Dominion implements corrective measures at Millstone Nuclear Plant

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced Thursday that Dominion Power has begun to implement corrective measures at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 to address violations found in previous inspections.

In 2011, the NRC received requests from the company to approve amendments to the unit's operating license which the NRC found to be inaccurate and incomplete. Following this, an investigation was initiated by the Office of Investigations that found the plant's Updated Final Safety Analysis Report had been unlawfully  changed to remove use of a safety-related pump in the mitigation of an accident and failing to provide accurate information regarding the change.

A third violation came when the company failed to obtain a licensing amendment to make changes relating to spent fuel pool heat-load analysis. In 2015, the company was notified that these violations would bring increased enforcement and scrutiny.

Both the company and the NRC reached an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) settlement.

"The use of the ADR process in this case has yielded meaningful corrective actions on the part of Dominion that are designed to prevent these kinds of issues from occurring in the future, at Millstone and at other U.S. nuclear power plants,” Scott Morris, director of the Division of Inspection and Regional Support in the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, said. “The lessons learned will be shared at the site, throughout the Dominion nuclear plant fleet and throughout the industry."

Under the agreement, the NRC issued a legally binding Confirmatory Order that would require the company to take on corrective measures that include issuing communications on the importance of accurate and complete reporting to the NRC across the company's fleet, submitting license amendment requests relating violation issues, and completing an assessment and sampling of the facility's 50.59 program.