Press Release-IV-03-009, NRC to Meet with Southern California Edison to Discuss Performance of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

Press Release-IV-03-009: NRC to Meet with Southern California Edison to Discuss Performance of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

ML030800520
Person / Time
Site:	San Onofre
Issue date:	03/21/2003
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region IV
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-IV-03-009
Download: ML030800520 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400 Arlington TX 76011-4005 No. IV-03-009 March 21, 2003 CONTACT: Victor Dricks E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov Phone: 817-860-8128 NRC TO MEET WITH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON TO DISCUSS PERFORMANCE OF SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of the Southern California Edison Company on Thursday, April 3, to discuss the results of the agencys annual assessment of safety performance at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The facility, which includes two operating reactors, is located near San Clemente, Calif., and is operated by SCE.

The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Country Inn San Clemente, 35 Via Pico Plaza, San Clemente.

Before the session is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the safety performance of the plant, as well as the role of the NRC in ensuring safe plant operation.

The performance period to be discussed is January 1 to December 31, 2002. In addition, NRC staff will provide an overview of how the agencys Reactor Oversight Process works.

A letter sent from the NRC Region IV Office to representatives of SCE addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/sano_2002q4.pdf Overall, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives, the letter says. However, because the number of automatic reactor shutdowns at Unit 2 exceeded a threshold during the first quarter of 2003, NRC will schedule and conduct a supplemental inspection there, in addition to the baseline inspections at the site.

In addition, the letter notes: As you are aware, since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the NRC has issued several Orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities and improve guard force readiness. We have conducted inspections to review your implementation of these requirements and have monitored your actions in response to changing threat conditions. For calendar year 2003, we plan to continue these inspections and conduct portions of the security baseline inspection program, as well as perform additional inspections to evaluate your compliance with new requirements that may be ordered.

Current performance information for San Onofre Unit 2 is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SANO2/sano2_chart.html Performance information for Unit 3 is available at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SANO3/sano3_chart.html