Platts - Tuesday, May 06, 2003 
http://www.platts.com

------------

Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--5May2003

Defect found in reactor head nozzle at St. Lucie-2

A "defect" was discovered in a vessel head penetration
at St. Lucie-2, the second one discovered during the
current refueling outage, operator Florida Power & Light
Co. (FPL) said. FPL notified the NRC May 2; the
notification was published May 5 in NRC's daily events
report. FPL spokeswoman Rachel Scott told Platts May 5
the finding was not expected to prolong the unit's
refueling outage, which began at midnight April 20. She
said FPL had retained two teams from Framatome ANP to be
on site as a contingency during the outage, and, since
the two affected nozzles are not adjacent, the teams
could work simultaneously. Also, she said, potential
repair time had been factored into outage planning. But
she said that if additional defects are discovered,
there might be a delay. She said 80 of the unit's 102
penetrations had been fully examined as of 8 a.m. May 5,
and that FPL expected the remainder to be completed by
May 6.

------------

Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--5May2003

Duke says Oconee-3 boron residue is not from new leak

The boron residue found at Oconee-3 is from old leakage
of control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles, Duke
Energy said. Duke had reported to the NRC May 2 that it
had found evidence of possible throughwall leakage
around CRDM nozzles 4 and 7 during the visual
inspections done as part of its current outage. But Duke
spokesman Tom Shiel told Platts May 5 that plant
personnel had determined the residue was from leakage
discovered in 2001. Duke is replacing the Oconee-3 head
during the current outage.

------------