Basic Search  |  Summaries  |  Advanced Search

Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Florida Power and Light Company (Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Unit 3)
Current Parent Company: NextEra Energy
Penalty: $70,000
Year: 2010
Date: June 21, 2010
Offense Group: safety-related offenses
Primary Offense: nuclear safety violation
Violation Description: On June 21, 2010, the NRC issued a White finding with two associated violations to Florida Power and Light Company (FP&L) as a result of inspections at Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Unit 3. This White finding involves the licensees failure to adequately address degradation of Boraflex, a fixed neutron absorber material used in the Turkey Point Unit 3 spent fuel pool. Boraflex degradation resulted in a reduction in the Boron_10 areal density of the spent fuel storage racks such that, when considering the biases and uncertainties identified in Chapter 9 of the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report, the effective neutron multiplication factor would not have been maintained less than 1.0 if the spent fuel pool had been flooded with unborated water. The NRC identified that FP&L had violated 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, Criterion XVI, Corrective Action, which requires that conditions adverse to quality be promptly identified and corrected, and Technical Specification 5.5.1.1.a, which requires that the spent fuel storage racks be maintained with an effective neutron multiplication factor less than 1.0 if flooded with unborated water, when considering the biases and uncertainties described in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report. The NRC also issued FP&L a Severity Level III Notice of Violation with a proposed $70,000 civil penalty for failure to comply with 10 CFR 50.73, which requires, in part, that licensees report any condition prohibited by the plants Technical Specifications. As discussed, Boraflex degradation led to a condition prohibited by Turkey Point Unit 3 Technical Specifications, but this condition was not reported to the NRC as required by 10 CFR 50.73.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: agency action
Agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: Florida
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: utilities and power generation
Specific Industry of Current Parent: utilities
Source of Data: (click here)
Source Notes: If an online information source is not working, check the Violation Tracker Data Sources page for an updated link.
Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.