RUSSELLVILLE -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has instituted 200 to 300 more hours of inspections a year at Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear One plant in response to an accident that killed one worker in March last year.
Inspections at the plant totaled about 3,000 hours last year, representatives of the commission said Wednesday night at a meeting near the facility.
On March 31 last year, Wade Walters, 24, was killed when a 1 million-pound, $20 million generator stator -- a large stationary enclosure where electricity is generated -- fell as it was being moved from Arkansas Nuclear One's turbine building. Eight other workers were injured in the accident.
In addition to the safety issues related to the accident, subsequently resolved, there were 10 more safety issues that were initially unresolved and warranted further inspection by the federal commission, said Brian Tindell, the commission's senior resident inspector at the plant.
"Despite the [high risk] findings, the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has determined that the plant was and is being operated safely," Tindell said.
He said the commission only focused on the nuclear safety of the accident. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the accident and issued citations to the companies involved and proposed fines, Tindell said. There also have been several lawsuits filed against Entergy Arkansas and other companies.
Because of the high-risk findings, the commission determined that supplemental inspections were required at the plant, Tindell said. The inspections go beyond the steps the plant already had taken, Tindell said.
One safety issue was flooding at the plant, said Gregory Werner, branch chief for the commission.
The flooding problem arose during the stator accident when a piece of equipment ruptured, causing water to leak into areas where it should not have, Troy Pruett, director of the commission's division of reactor projects, said in an interview after the meeting. That was considered an "unresolved item" for the commission to follow up on in investigations after the accident, Pruett said.
Many more deficiencies from the leaks were found in later investigations, Pruett said.
The plant has taken steps to repair the flooding problems, Werner said.
The plant, however, is designed to withstand a flood on nearby Lake Dardanelle that is 14 feet higher than the highest level ever recorded on the lake, said Jeremy Browning, Entergy vice president at the site.
Other than representatives of Entergy Arkansas and the commission, only about 20 people attended Wednesday's meeting, an annual assessment of the nuclear plant. No one publicly asked questions after the presentations.
Business on 09/05/2014