ML121570032
| ML121570032 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Seabrook  |
| Issue date: | 06/04/2012 |
| From: | Bill Dean NRC Region 1 |
| To: | Story J Town of Newbury, MA, Board of Selectmen |
| McNamara N | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML12157A042 | List: |
| References | |
| EDATS:Region1-2012-0150, EDATS:SECY-2012-0254, G20120348, LTR-12-0186 | |
| Download: ML121570032 (3) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BOULEVARD, SUITE 100 KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406-2713 June 4, 2012 Mr. Joseph Story Chairman, Board of Selectmen Town of Newbury Town Hall Building 25 High Road Newbury, MA 01951
Dear Mr. Story:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to the letter from the Town of Newbury Board of Selectmen, dated April 24, 2012. Specifically, the Board expressed concerns regarding the concrete degradation noted at Seabrook Station due to an Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR), and urged the agency to take steps to fully address the matter to ensure the safety of the public in the future and that the NRC take a proactive stance in communicating this issue to the public.
Be assured that the NRC is thoroughly evaluating this technical issue. We have been conducting inspections and technical reviews over the past year to evaluate and assess this issue and the NRC has concluded that, despite the observed degradation, these structures can perform their safety related functions.
The NRC has conducted a number of public meetings on the ASR issue. On April 23, 2012, the NRC held a public meeting with NextEra at our NRC headquarters office in Rockville, MD. The NRC posed a number of questions regarding the condition of the concrete, continued operability of the affected structures, NextEras monitoring/managing plans, and their schedule for submittal of a corrective action plan. On May 16, 2012, the NRC issued NextEra a Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL), which is attached, that formally documents the commitments that the licensee has made to the NRC. The CAL will remain in effect until the NRC has concluded that all actions listed in the CAL have been satisfactorily completed.
On April 26, 2012, the NRC held a public meeting and open house regarding our annual performance assessment of the Seabrook Station. During that meeting we answered a number of questions related to this and many other topics of interest. Finally, the NRC intends to hold an additional public meeting at a location near Seabrook Station that will inform stakeholders of issues specifically surrounding the concrete degradation issue. The date for that meeting will be determined after the staff has had an opportunity to fully evaluate the information described above. The NRC will issue a public meeting notice when that meeting has been scheduled.
During these forums, the NRC communicated that it will continue to review this issue and that the license renewal schedule has and will continue to be impacted because no decision can be made until the extent of the longer-term implications of the concrete degradation are sufficiently understood.
Town of Newbury 2
Board of Selectmen We believe the above addresses your suggested steps Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 6. With respect to item 4, the NRC continually reviews the licensees audit and inspection policies and procedures as a part of our Reactor Oversight Process. I have enclosed our March 26, 2012, inspection report which provides information related to some recent ASR-related inspection activities. Also, a major component of the NRCs license renewal process is to assess the aging management programs put in place by the licensee to assure the adequacy of its infrastructure.
The NRC shares your views in suggested step No. 5 that nuclear regulation is the publics business and, as such, we believe it should be transacted as openly and candidly as possible to maintain and enhance the publics confidence. As stated above, weve conducted a number of public forums regarding this subject and all NRC inspections reports, correspondence, reviews and assessments are made publically available in our Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) that can be accessed via our public website at http://www.nrc.gov.
Thank you for your interest in this matter. The agency certainly shares your concern with ensuring the safety of the Seabrook Station and we will be carefully evaluating the concrete degradation concerns and keeping the public and governmental officials informed. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Nancy McNamara, Regional State Liaison Officer at (610) 337-5337.
Sincerely,
/RA/
William M. Dean Regional Administrator
Enclosures:
As stated
ML121570032 ADAMS Package Accession No.: ML12157A042 SUNSI Review
- Non-Sensitive Sensitive
- Publicly Available Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI/ORA RI/DRS NRR/DLR OGC RI/DRP RI/RA NAME NMcNamara (NTM)
RConte (RJC)
ACununan (NTM for)*
MSmith (Ntm for)* ABurritt (ALB)
WDean (WMD)
DATE 5/25 /12 5/ /12 5/ 25 /12 5/ 31/12 6/1/12 6/4/12