SHUTDOWN TO CONTINUE UNTIL FALL
Representatives Of CP&L,
NRC Meet Today To Discuss
Performance Improvement
As the shutdown of its Brunswick
Nuclcar Plant continues, representa
tives of Carolina Power and Light
Co. will meet with the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission in Atlanta
today (Thursday) to discuss how the
company plans to correct "continu
ing performance problems" at the
plant.
They will be discussing the sta
tus of the facility, what CP&L has
determined its corrective action will
be, how it plans to achieve those
goals and when," said Ken Clark
spokesman for the NRC's southeast
ern regional office in Atlanta.
The plant was shut down in April
after structural problems were found
in its dicscl generator building that
could make it vulnerable to earth
quake damage. The generators are
needed to power pumps that circu
late cooling water through the reac
tors.
Both units at the plant arc expect
ed to remain off line at least until
early fall, a company spokesman
said Tuesday. Besides correcting
structural deficiencies noted by the
NRC, the company is inspecting
other areas of the plant for similar
problems and catching up on a gen
eral backlog of maintenance work.
On May 27, CP&L was given 30
days to provide a written response to
an NRC report that was highly criti
cal of company management for its
inability "to cause positive, lasting
improvements" at the plant. The
commission said it was "deeply con
cerned that the root causes of con
tinuing performance problems at the
plant arc similar to those identified
by the NRC over the past 10 years.
The NRC has fined CP&L nine
times since July 1988 for violating
maintenance procedures at the plant.
CP&L plans to it lease a formal
response to the NRC report Friday,
according to company spokesman
Elizabeth Bean. She said the meet
ing in Adanta this week "was be
tween their engineers and our engi
neers" and would not be a discus
sion of the underlying safety issues
raised in the report.
During a six-week inspection
completed May 1, the NRC found
aging equipment, poor maintenance
and ineffective work controls at the
plant.
Approximately 200 structures and
components at the plant were found
to have inadequate safety margins
for earthquake resistance. Many of
these deficiencies were more than
two years old, including bent, twist
ed and cracked supports and defec
tive bolts in some building walls.
_ Inspectors in the emergency
dicscl generator building found bolt
heads that had been cut off and
welded to structures to give the ap
pearance of bolts where none exist
ed. Some bolts had been cut short,
improperly reducing the threaded
length. Others were installed in con
crete without the required steel an
chor sleeves.
Bean said CP&L inspectors re
cently found similar bolt problems
in other areas in the plant, "though
not in the amount or safety signifi
cance of those in the generator
building. Most of the new problems
were in bolts that support equip
ment, not in structural fasteners, she
said.
The company has also discovered
Test Of Sirens Set
For Brunswick
And New Hanover
Residents of Brunswick and
New Hanover counties who live
within a 10-mile radius of Car
olina Power & Light's Bruns
wick nuclear plant may hear
sirens July 7,8 and 9.
CP&L will be conducting rou
tine quarterly low volume
"growl" tests of the individual
sirens to ensure that each works.
Questions about the tests may
be directed to the Brunswick
County Office of Emergency
Management, any CP&L busi
ness office or to CP&L's Vis
itors Center in Southport.
that some of the structural steel at
the plant was not installed as it was
originally intended. Bean said the
construction was different but not
necessarily less effective than the in
tended design.
None of the design discrepancies
were in the primary structure of the
plant, which is constructed of rein
forced concrete, Bean said.
The latest in-housc inspection al
so found that some ventilation ducts
in the main control building do not
meet specifications for withstanding
300 milc-pcr-hour tornado winds.
Bean said these and other "in
spections and fixits" were being ad
dressed during the shutdown. No
firm date has been set for restarting
the plant.
No increase in rates is expected to
come as a direct result of the current
maintenance. Bean said. However
an adjustment may be necessary in
fall 1993 if the shutdown leads to
significant purchases of power and
fuel.
The NRC report said that while
operator performance at the Bruns
wick Nuclear Plant has improved
over the past two years, deficiencies
continue to occur. Poor maintenance
controls have resulted in several sig
nificant events in the past year, the
report said.
In January 1991 a technician was
sprayed with radioactive water while
opening an improperly installed
valve.
Two months later the plant was
shut down for more than a month
when a worker failed to follow cor
rect procedure when changiag bear
ings on an emergency dicsei genera
tor.
On Jan. 6, one of the emergency
generators failed to start because
parts had not been lubricated after
cleaning.
