NRC initiates nuclear power plant special inspection

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials said the agency has initiated a special inspection at the Davis-Besse nuclear power, focusing on multiple diesel generator failures and a complicated reactor trip.

Authorities indicated the generator failures occurred during testing and maintenance intervals while the reactor trip occurred on July 8.

The special inspection’s scope of work involves a six-person inspection crew reviewing Davis-Besse’s response to the diesel generator failures, per officials, examining cause analysis, the extent of condition reviews, maintenance practices, and system design.

According to the NRC, the plant is located in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and is operated by Energy Harbor Corp.

Additionally, the NRC noted the inspectors would also explore the circumstances impacting the recent complicated automatic reactor shutdown triggered by a turbine trip, evaluating equipment performance and operator response.

NRC inspectors are slated to document findings on both issues in a publicly available inspection report once the inspections are completed. The data would be distributed to listserv subscribers and made available via the NRC website.

Over the course of the last two years, the plant experienced the failure of four emergency diesel generators to operate in compliance with specifications during NRC-required testing and one failure of a station blackout diesel generator during maintenance.