The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has identified six findings of very low safety significance at the Clinton Power Station in Illinois and is treating the issues as non-cited violations.
Operator Exelon had planned to close the nuclear facility in 2017, but passage of a state energy subsidy program in late 2016 allowed the utility to forgo closure of the financially struggling plant. Exelon’s announcement in June that the plant would shut down prompted the regulator to conduct a detailed inspection to analyze potential shutdown impacts.
The NRC detailed the Dec. 1 inspection findings in a Jan. 12 letter to Exelon, which was released publicly Tuesday: The regulator cited issues related to the following two areas:
- Failures to promptly identify issues with the plant’s residual heat removal design.
- Failures to follow proper procedure following an issue with the control-room heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system design.
According to the NRC, Exelon entered the issues into its corrective-action program, the system in which a utility identifies and corrects issues at the plant.
“Because of their very-low safety significance, and because the issues were entered into your Corrective Action Program, the NRC is treating the issues as Non-Cited Violations in accordance with Section 2.3.2 of the NRC Enforcement Policy,” the NRC letter reads.
Exelon spokesman Paul Dempsey in an email Thursday described Clinton as a safe, well-run nuclear station with a rigorous corrective action program that identifies and addresses equipment and performance issues before they impact safety.
“Employees are trained to self-identify potential issues and the site Nuclear Regulatory Commission resident inspector provides independent oversite by monitoring station actions and progress in the corrective action program,” he wrote. “This process helps ensure continued high levels of safety and operational performance at the station.”
