The Quad Cities nuclear power plant. (Photo: Constellation)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a confirmatory order to Constellation Energy Generation outlining the agreed-on actions to address apparent violations of agency requirements at Quad Cities nuclear power plant in Cordova, Ill. The corrective and preventive actions are based on a June neutral party–mediated alternative dispute resolution (ADR) session that had been requested by Constellation to help it and the agency decide on steps forward.
Apparent violations: The apparent violations occurred at Quad Cities-1 on March 28, 2023, during a refueling outage. Valves connected to the reactor were left in incorrect positions, leading to coolant water draining from the reactor and spraying two workers. The radiation exposures did not exceed NRC limits for the workers or the public.
A July 31 statement from the NRC’s Office of Public Affairs noted that the “drain-down event was evaluated as having very low safety significance because multiple sources of water were available and used to maintain safe water level in the reactor. However, the apparent violations were screened [by NRC investigators] through a different process because of their impact on the NRC’s ability to perform its regulatory oversight function.”
Following the investigation, a NRC inspection report issued this past May identified the following six apparent violations of NRC requirements:
- Willful failure by a licensed reactor operator to implement the proper procedure, resulting in reactor pressure valve (RPV) drain-down.
- Willful failure to survey and decontaminate personnel who were sprayed with reactor coolant.
- Willful failure by a licensed senior reactor operator to maintain complete and accurate records related to the RPV drain-down event.
- Failure to document the RPV drain-down event in the facility’s operating logs and corrective action program.
- Failure to maintain complete and accurate operating logs associated with RPV drain time.
- Failure to administer fitness-for-duty and fatigue testing following an event.
Individual violations: The NRC also issued notices of violations in July against two individuals who were involved in the incident and were later dismissed by the Quad Cities plant. One of these violations concerned “a reactor operator’s willful failure to follow procedures.” The other involved “a senior reactor operator’s willful failure to maintain complete and accurate records related to the incident.”
Corrective actions: Before the ADR session in June, Constellation began to take corrective actions related to the March 2023 incident. These actions, according to the NRC, included “a fleet-wide meeting emphasizing the importance of proper conduct and accurate record-keeping, as well as an investigation into root causes of the incident and employee misconduct.”
Additional measures: The NRC confirmatory order that was issued after the ADR session “documents Constellation’s commitments to implement additional measures to improve performance, such as including a third-party Nuclear Safety Culture Assessment at Quad Cities and a fleet-wide survey to determine if site-specific action plans are needed. Further measures include training for employees and leaders on safety culture, willful misconduct, the importance of accurate information and human performance expectations.”
The confirmatory order also requires Constellation to “notify the NRC of its progress in completing the actions outlined in the legally binding agreement between the company and the agency.”