So far this year the inspectors
found 14 examples of no supervi
sion at the job site, 15 examples of
inadequate procedures and 1 1 exam
ples of failure to follow procedures.
Since Sept. 1, 1991, there have been
approximately 20 unscheduled shut
downs or reductions in power due to
equipment failures.
The report says the problems at
the nuclear plant begin at the top.
"Management has not set high
standards for the material condition
of the plant and has not provided the
leadership needed for effective im
plementation of improvements," the
report concludes. "Lack of critical
self-assessment has resulted in the
failure to recognize problems and
the failure to implement effective
corrective actions."
As some of the report's findings
became public, CP&L on May 14
announced it would spend more than
S2(X) million in an accelerated effort
to improve operations and perfor
mance at the plant. The company
said it did not plan to raise rates to
pay for the improvements.
Company officials said a growing
backlog of maintenance and modifi
cation work had handicapped its im
provement efforts and "prevented
the plant from realizing the full ben
efits of the initiatives that have been
undertaken previously."
Among the improvements pro
posed by CP&L over the next five
years arc a new craft training facili
ty, a refurbished water system and
modifications to the condensate stor
age tank and pumping system.
The company also said it was in
vestigating possible legal action
against whomever installed the sub
standard bolts in the emergency
diescl generator building.
State To Dedicate New DMV Office
State Transportation Secretary
Tommy Harrelson will join other
state and local officials Friday at the
formal dedication of the new N.C.
Division of Motor Vehicles building
in Supply.
The ceremony starts at 2 p.m. at
the building located on U.S. 17
across from The Brunswick Hosp
ital. The 2, 200- square-foot structure
is a full-service driver license and
enforcement office open weekdays
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Also participating in the ceremo
ny will be Commissioner of Motor
Vehicles Robert F. Hodges, N.C.
Board of Transportation member
Marilyn Williams, South Brunswick
Islands Chamber of Commerce Pre
sident Terry Bar bee and Brunswick
County Board of Commissioners
Chairman Kelly Holden.
DON"!
e fi/tirt
This beautiful model home is now
drastically reduced
to make room for new '93 models.
Wayne Culbertson, RHS
Ann Brown, RHS
HOMES BY ANN
Hwy. 17 N.. Shallotte, 754-5147
STAfF PHOTO BY DOUG ?UTTE?
FIREFIGHTERS sift through remains of an old wooden barn that burned to the ground Sunday night
in Shallotte.
Electrical Fire Destroys Barn
An electrical fire thai may have been related to a se
vere storm Sunday night destroyed an old wooden bam
in downtown Shallotlc.
Robert Hawcs owned the barn and packhouse locat
ed next to his residence on Smith Avenue near Twin
Creek Plaza, said Brunswick County Emergency
Management Coordinator Cecil Logan.
Firefighters were called around 10:30 p.m. Sunday
and stayed on the scene for approximately four hours.
Some returned for two hours Monday morning to put
more water on the charred building.
Logan said the fire may have been caused by a se
vere thunderstorm that passed through the area Sunday
night. Lightning may have struck the barn or wind could
have blown electrical wires together.
"It was electrical of some nature," he said. "We found
enough wires beaded up to feci confident about that."
Logan said the bam was wired with heavy, single
strand wires that weren't insulated in some places.
Responding to the blaze were firefighters from
Shallotte, Shallotte Point, Civictown, Supply and Sunset
Beach.
Logan said the owner of the bam had been using it
as a storage area. "It was packed with about anything
you can think of," he said.
The structure, made mostly of lighter wood, con
tained desks, chairs, a tractor, hand tools, an air com
pressor and other items.
Logan didn't know the value of the building and its
contents and said the ow ner couldn't provide an estimate
either. He said Hawes was checking how much insur
ance coverage he had on the building.
ipTo AUTO
Xtl S ELECTRIC
ALTERNATORS STARTERS
VOLTAGE REGULATORS GENERATORS
REPAIR? REBUILT? EXCHANGED
AUTOMOTIVE WIRING
754-7656
Royal Oak Road & Hwy. 17 N., Shallotte
?W991 THE BRUNSWICK BEACON
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Secretarial/Word Processing Services
Meaical Practice Management Services
(review of ICD-9/CPT coding)
Tax and Estate Planning
Former IRS Assistant Director
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24 Years Tax Experience
435 33rd St., Sunset Beach
579-3328
Saturday
& Sunday
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FIDDLER'S SPECIAL
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