Nuclear Regulatory Commission Steps Up Oversight of Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant

by Patricia A. Miller

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will take a closer look at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant following the discovery that a 22-year-old water hose that fed water to an emergency diesel general failed during a Jan. 4 test.

"The hose was in service for approximately 22 years and subjected to thermal degradation that eventually led to its failure," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

Exelon - the plant's owner - did not have the work instructions to replace the flexible coupling hoses every 12 years as specified by company procedures and vendor information, he said.

"The water cools the generator when it is in operation," Sheehan said. "The emergency diesel generators serve an important safety function by providing power to key plant safety systems in the event that electricity to the plant from the grid is interrupted."

The emergency diesel generator the hose supplied cooling water to was inoperable for a period greater than the Technical Specifications allowed outage time of seven days because of the condition.

NRC officials finalized a “White” - low to moderate safety significance - inspection finding for the plant, which means Oyster Creek will move to Column 2 of the NRC's Action Matrixnuclear power plant.

"Once Exelon notifies us of its readiness, we will perform an inspection at the plant to review the company’s root-cause evaluation of the problem, any corrective actions and its assessment of whether the issue could have implications for any other aspects of plant operations," Sheehan said.

Exelon accepted the finding without requesting a regulatory conference and without submitting a written response, he said.