Press Release-04-050, NRC Issues Regulatory Issue Summary Concerning Electric Grid Reliability
| ML041180600 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/27/2004 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
| To: | |
| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-04-050 | |
| Download: ML041180600 (1) | |
Text
NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA No.04-050 April 27, 2004 NRC ISSUES REGULATORY ISSUE
SUMMARY
CONCERNING ELECTRIC GRID RELIABILITY As part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions response to the blackout of Aug. 14, 2003, the NRC has issued a regulatory issue summary to remind nuclear power plant licensees of how the availability of offsite power can affect nuclear power plant operations and safety. In addition, the agency plans to conduct focused inspections of all licensed plants to assess their compliance with these requirements.
Some of the regulations discussed in the summary deal with assessing the impact that maintenance activities could have on plant operations if offsite power becomes unavailable. The summary suggests licensees evaluate grid reliability when contemplating upcoming maintenance. The summary also suggests utilities should consider rescheduling, when possible, maintenance during periods when offsite power is determined to be unavailable. The summary recommends reliable communications between plants and their transmission system operators, in order to increase awareness of overall grid conditions.
NRC staff intend to complete their inspections by the end of this spring. A temporary instruction for these inspections, based on the regulations outlined in the summary, will be issued in advance.
The regulatory issue summary is available electronically through the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html, by entering accession number ML040990550.
Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRCs Public Document Room at 800/397-4209 or 301/415-4737.