Press Release-I-09-026, NRC to Discuss Annual Assessment for Salem, Hope Creek Plants at Public Meeting Set for May 5 in Woodstown, N. J

Press Release-I-09-026: NRC to Discuss Annual Assessment for Salem, Hope Creek Plants at Public Meeting Set for May 5 in Woodstown, N. J

ML091200506
Person / Time
Site:	Salem, Hope Creek
Issue date:	04/30/2009
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-I-09-026
Download: ML091200506 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 Site: http://www.nrc.gov No. I-09-026 April 30, 2009

Contact:

Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 NRC TO DISCUSS ANNUAL ASSESSMENT FOR SALEM, HOPE CREEK PLANTS AT PUBLIC MEETING SET FOR MAY 5 IN WOODSTOWN, N.J.

The results of the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions annual safety performance assessment for the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants will be the subject of a public meeting on Tuesday, May 5.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Salem 911/Emergency Services Center, 125 Cemetery Road in Woodstown, N.J. Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the plants performance, as well as the agencys oversight of the facility.

Salem is the site of two pressurized-water reactors while Hope Creek is the site of a single boiling-water reactor. All of the reactors are located in Hancocks Bridge (Salem County), N.J. They are owned and operated by PSEG.

Overall, the Salem and Hope Creek plants operated safely during 2008. At the conclusion of last year, as assessed by the NRC Reactor Oversight Process, there were no performance indicators for the plants that were other than green and no inspection findings that were greater than green. Therefore, for the rest of 2009, the plants will receive the very detailed inspection regime used by the NRC for plants that are operating well. In 2008, the NRC devoted approximately 8,000 hours0 days <br />0 hours <br />0 weeks <br />0 months <br /> of inspection to Salem, including four major team inspections, and 4,700 hours0.0081 days <br />0.194 hours <br />0.00116 weeks <br />2.6635e-4 months <br /> to Hope Creek, including two major team inspections.

The NRC did identify what is known as a substantive cross-cutting issue - an issue that cuts across multiple areas of performance - at the Salem plant. That issue involves human performance, with a cross-cutting theme having to do with documentation and procedure adequacy.

During the 2008 assessment period, there were seven inspection findings pertaining to this theme.

NRC staff intends to monitor PSEGs progress in addressing this issue via the agencys routine oversight process.

In 2008, all but one of the 26 commercial power reactors in Region I, which covers the Northeastern United States, fully met our clearly defined performance criteria. Salem and Hope Creek were among the plants achieving those objectives. That means those plants will receive the normal level of NRC oversight this year if they continue to meet the high safety benchmarks set out for each site, said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. That said, our inspectors will remain on the lookout for any problems or adverse trends that might indicate a change in performance. As always, we will not hesitate to act should we identify any safety concerns.

The NRC utilizes a combination of color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start with green and then increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. The agency issues reports on performance at specific plants twice a year: During the mid-cycle, or mid-point, of the year, and at the conclusion of the year. Inspection findings and performance indicators are also updated on the NRCs web site, www.nrc.gov, each quarter. Following the release of the annual reports every March, the NRC meets with the public in the vicinity of each plant to discuss the results. The meetings are in keeping with the agencys commitment to transparency with regard to its activities.

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

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/salm_2008q4.pdf. The annual assessment letter for the Hope Creek plant is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/hope_2008q4.pdf. The notice for the annual assessment meeting is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML091070316. ADAMS is available at:

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

Routine inspections are carried out by the four NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to Salem and Hope Creek (two at each plant) and by inspection specialists from the agencys Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas at Salem to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are fire protection, problem identification and resolution, radiological safety and emergency planning.

Among the areas at Hope Creek to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are radiological safety, emergency planning, problem identification and resolution, and a proposed power uprate for the reactor.

Current performance information for Salem 1 is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SALM1/salm1_chart.html. Current performance information for Salem 2 is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SALM2/salm2_chart.html. Current performance information for Hope Creek is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/HOPE/hope_chart.html.

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.