Feds deem Beaver Valley nuke site safe in ’14

Federal regulators Thursday visited with local officials in Shippingport and emphasized that the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station had met all major safety requirements in 2014.

The findings come after about 5,840 hours of inspection last year by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Inspectors issue separate quarterly reports for each of the plant’s two unit reactors.

“The NRC determined that overall, [at] Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and met all cornerstone objectives,” the NRC wrote in a letter to site vice president Eric Larson.

In a press release, Dan Dorman, the NRC’s regional administrator, added that, “Because Beaver Valley did not have any safety or security issues rising above a very low significance in 2014, we are currently not planning any inspections above and beyond our normal reviews.”

That’s not to say regulators found a lack of violations. But none deviated beyond a “very low safety significance” as established by the NRC’s rubric.

For example, inspectors found at least eight violations at the two reactors during the fourth quarter inspection. One involved the failure of the plant’s main transformer because the company did not follow directions provided by the manufacturer.

The transformer failure resulted in a reactor “trip,” a safety mechanism that automatically shuts down the plant, according to inspection records.

“It’s unusual when a plant experiences an unplanned shutdown,” said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. “The bigger thing for us is determining whether this a problem that could’ve been prevented? Is there industry information out there?”

At every licensed nuclear plant, inspections are performed by two so-called resident inspectors stationed full-time as observers for the agency. They are moved to another plant every seven years to maintain their independence, Mr. Sheehan said. The NRC also sends specialists to inspect specific aspects of nuclear operation.

FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said plant operators were proud of their level of safety performance.

FirstEnergy is beginning modifications to the nuclear plant, which comprises two reactors and their respective cooling towers on a bluff above the Ohio River. The changes are needed to meet additional standards rolled out after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident four years ago.