NRC starts Special Inspection of Byron station

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 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 Generating Station.

According to a press release issued by the NRC, the special inspection team began work Tuesday 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.

"This is not a usual procedure," NRC spokesman Viktoria Mitlyng said late Tuesday afternoon. "We initiate a Special Inspection when we feel we need to have a better understanding of what happened. It's an in depth look at the situation by a group of inspectors to go out to the plant."

She said the inspection team will look further into the sequence of events and how the equipment responded.

"We want to be sure everything is operating properly before the reactor comes back online," Mitlyng said.

As a part of normal operations, two NRC inspectors are assigned to Byron station and have an office there.

"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," the press release said. "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 through the NRC RIII Office of Public Affairs or through the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at the NRC website.