NRC BEGINS SPECIAL INSPECTION AT BYRON NUCLEAR PLANT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has started a Special Inspection to review the circumstances around the loss of offsite power that led to a Unit 2 reactor shutdown on Jan. 30 at the Byron nuclear power plant.

The two-unit plant is operated by Exelon Generation Co. and is located in Byron, Ill., about 17 miles southwest of Rockford.

The special inspection team began work today and will look into how plant equipment responded to the loss of offsite power. They will review the sequence of events, evaluate the facts and circumstances, and review the plants actions surrounding the incident. The team will also review the plant’s evaluation of what happened, their plan for addressing the cause of the event, and the implementation of their corrective actions.

 Unit 2 remains in a safe and stable shutdown condition and the diesel generators continue to supply power to the plant as planned for this type of incident. There was a steam release from the non-nuclear side of the plant with trace amounts of tritium. This type of steam release is used by nuclear power plants to release pressure in order to maintain the plant in a stable condition. Doses to the public from this type of release are significantly below even the most stringent Federal protective limits and, therefore, do not pose a risk to public health and safety. 

The NRC’s special inspection report will be available within 45 days of the inspection’s completion of through the NRC RIII Office of Public Affairs or through the Agencywide ocuments Access and Management System (ADAMS) at the NRC website.