Press Release-II-17-010, NRC to Discuss 2016 Summer Nuclear Performance and Construction

Press Release-II-17-010: NRC to Discuss 2016 Summer Nuclear Performance and Construction

ML17081A179
Person / Time
Site:	Summer
Issue date:	03/22/2017
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-II-17-010
Download: ML17081A179 (2)

Text

No: II-17-010 March 22, 2017 CONTACT: Roger Hannah 404-997-4417 Joey Ledford 404-997-4416 NRC to Discuss 2016 Summer Nuclear Performance and Construction Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members will be available at two open houses scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, to discuss the agencys 2016 safety assessment of the Summer nuclear stations one operating unit as well as the inspection and oversight of the two new units under construction.

The plant, operated by SCE&G, is located near Jenkinsville, S.C., about 26 miles northwest of Columbia.

The open houses and poster sessions will begin at 6 p.m. at the McCrorey-Liston School of Technology, 1978 State Highway 215 S, in Blair, S.C. The open house on the safety performance of the operating unit will be in the school library. The open house for construction activities at Units 2 and 3 will be held in the gymnasium.

Inspectors and managers responsible for NRC oversight of the plant, including the site-based resident inspectors, will be on hand in both rooms to discuss the plants regulatory performance and NRC inspections.

Overall, Summer Unit 1 operated safely during 2016 and met NRC requirements. At the end of 2016, the plant had no inspection findings or performance indicators outside the normal band. As a result, it is currently under the NRCs baseline level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year.

The NRCs construction inspection staff found that Units 2 and 3 were being built in a manner that protected public health and safety and met all regulatory objectives.

Our annual assessments of each plant provide a valuable, broad picture of plant safety performance and help us plan our future inspections, NRC Region II Administrator Cathy Haney said.

Based on our assessments of Summer throughout 2016, we will continue the normal level of oversight in 2017 unless there are events or performance issues that cause a change.

Under the NRCs Reactor Oversight Process, the agency assesses plant performance through the use of color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators, which are statistical measurements of plant performance. Any inspection findings or performance indicators that are greater than green (very low safety significance) can result in increased NRC oversight.

Routine inspections at both the operating unit and the construction site are performed by resident inspectors assigned to the plant. Reviews are also carried out at the sites by specialist inspectors assigned to the agencys Region II office in Atlanta.

The annual assessment letter for Summer Unit 1, as well as the notice for the meeting, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available.

The construction assessment letter is also available online at www.nrc.gov.

Page l 2