ML21244A381

LTR-21-0235 Response to Westchester County Executive George Latimer Regarding On-Site Inspectors at Indian Point

ML21244A381
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	09/15/2021
From:	Margaret Doane NRC/EDO
To:	Latimer G Westchester County, NY
Guzman R
Shared Package
ML21229A246	List: ML21229A245 ML21244A381
References
LTR-21-0235
Download: ML21244A381 (3)

Text

September 15, 2021 Mr. George Latimer Office of the County Executive Michaelian Office Building 148 Martine Avenue White Plains, NY 10601

Dear Mr. Latimer:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated August 5, 2021, regarding NRC inspector coverage at the Indian Point Nuclear Generating (Indian Point) facility (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML21229A245). The NRC shares your view that on-site inspection is of paramount importance to ensure that the Indian Point facility is decommissioned safely.

As you noted in your letter, during the decommissioning phase, on-site inspection of Indian Point is provided by a variety of expert inspectors from the NRCs Region I office. These experts have the range of technical expertise needed to oversee activities specific to decommissioning, including spent fuel handling and storage. Inspectors visit sites to observe the work being performed by licensees and their contractors. Specifically, when the licensee conducts certain specialized decommissioning activities, these inspectors observe some of those activities by visiting the site, performing walkdowns (visual inspections), interviewing site personnel, and reviewing procedures and records.

Your letter requests that the NRC add a full-time resident inspector at Indian Point. After careful consideration, the NRC staff has determined that maintaining full-time resident inspectors at Indian Point during decommissioning is not necessary to provide for the protection of the public health and safety, nor is a resident inspector necessarily the best method for effective regulatory oversight at the site. This is because decommissioning activities present significantly fewer radiological and nuclear safety hazards than activities at an operating power reactor site. A subset of decommissioning activities, spent fuel handling and storage-related activities, represent a higher risk that warrants more frequent NRC inspection, though such activities are usually limited in duration. Oversight activities at decommissioning sites therefore lend themselves to continuing to utilize visiting inspectors with different areas of specialized expertise, as appropriate, to observe various ongoing licensee decommissioning activities.

G. Latimer 2 If you have any questions, please contact me or have your staff contact Mr. Doug Tifft, Regional State Liaison Officer, NRC Region I, at (610) 337-6918 or Doug.Tifft@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Signed by Doane, Margaret on 09/15/21 Margaret M. Doane Executive Director for Operations

G. Latimer 3

SUBJECT:

LTR-21-0235 RESPONSE TO WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER REGARDING ON-SITE INSPECTORS AT INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR GENERATING FACILITY DATED DISTRIBUTION: LTR-21-0235-1 Public RidsNrrMailCenter Resource RidsNrrOd Resource RidsNrrDorl Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl1 Resource RidsNrrDorlLAKZeleznock Resource RidsNrrDorlLAKEntz Resource RidsNmssDuwpRdb Resource RidsEdoMailCenter Resource RidsOcaMailCenter Resource RidsOgcMailCenter Resource RidsRgn1MailCenter Resource TDimitriadis, RI RGuzman, NRR ADAMS Accession Number: ML21244A381 (letter); ML21229A246 (package)

OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL1/PM NRR/DORL/LPL1/LA RI/DRSS/DIRHB/BC NMSS/DUWP/RDB/BC NAME RGuzman KZeleznock/KEntz TDimitriadis BWatson DATE 9/2/2021 9/2/2021 8/31/2021 9/1/2021 OFFICE RI/SLO NRR/DORL/LPL1/BC NRR/DORL/D OGC - NLO NAME DTifft JDanna BPham TCampbell DATE 9/2/2021 9/1/2021 9/3/2021 9/13/2021 OFFICE NRR/D OEDO NAME MKing for AVeil MDoane DATE 9/13/2021 09/15/21 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY