Press Release-I-17-006, NRC to Conduct Open House to Discuss 2016 Performance of Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-I-17-006: NRC to Conduct Open House to Discuss 2016 Performance of Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant

ML17079A021
Person / Time
Site:	Beaver Valley
Issue date:	03/14/2017
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-I-17-006
Download: ML17079A021 (2)

Text

No: I-17-006 March 14, 2017 CONTACT: Neil Sheehan 610-337-5331 NRC to Conduct Open House to Discuss 2016 Performance of Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will be available to discuss the 2016 safety performance of the Beaver Valley nuclear power plant during a public open house planned for March 20 in Shippingport, Pa.

The open house is scheduled from 5 - 6:30 p.m. at the Shippingport Community and Municipal Building, 163 State Road 3016. On hand to discuss the two-reactor plants performance and the NRCs oversight of the facility will be agency employees responsible for inspections of the plant, including the resident inspectors based at the site on a full-time basis.

Beaver Valley operated safely during 2016. As of the end of last year, the plant had no inspection findings or performance indicators outside the normal band. As a result, it is currently subject to the NRCs baseline level of oversight, which still entails thousands of hours of inspection each year. In 2016, for example, the NRC performed approximately 5,950 hours0.011 days <br />0.264 hours <br />0.00157 weeks <br />3.61475e-4 months <br /> of review at Beaver Valley, which is owned and operated by FirstEnergy.

Our annual assessments of each plant provide a valuable, big-picture view of a plants safety performance and help guide our reviews going forward, said NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman. Based on our assessments of Beaver Valley throughout 2016, the plant will undergo the normal array of NRC inspections this year, barring any changes in performance.

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. Any inspection findings or performance indicators that are greater than green (very low safety significance) trigger increased NRC oversight.

Day-to-day inspections are performed by two resident inspectors assigned to Beaver Valley.

Reviews are also carried out at the site by specialist inspectors assigned to the agencys Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa.

Among the areas to be inspected this year at Beaver Valley will be radiological safety, emergency preparedness and reactor operator qualification. In addition, the NRC will perform an inspection of the independent spent fuel storage installation at the plant.

The annual assessment letter for Beaver Valley, as well as the notice for the March 20 open house, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available for Beaver Valley Unit 1 and Unit 2.

Page l 2