to ascertain potential detrimental safety effects.
The NRC said injury to plant personnel was avoided due to
" pre-maintenance training and the alert reaction by the persons involved."
Dr. J. Nelson Grace, Administrator of the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta, told TVA in a letter that the violations " indicate a lack of management oversight which could lead to more serious events if adequate corrective actions are not taken." He added that the NRC recognizes that TVA has voluntarily implemented portions of a special regulatory improvement program from its Browns Ferry nuclear power plant at Sequoyah and said that "resulting changes should minimize the possibility for recurrence of similar events."
TVA has 30 days in which to either pay the penalty or to protest its imposition, in whole or in part.