The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today ordered an Ohio utility to halt construction of its nearly completed atomic power plant until an independent review has found that the plant meets the Government's safety requirements.
The subject of the commission's unusual order is the William H. Zimmer Nuclear Power Plant on the Ohio River near Cincinnati. The $1.6 billion plant has been under construction by the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company since 1972.
James G. Keppler, head of the Regulatory Commission's regional office that oversees the plant, estimated that the independent review could take at least six months.
Joseph Fouchard, the spokesman for the commission, said this was the first time it had ordered the immediate halt of construction of a nuclear reactor that was almost completed. He said there had been at least two other occasions when the commission had halted construction, but both orders came at far earlier development stages and neither involved an immediate halt. He said one of those plants was in Indiana and the other in Texas.
The commission imposed a $200,000 fine on Cincinnati Gas and Electric a year ago after concluding that there had been ''a widespread breakdown'' in the government procedures intended to insure that the power plant's construction met all safety requirements. The commission investigators at that time found deliberate falsification of documents and intimidation of the safety inspectors hired by the utility.
The commission's order today came a day after widespread reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a Federal grand jury had begun an investigation of charges of falsification of safety documents and harassment of safety inspectors.
Two of the five commissioners dissented from today's decision. Thomas M. Roberts said in his separate statement that the immediate suspension of construction was ''precipitous'' because Cincinnati Gas and Electric had made substantial changes in its management to improve its control of construction activities.
The other dissenting commissioner, John F. Ahearne, said he agreed with the substance of the order but would not have made it effective immediately.
Bruce Stoecklin, a spokesman for the company, said that all work on the plant had been halted at 5 P.M. ''in anticipation of such an order'' and that company lawyers would study the order once it was received to determine ''what response or action to take.''
The commission's order to the utility to halt construction was effective immediately. The section of the decision instructing the company not to resume construction until its management has been been reviewed by an ''independent third party'' was in the form of a ''show cause'' order that gives Cincinnati Gas and Electric 25 days to contest the ruling.
At a brief news conference after the action was announced, Mr. Keppler said one reason for halting construction was that inspectors at the nuclear plant had been finding ''problems at a faster rate than they could be dealt with.''
The commission official added that the ''total job'' of determining whether the plant had been built according to requirements ''needed a general organization given to it.''
Mr. Keppler further promised that the Zimmer plant ''won't get an operating license until we are satisfied that all the questions have been answered.'' Not Enough Inspectors
He said the commission had decided to require a total review by an independent third party because the N.R.C. did not have enough inspectors to accomplish the task. ''We do spot inspections, mostly on the assumption that the companies are attempting to meet our requirements,'' he said.
He said that Cincinnati Gas and Electric would be required to meet the expenses of the review and that he could not estimate the cost. The investigation of construction problems at the Zimmer plant began in 1980 when a private investigator named Thomas Applegate, who was working on a divorce case, discovered evidence that many time cards at the plant had been falsified. Though the Regulatory Commission later acknowledged that it had brushed aside the first indications of problems at the plant, additional investigations by Mr. Applegate and a Washington-based organization called the Government Accountability Project led the commission to reopen its official inquiry.
Louis Clark, the executive director of the Accountability Project, said today's decision by the commission was ''a very positive step in getting control of construction at the plant.'' ---- Vermont Plant to Pay Fine
MONTPELIER, Vt., Nov. 12 (AP) -Operators of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant will not contest a $40,000 fine imposed last month by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, officials announced today.
The fine, the third and largest ever imposed against the plant, was imposed for operational errors in an emergency that led to the shutdown of the reactor last April.
Officials decided to pay the fine because they recognized the seriousness of the errors at the plant, according to Steve Stoll, a spokesman for the plant.