ML16179A385
| ML16179A385 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Grand Gulf  |
| Issue date: | 06/27/2016 |
| From: | Greg Warnick NRC/RGN-IV/DRP/RPB-C |
| To: | |
| Warnick G | |
| References | |
| Meeting ID 20160809, ML16061A361 Annual Assessment Letter, REPORT 05000416/2015006 | |
| Download: ML16179A385 (5) | |
Text
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary June 27, 2016
Title:
Open House Meeting With Members of the Public - Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Meeting Identifier: 20160809 Date of Meeting: Wednesday, June 22, 2016 Location: Claiborne County Matt Ross Administration Building, Port Gibson, MS Type of Meeting: Category 3 Purposes of the Meeting:
To provide members of the public an opportunity to meet with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff members to discuss issues related to the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, including the results of the NRCs assessment of safety performance at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station during the calendar year 2015.
To provide members of the public an opportunity to ask questions about the NRCs purpose and responsibilities, and to discuss any regulatory issues.
General Details:
The NRC conducted an open house beginning at 5:00 p.m. central daylight time (CDT) where members of the public met informally with NRC staff and asked questions related to Grand Gulf Nuclear Station performance, NRCs purpose and responsibilities, and regulatory issues. The meeting was scheduled from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. CDT and ran the full time. Two NRC staff members were present. The open house began with an introduction of NRC staff, followed by a short presentation on the mission and role of the NRC, a day in the life of a resident inspector, and Grand Gulf Nuclear Stations performance as described in the 2015 End of Cycle Assessment Letter (ML16061A361). The majority of the meeting was dedicated to answering questions on these topics and receiving comments from members of the public.
Approximately 14 people participated in the meeting. Four participants asked questions and two participants provided comments. In addition to members of the public, meeting participants included one person from the State Department of Health, the president of the Claiborne County Board of Supervisors, a coordinator for the City of Port Gibson, the Claiborne County District Executive Director for Economic Development, one reporter from Port Gibson Reveille, and six people from Entergy.
Summary of Presentations:
NRC Mission and Roles The NRC licenses and regulates the Nation's civilian use of radioactive materials to protect public health and safety, promote the common defense and security, and protect the environment. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created as an independent agency by Congress in 1974 to ensure the safe use of radioactive materials for beneficial civilian purposes while protecting people and the environment. The NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants and other uses of nuclear materials, such as in nuclear medicine, through licensing, inspection and enforcement of its requirements.
Good planning leads to good response. Our emergency preparedness programs enable emergency personnel to rapidly identify, evaluate, and react to a wide spectrum of emergencies, including those arising from terrorism or natural events such as hurricanes.
Our incident response program integrates the overall NRC capabilities for the response and recovery of radiological incidents and emergencies involving facilities and materials regulated by the NRC or an Agreement State. Under the National Response Framework, the NRC will coordinate with other Federal, State, and local emergency organizations in response to various types of domestic events. The NRC emphasizes the integration of safety, security, and emergency preparedness as the basis for the NRC's primary mission of protecting public health and safety.
Resident Inspectors Since the late 1970s, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has maintained its own sets of eyes and ears at the nation's nuclear power plants. They are there in the form of on-site inspectors referred to as Resident Inspectors. Each plant has at least two such inspectors and their work is at the core of the agency's reactor inspection program.
On a daily basis, these highly trained and qualified professionals scrutinize activities at the plants and check on adherence to federal safety requirements. That oversight can take many forms on any given day, including an inspector visiting the control room and reviewing operator logbook entries or watching operators conduct plant manipulations; performing visual assessments of a certain area or areas of the plant; observing tests of, or repairs to, important systems or components; interacting with plant employees to see if they have any safety concerns; or checking corrective action documents to ensure that problems have been identified and appropriate fixes implemented.
GG performance The NRC determined that overall, the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and met all cornerstone objectives. The NRC determined the performance at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station during the most recent quarter was within the Licensee Response Column (Column 1) of the NRCs Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) Action Matrix because all inspection findings had very low (i.e.,
green) safety significance, and all Performance Indicators indicated that performance was within the nominal, expected range (i.e., green). Therefore, the NRC plans to conduct Reactor Oversight Process baseline inspections at the facility.
In addition, from January 1 to December 31, 2015, the NRC issued seven Severity Level IV traditional enforcement violations associated with impeding the regulatory process.
Therefore, the NRC plans to conduct Inspection Procedure 92723, Follow up Inspection for Three or More Severity Level IV Traditional Enforcement Violations in the Same Area in a 12-Month Period, to assess Grand Gulf Nuclear Stations evaluation of these violations and review the adequacy of associated corrective actions.
Public Participation Themes:
During the public question and answer session of the meeting, NRC staff addressed questions on the following topics:
o License renewal - The NRC issues licenses for commercial power reactors to operate for up to 40 years and allows these licenses to be renewed for up to another 20 years. The process can be completed in a reasonable period of time, typically about 30 months, with clear requirements to assure safe plant operation.
o Publics response to plant emergency sirens - Sirens are used for emergency communications along with radio announcements. Grand Gulf Nuclear Station has pamphlets describing additional actions to take in an emergency.
o Diverse and flexible coping strategies (FLEX) - after the event at Fukushima, the NRC developed task force recommendations to the nuclear industry to make nuclear power plants safer. FLEX is a strategy developed by the nuclear industry to address the recommendations.
Attachments:
o Meeting agenda - http://meetings.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg?do=details&Code=20160809
ML16179A385 SUNSI Review By: LNB ADAMS Yes No Publicly Available Non-Publicly Available Non-Sensitive Sensitive Keyword:
NRC-002 OFFICE DRP/PE DRP/PBC NAME LBrandt GWarnick SIGNATURE
/RA/
/RA/
DATE 6/27/16 6/27/16