Press Release-I-15-025, NRC to Hold Annual Assessment Public Meeting Regarding Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant on May 28

Press Release-I-15-025: NRC to Hold Annual Assessment Public Meeting Regarding Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant on May 28

ML15140A201
Person / Time
Site:	Oyster Creek
Issue date:	05/19/2015
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-I-15-025
Download: ML15140A201 (2)

Text

No: I-15-025 May 19, 2015 CONTACT: Diane Screnci, 610-337-5330 E-mail: opa1.resource@nrc.gov Neil Sheehan, 610-337-5331 NRC to Hold Annual Assessment Public Meeting Regarding Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant on May 28 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will discuss its annual assessment of safety performance at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant during a public meeting on May 28th in Manahawkin, N.J.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Manahawkin, at 151 Route 72 West. During the meeting, the NRC staff will provide a brief presentation on the plants performance and the agencys oversight activities at the Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J., facility. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Under the NRCs Reactor Oversight Process, the agency gauges plant performance through the use of color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators, which are statistical measurements of plant performance that can trigger additional oversight if exceeded. The colors range from green to white, yellow and red, which is the highest level of significance.

On an overall basis, Oyster Creek, a boiling-water reactor owned by Exelon Generation Co.

LLC, operated safely in 2014. However, as of the end of last year, the plant was receiving additional NRC oversight after its performance indicator for Unplanned Scrams (shutdowns) per 7,000 Critical Hours transitioned from green to white in the third quarter of 2014. This occurs when a plant has more than three unplanned shutdowns during the previous 7,000 hours0 days <br />0 hours <br />0 weeks <br />0 months <br /> of online operation.

The NRC conducted a supplemental inspection at the plant in December to review the companys root cause evaluation of, and corrective actions for, the issues related to the shutdowns.

Based on the satisfactory results of that inspection, documented in a report issued on Jan. 20, 2015, the NRC closed out the issues and returned the plant to the normal level of NRC oversight as of March 4, 2015.

On April 27, 2015, the NRC finalized one yellow and one white inspection finding for the plant. A yellow classification indicates substantial safety significance while a white connotes low to moderate safety significance. The yellow finding involves design aspects of electromatic relief valves, or EMRVs, for the plant. The white finding pertains to the maintenance of an emergency diesel generator at the facility.

Even though the violation involving the EMRVs has been classified as yellow, the NRC has determined it represents an old design issue. That is, the issue stems from an inspection finding involving a past design-related problem and does not reflect a current performance deficiency associated with existing programs, policies or procedures used by the company. As a result, the finding will not lead to Oyster Creek moving into the Degraded Cornerstone Column of the NRCs Action Matrix, but the NRC will carry out an inspection that will review Exelons root-cause evaluation and corrective actions for the issue.

However, the white inspection finding will result on Oyster Creek moving to the Regulatory Response Column of the Action Matrix. The NRC will increase its oversight and perform a supplemental team inspection targeted at the emergency diesel generator issue.

Once Exelon notifies us of its readiness for these inspections, we will review whether the company has taken the steps necessary to properly address these issues and prevent recurrence, NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman said.

The NRC issues reports on performance at each plant 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 a quarterly basis on the agencys website. Following the release of the Annual Assessment letters each March, the NRC meets with the public in the vicinity of each plant to discuss the results.

The NRCs normal level of oversight at each U.S. nuclear power plant involves thousands of hours of inspection. In 2014, the agency devoted approximately 6,880 hours0.0102 days <br />0.244 hours <br />0.00146 weeks <br />3.3484e-4 months <br /> of review at Oyster Creek.

Normal inspections are performed by two Resident Inspectors assigned to Oyster Creek.

Reviews are also carried out at the sites by specialist inspectors assigned to the agencys Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas to be inspected this year at Oyster Creek are the dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel, radiation monitoring, emergency preparedness and control room operator qualifications.

The Annual Assessment letter for Oyster Creek, as well as the notice for the May 28th meeting, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available for Oyster Creek.

Page l 2