NRC CAL – NOV (White)

On November 19, 2014, the NRC issued a Notice of Violation associated with a White Significance Determination Process finding to the Florida Power and Light Company (FPL or licensee) for a violation identified at its St. Lucie Plant. The violation involved the failure to comply with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Appendix B, Criterion III, "Design Control" and Criterion XVI, "Corrective Action." Specifically, the licensee failed to install internal flood barriers in conduits that penetrated the Unit 1 Reactor Auxiliary Building (RAB) exterior wall at elevations below the design flood height and did not to identify the missing barriers during flooding walkdowns performed in response to the NRC's "Request for Information Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(f) Regarding Recommendations 2.1, 2.3, and 9.3, of the Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident." The missing flood barriers were identified when the St. Lucie site experienced a period of unusually heavy rainfall on January 9, 2014, and approximately 50,000 gallons of water entered the RAB through two of the degraded conduits. The NRC also issued a Severity Level III Notice of Violation to FPL for a violation of 10 CFR 50.9(a) involving the licensee's failure to provide the NRC with complete and accurate information in its 10 CFR 50.54(f) response and a 10 CFR 50.73 report that described the safety significance of the degraded and missing flood penetration seals.