SEABROOK — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Seabrook nuclear power plant with a "white," or low to moderate, safety significance finding, which will result in increased oversight in the form of supplemental inspections.
The finding, finalized this week, is over a February 2009 incident in which one of the plant's two emergency backup diesel generators didn't pass a test due to a cooling system leak.
According to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan, neither the public nor the workers at the plant were ever at risk due to the incident. The emergency diesel generators are employed as backup energy sources for the plant's safety systems in event the power plant would lose off-site power.
The overall risk was limited due to the availability of other backup power sources, including another emergency diesel generator.
According to NextEra Energy Seabrook power plant spokesman Al Griffith, there are a total of six independent, redundant systems that supply power to Seabrook Station. Along with the two emergency diesel generators, there is a supplemental emergency power system composed of two additional diesel generators used to supply backup power to safety-related electrical loads when a safety-related backup generator is out of service. There are also three transmission lines coming in that provide power to the plant, he said.
"Seabrook Station is operating safely," Griffith said yesterday. "The diesel generator identified in the letter was repaired and successfully tested before the NRC issued its (white) finding."
Griffith also said the plant is back online after being shut down about a month ago for refueling, which occurs every 18 months.
The NRC issues four levels of safety findings, ranging from green (of very low safety significance), to white (of low to moderate safety significance), yellow (a significant safety issue) to red (the highest level of safety concern).
The NRC issued a white finding because it felt the generator's cooling system failure was the result of inadequate design, causing the generator to develop a leak during the February test, necessitating its shutdown for repair.
A backup generator, basically a huge engine, generates a significant amount of heat, Sheehan said. The problem with the cooling system meant it might not accommodate its own heat.
The next step in the process is for NextEra to reply to the NRC letter and explain how it's going to solve the problem, Sheehan said.
"They need to fully understand the extent of the problem and tell us what steps they're going to take to address the cause and what the plan is to prevent the problem from recurring," Sheehan said.
Griffith said plant officials understand the cause of the problem and have taken steps to prevent recurrence.
Once all is in readiness, NextEra staff will notify the NRC, which will conduct an inspection, Sheehan said.
"This inspection procedure is conducted to provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk significant performance issues are understood, the extent of the condition identified and corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence," the NRC wrote in its letter to Gene St. Pierre, vice president of NextEra Energy Seabrook.
Yesterday, Griffith did not know when the inspection would take place.
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