Press Release-I-07-032, NRC to Discuss 2006 Assessment for James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant at Public Meeting Scheduled for June 5

Press Release-I-07-032: NRC to Discuss 2006 Assessment for James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant at Public Meeting Scheduled for June 5

ML071500489
Person / Time
Site:	FitzPatrick
Issue date:	05/30/2007
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-I-07-032
Download: ML071500489 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa.

www.nrc.gov No. I-07-032 May 30, 2007

Contact:

Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 NRC TO DISCUSS 2006 ASSESSMENT FOR JAMES A. FITZPATRICK NUCLEAR PLANT AT PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 5 The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions annual assessment of safety performance at the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant, in Scriba (Oswego County), N.Y., will be the subject of a public meeting on Tuesday, June 5.

NRC staff will meet with representatives of plant owner Entergy Nuclear Northeast at 12:30 p.m. to discuss the assessment, which covers the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2006, and was documented in a March 2nd letter to the company. The session will take place at the plants Joint News Center, located at the Oswego County Airport, on County Route 176 in Fulton, N.Y.

Before the meeting is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the performance of the FitzPatrick plant, as well as the role of the NRC in providing oversight of plant safety.

Each year we size up plant performance during the previous calendar year, with the overarching goal of ensuring that facilities are achieving the levels of safety that are essential to protecting the public and the environment, said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins, who noted the agency also conducts mid-year assessments of performance. At the meeting on June 5th, members of the public will receive information about how we go about that review process for FitzPatrick and other nuclear power plants across the nation. The NRC staff will also be prepared to answer questions from attendees.

Overall, the FitzPatrick plant operated safely during 2006. The NRC utilizes color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear power plant performance. The colors start with green and then increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. At the conclusion of last year, all of the performance indicators for FitzPatrick were determined to be green. Because all of the performance indicators for the plant were determined to be green and there were no inspection findings greater than green at the end of 2006, the facility will receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections in 2007.

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and

by inspection specialists from the Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of performance at FitzPatrick to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are activities associated with radiological safety, emergency preparedness and component design bases.

Current performance information for the FitzPatrick plant is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/FITZ/fitz_chart.html .

The annual assessment letter for FitzPatrick is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/fitz_2006q4.pdf . The notice for the meeting, with agenda attached, is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML071350127. ADAMS is accessible at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html . Help in using ADAMS is available via the NRCs Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV .