Press Release-III-08-026, NRC to Discuss 2007 Performance Assessment for Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-08-026: NRC to Discuss 2007 Performance Assessment for Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant

ML081680692
Person / Time
Site:	Braidwood
Issue date:	06/17/2008
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-08-026
Download: ML081680692 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 No. III-08-026 June 17, 2008 Contacts: E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 Web site: www.nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 NRC TO DISCUSS 2007 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR BRAIDWOOD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation Company on Monday, June 23, to discuss the agencys assessment of the safety performance during 2007 at the Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located in Braidwood, Ill.

The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. CDT at the Reed-Custer High School Auditorium, 249 Comet Drive, in Braidwood. The NRC staff will present the results of the assessment, talk about the NRC and its range of activities, and be available to respond to questions or comments from the public about the NRC and its oversight of the Braidwood Station before the close of the meeting.

The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Braidwood plant and the nations other commercial nuclear power facilities, NRC Region III Administrator James Caldwell said.

This meeting allows us to discuss our annual assessment of safety performance with the company and with local officials and area residents. Our goal is to explain how the NRC works and make sure as much information as possible is available on our regulation of these facilities.

A letter sent from the NRC Region III Office to plant officials addresses Braidwoods performance 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/listofasmrpt.html.

The NRCs assessment concluded that the Braidwood plant operated safely during the period. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear plant performance. The colors start with green and then increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved.

All performance indicators for Braidwood during 2007 were determined to be green.

Performance indicators are a statistical measurement of plant and equipment performance.

In the first quarter of 2007, there was one white finding meaning it had low to moderate significance to safety in the area of radiation safety. This finding was related to the failure to perform adequate and timely radiological evaluations following historical unplanned radioactive leaks from the stations blow-down line vacuum breakers.

In January 2007, the NRC conducted an inspection to review the actions taken by the utility to address the radiation protection deficiency. The inspection focused on reviewing the utilitys identification of the root and contributing causes of the issue, the thoroughness of the utilitys review of the extent of the problem and the effectiveness of corrective actions to address these causes and to prevent recurrence. The NRC concluded that the companys review of the issue and the corrective actions were adequate.

Based on this performance, the NRC will conduct the normal, baseline level of inspections during the upcoming year.

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC resident inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are radiation protection, fire protection, conditions of welds and engineering modifications.

Current performance information for Braidwood is available on the NRCs web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BRAI1/brai1_chart.html for Unit 1 and http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BRAI2/brai2_chart.html for Unit 2.

NRC news releases are available through a free list serve subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html . The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.