Press Release-II-10-035, NRC Schedules Open House to Discuss 2009 Performance of Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-II-10-035: NRC Schedules Open House to Discuss 2009 Performance of Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant

ML101160260
Person / Time
Site:	Turkey Point
Issue date:	04/26/2010
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-10-035
Download: ML101160260 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 245 Peachtree Center Ave. NE, Suite 1200 Atlanta, GA 30303-1257 Web Site: www.nrc.gov No. II-10-035 April 26, 2010 CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416 NRC SCHEDULES OPEN HOUSETO DISCUSS 2009 PERFORMANCE OF TURKEY POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled an open house for Thursday, May 6, and will be available to discuss and answer questions about the agencys assessment of safety performance during 2009 at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant. The plant, operated by Florida Power and Light Co., is located about 25 miles south of Miami near Homestead, Fla.

The open house is informal and scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the City Council Chambers Room at Homestead City Hall, located at 790 North Homestead Blvd., Homestead, Fla. During the open house, NRC staff will be available to answer questions on the safety performance of the Turkey Point plant last year, as well as the NRCs role in ensuring safe plant operation.

Every year, the NRC evaluates the safety performance of nuclear plants in a systematic and detailed way, NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes said. These reviews allow us to respond to ongoing issues, if needed, and to plan our future inspections. This open house gives local officials and citizens near the Turkey Point plant an opportunity to learn more about our oversight and is consistent with our commitment to openness and transparency.

A letter sent from the NRC Region II office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during 2009 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/tp_2009q4.pdf.

The NRC found that the Turkey Point plants 2009 performance met all of the agencys safety objectives and was at a level that results in no additional NRC oversight. This year, the NRC plans to continue to conduct the very detailed inspections required at those plants that are operating well. In addition, the agency will complete some generic inspections at Turkey Point related to operator licensing examinations, managing gas accumulation in emergency core cooling, decay heat removal and the containment spray system.

The significance of apparent violations related to the partial degradation of a neutron-absorber material in the plants spent fuel storage system is still under review and may affect the NRCs assessment of Turkey Points performance.

The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess plant performance. The colors start with green, which has very low safety significance, to white, yellow or red, based on the significance of the issues. Inspection findings and performance indicators are updated on the NRCs web site (www.nrc.gov) each quarter.

Current performance information for Turkey Point Unit 3 is available on the NRC web site at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/TP3/tp3_chart.html. Current performance information for Unit 4 is at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/TP4/tp4_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.