Catawba Nuclear Station gets good safety report

A recent safety review of Catawba Nuclear Station wasn’t entirely without incident, though federal regulators say the overall results were positive.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a letter Jan. 27 to Catawba Nuclear Station officials. The letter detailed a three-month inspection of two units there, ending Dec. 31. The inspection documented just one finding, listed as “very low safety significance.”

The finding involved a violation, but one the federal group will treat as a non-cited violation.

“We’re not treating it as a major safety issue,” said Roger Hannah, NRC spokesperson.

The violation involved staff’s “failure to adequately implement their in-service test procedure” for an standby makeup pump on one of the two units, according to the letter.

“Operators performed procedure steps out of sequence which resulted in the pump’s discharge relief valve lifting, requiring valve replacement,” it read.

The pump was “unavailable to perform its safety function during unplanned testing and maintenance,” according to the letter. It also states “operators failed to implement appropriate error reduction tools” like three-way communications while performing surveillance procedure on the pump.

Hannah said Duke employees self-reported the issue and corrective action was taken quickly. Overall, the three-month inspection offered a strong picture of safety protocol at the plant.

“That was the only issue identified and the identified it themselves,” Hannah said. “That’s the way we expect the program to work.”

Scott Andresen, Duke Energy spokesperson, gave the same account of the report.

“The issue was a small component, a valve, became inoperable for a short period of time,” he said. “We immediately repaired the valve and returned it to service. We received the NRC finding because this valve was unavailable for a short period of time.”

The issue didn’t impact public or employee safety, Andresen said.

“Duke Energy operates Catawba Nuclear Station safely with the top priority being the protection of the public and its employees,” he said.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Catawba Nuclear Station gets good safety report."