Press Release-II-12-025, NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss 2011 Performance of North Anna Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-II-12-025: NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss 2011 Performance of North Anna Nuclear Power Plant

ML12118A344
Person / Time
Site:	North Anna
Issue date:	04/23/2012
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-12-025
Download: ML12118A344 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 245 Peachtree Center Ave. NE, Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-12-025 April 23, 2012 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416 NRC SCHEDULES MEETING TO DISCUSS 2011 PERFORMANCE OF NORTH ANNA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, May 1, to discuss the agencys assessment of safety performance during 2011 at the North Anna nuclear power plant. The plant, operated by Dominion, is on Lake Anna about 40 miles northwest of Richmond.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. at Louisa County Middle School, 1009 Davis Highway in Mineral, Va. After a brief presentation at 5, NRC staff will be available to answer questions on the safety performance of the North Anna plant last year, as well as the NRC role in ensuring safe plant operation.

During 2011, our inspectors spent many hours ensuring that the North Anna plant met NRC safety requirements and protected both people living near the plant and the environment, NRC Region II Administrator Victor McCree said.

NRC inspectors also looked at whether there were immediate safety concerns at North Anna and other U.S. plants after the March 2011 events at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

The NRC conducted separate reviews after an earthquake near the North Anna plant in August.

Those reviews found that the units continued to operate safely.

A letter sent from the NRC Region II office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during 2011 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/na_2011q4.pdf.

The NRC found that the performance of the North Anna plant met all of the agencys safety objectives in 2011 and was at a level that results in no additional NRC oversight.

However, the NRC has not finalized the significance of an inspection finding related to the failure of a gasket on one of the plants emergency diesel generators after the August earthquake.

The failure was unrelated to the quake, but that determination could affect the NRC assessment and inspection level.

The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess plant performance. The colors start with green, which has very low safety significance, to white,

which means low to moderate safety significance, to yellow or red, based on the significance of the issues. Inspection findings and performance indicators are updated on the NRCs web site (www.nrc.gov) each quarter.

This year, the NRC plans to continue to conduct the very detailed inspections required at those plants that are operating well. In addition, the agency will complete some generic inspections related to operator licensing examinations, emergency preparedness, fire protection and buried piping.

Current performance information for North Anna Unit 1 is available on the NRC web site at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NA1/na1_chart.html. Current performance information for Unit 2 is at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NA2/na2_chart.html.

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