ML20135B802

Press Release III-96-073, Quad Cities Nuclear Plant Rated 'Good' in Two Areas, 'Acceptable' in Two Areas in NRC Performance Assessment

ML20135B802
Person / Time
Site:	Quad Cities
Issue date:	12/06/1996
From:	NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:
References
PR-III-96-073, PR-III-96-73, NUDOCS 9612060047
Download: ML20135B802 (2)

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e U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Region III Office of Public Affairs 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532-4351 RIII-96-73 December 6, 1996 J

CONTACT: Jan Strasma 630/829-9663 Angela Dauginas 630/829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc. gov QUAD CITIES NUCLEAR PLANT RATED " GOOD" IN TWO AREAS, " ACCEPTABLE" ,

IN TWO AREAS IN NRC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT l The Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, operated by Commonwealth Edison Co., has received performance ratings of " good" in operations and plant support and " acceptable" in maintenance and engineering in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff's latest Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) report for the facility.

The assessment covers the period July 23, 1995, through October 26 of i 4

this year. I l

The NRC staff and Commonwealth Edison officials will discuss the l evaluation during a meeting set for 10 a.m. on December 18 at the Training Center at the Quad cities plant site. The meeting will be open for public i observation. NRC officials will be available afterwards to speak with l reporters, state and local officials, and members of the public.

NRC SALP reports rate utilities in four functional areas -- plant operations, maintenance, engineering, and plant support -- and assign ratings of Category 1, 2, or 3 depending on whether their performance in those areas was superior, good or acceptable. The report on Quad Cities gives the plant a

" Category 2" rating in operations and plant support, indicating good performance. It assigns a rating of " Category 3" to maintenance and engineering, indicating acceptable performance.

NRC Regional Administrator A. Bill Beach, in a letter to the utility, j said: "Of particular importance this assessment period was your ability to 1 sustain the momentum started last assessment period to improve performance in the area of plant operations."

Mr. Beach said NRC also has seen sustained improvements in the radiation protection area, particularly in plant water chemistry programs and in work to keep radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable. In addition, he 1 said, progress was made toward improving the plant's material condition j through modification and repair of selected systems. )

"The decision to keep Unit i shut down for an additional 90 days and {

Unit 2 shut down for 75 days this past summer while restoring safety margins and resolving design related problems was conservative and clearly focused on safety," Mr. Beach wrote. "While overall performance improved in some areas, parsistent weaknesses in the work control process, material condition, engineering evaluations, and corrective actions limited your progress."

9612060047 961206 PDR PRESS R PDR RG-III-96-073 000005 m.o t c> /t

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1 1

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6 y i The ratings for each functional area of this report and the previous-report were:

1 Functional Area Current Period Previous Period t

. Operations 2 2

! Maintenance 3 3 f

j . Engineering 3 2 1

i Plant Support 2 2 3

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f.

i The full SALP report is available on the NRC's internet web site at:

)- <http://www.nrc. gov /OPA>. SALP reports for all nuclear plants are also

! available as they are issued through an electronic mailing list. To receive these reports send an e-mail message to listproc@nrc. gov with no subject and with the following message: subscribe salp yourfirstname yourlastname.

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