NRC Issues Safety Finding to Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant

On July 2, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a “white” inspection finding to the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Burlington, Kan., in response to a deficiency identified during an emergency preparedness exercise conducted last year.

Inspectors observed the biennial exercise on Nov. 5, 2013, to assess if the drill adequately tested elements of the site’s emergency plan and offered opportunities for key emergency response organization skills to be demonstrated. During the exercise, the NRC found that Wolf Creek had not addressed a previously identified error involving software used to assess offsite radiation dose during a plant emergency. The “white” finding indicates that the violation is of low to moderate safety significance.

The specific deficiency involved the facility’s electronic dose calculation program, which did not accurately calculate the consequences of a radiological release through the main vent stack when the effluent monitor was in accident mode. The error had been previously identified on Nov. 13, 2012, but no action had been taken to correct the problem. The inaccurate calculation was eventually corrected on Feb. 25, 2014.

Wolf Creek—a 1,200-MW single-unit plant located about 85 miles southwest of Kansas City—was in the news earlier this year when it responded to a “chilling effects” letter issued by the NRC. The plant is in the second column—the regulatory response column—of the NRC’s Action Matrix because of a “greater-than-green” finding in the security cornerstone. The NRC issued its annual assessment of all operating U.S. commercial nuclear power plants on Mar. 6.

—Aaron Larson, associate editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine)