The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a public meeting for Friday, Nov. 20, with Progress Energy to discuss the recently identified gap in the concrete containment at the Crystal River nuclear power plant.

The meeting is scheduled to be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the Commissioners’ Conference Room at the NRC’s headquarters office, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.

Progress Energy, which operates the plant, requested the meeting to give the NRC a status report on the company’s efforts to evaluate the possible causes and extent of the gap, as well as the company’s future activities.

The gap was discovered after the plant had been shut down for a planned refueling outage, which included replacing the steam generators inside containment. Workers found the half-inch separation in the concrete about 9 inches from the outer surface of the 42-inch thick containment wall. The gap is located near the area where a hole was cut in the concrete to move the large steam generators out of and into the containment building.

The NRC launched a Special Inspection Team in early October to review the situation, and the NRC will soon announce a meeting in the Crystal River area, probably scheduled for early December, to discuss the agency’s preliminary inspection findings. The team will also issue a written report, available to the public, several weeks after the completion of the inspection. In addition, the NRC will review any repair plans and subsequent repairs before the plant resumes operation.

The meeting between the NRC and Progress Energy on Nov. 20 will be open to public observation, and NRC staff will be available to answer questions before the conclusion of the meeting. Persons who cannot attend the meeting but are interested in participating by telephone should contact either Farideh Saba at 301-415-1447 or Farideh.Saba@nrc.gov or Trace Orf at 301-415-2788 or Tracy.Orf@nrc.gov.

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