* Zion is shut down. The owner decided on SAFSTOR approach.

June 30, 2007

New this week from NRC Public Document Room

* [2007-06-26] Ltr to Christopher M. Crane Re: Zion Nuclear Station - NRC Material Control and Accounting Program Inspection Report Nos. 05000295-07-201 and 05000304-07-201 ML071520166 2007-06-18 2 05000295 05000304 DPR-039 DPR-048 IR-07-201 2007-06-18 2007-06-25 Official Use Only - Security-Related Information Official Use Only - Security-Related Information June 18, 2007 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President and Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Nuclear Ex

April 21, 2007

New this week from NRC Public Document Room

* [2007-04-18] Order of Court that Petition for Rehearing en banc be Denied, dated 2/4/05. ML050550007 2005-02-04 1 05000295 05000304 DPR-039 DPR-048 04-1145 04-1359 2005-02-04 2006-04-17 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 04-1145 CITIZENS AWARENESS NETWORK, INC., Petitioner, THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS AND THE STATES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, CONNEC

Recent NRC inspections

* (released March 24) Zion security report 50-295-2004-1

* Zion report 50-295-2003-1

* Zion report 50-295-2002-6

June 8, 2005

Boron in spent fuel pool

Zion maintains the boron concentration in the spent fuel pool at approximately 2000 parts per million (ppm). The Technical Specifications require greater than 500 ppm.

[Source: Peter J. Lee and Eugenio Bonano (NRC health physics inspectors), "NRC Inspection Report 50-295/2005-1 - Zion Nuclear Station", July 1, 2005, p. 4]

Spent fuel pool leakage measurement

Zion staff monitors the SFP liner and transfer canal leakage and trends data on a six-month frequency. The SFP leakage surveillance was last completed on April 20, 2005. The results indicated that the total leakage was 0.000159 gallon per minute (gpm), which was below the allowable 1 gpm leakage in the acceptance criteria.

[Source: Peter J. Lee and Eugenio Bonano (NRC health physics inspectors), "NRC Inspection Report 50-295/2005-1 - Zion Nuclear Station", July 1, 2005, p. 4]

Spent fuel pool alarms via pager

Zion modified the plant pager system to alert operating personnel when abnormal spent fuel pool conditions are present. The pager system relieved the operators from continuously manning the control room. In one of the screening reviews evaluated by NRC inspectors, Zion was developing the functional tests for the alarm system and site auto dial page system. A designated pager, worn by operating personnel, was designed to alarm for spent fuel pool high and low water level, high water temperature, fuel building high radiation, cooling tower pump trip, and abnormal fuel building ventilation system operation, among other key parameters. The plant established 22 functional tests to verify proper pager function in response to anticipated control room alarms affecting spent fuel pool safety. The plant committed to perform those tests at least annually. At the time of the inspection, the plant was establishing more frequent test periods for each alarm function to ensure the abnormal conditions would be made known to the operators in the timely fashion.

[Source: Peter J. Lee and Eugenio Bonano (NRC health physics inspectors), "NRC Inspection Report 50-295/2005-1 - Zion Nuclear Station", July 1, 2005, p. 4]

January 7, 2005

Exelon announcement of management personnel changes:

* Mike Pacillio to be promoted to Senior Vice President for Midwest Operations responsible for Braidwood, Byron, Clinton, Dresden, LaSalle, Quad Cities and Zion stations

January 19, 2004

Zion - proposed sewage-sludge burning: is it worth less than 2 pounds of mercury air pollution/yr

The North Shore Sanitary District provides water treatment for more than 300,000 customers in towns north of Chicago. The District has been burying sludge -- a byproduct of sewage treatment -- in a landfill near Zion. For years, the District has been trying to build a "sludge-burning" plant which uses a drying and heating process to convert sludge into a glasslike byproduct used in road construction. "We believe this is the future for solid waste disposal," said Brian Jensen, the sanitary district's general manager. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is expected to decide by April whether to issue a permit for the proposed $40 million plant. The district already has invested millions of dollars in the plant and bought equipment. AP reports that Zion officials want the plant built. They say it would help a new industrial complex that could generate millions of dollars in property-tax revenue and help the area recover from the closure of the ComEd nuclear plant in 1998. "This could help us clean up an entire area that could be used for a light manufacturing complex," Zion Mayor Lane Harrison said.

However, there is the matter of air pollution, including mercury emissions. State EPA rules would permit 92 pounds of mercury to be emitted each year. Officials from the sanitary district say the plant would emit less than 2 pounds of mercury annually. Opponents of the plant are concerned with even the two pounds per year, but also note that the process has not been used much in the US yet. "Our air already is polluted, and this only adds to it - and with some fairly nasty things," said Lake County Conservation Alliance board member Susan Zingle. Environmentalists have vowed to keep fighting even if the state EPA issues the permit.

[Source: Associated Press, "Environmentalists fight sludge-burning plant in Zion", January 19, 2004 11:05 am ET]

* On January 7, 2003, the spent fuel pool (SFP) cooling system controlled the temperature of the SFP at 89 degrees F; the SFP heat up rate was 0.72 degrees F per hour; and the time it took to achieve the water boiling point in the SFP (with no SFP cooling) was 171 hours. The SFP boron concentration was 2016 parts per million (ppm), i compliance with the Technical Specification-required greater than 500 ppm. [Source: Roy J. Leemon et al., USNRC Inspection Report 50-295-2002-06, February 6, 2003]

* The spent fuel pool heat-up rate decreased from 0.80 degrees F per hour in 2001 to 0.72 degrees F per hour in 2002, providing 31 more hours between normal operating temperature to the boiling temperature than existed in 2001. This increased the total time to achieve boiling in the SFP to approximately 169 hours. The heat up rate is tested annually by shutting off cooling pumps and building ventilation, and is performed during hottest time of the year. The 2002 test was performed over a 20-hour period on July 30-31. The spent fuel pool cooling system maintains the SFP temperature between 90-95 degrees F. Assuming an initial SFP temperature of 90degrees F, it would take approximately 48 hours for the pool to heat up to the high temperature alarm at 125 degrees F, and it would take approximately 169 hours for the pool to heat up to the boiling temperature of 212 degrees F. [Source: Roy J. Leemon et al., USNRC Inspection Report 50-295-2002-06, February 6, 2003]

* The spent fuel pool leakage surveillance was completed on October 21, 2002. The SFP liner and transfer canal leakage was monitored and data was trended on a six-month frequency. The results showed that the total leakage was 0.005 gpm, which was below the allowable 1 gpm leakage in the acceptance criteria. Per the evaluation, both the SFP and transfer canal leakages remained approximately the same as determined during a surveillance test performed on April 25, 2002. Based on the surveillance results, the engineer recommended that monitoring and trending of SFP leakage should continue on the same six-month frequency. [Source: Roy J. Leemon et al., USNRC Inspection Report 50-295-2002-06, February 6, 2003]

* Total station staff exposure for 2002 was 130 millirem, which was well below the ALARA goal of 365 millirem. [Source: Roy J. Leemon et al., USNRC Inspection Report 50-295-2002-06, February 6, 2003]