Press Release-II-17-016, NRC Schedules Open House to Discuss 2016 Performance of Catawba Nuclear Station

Press Release-II-17-016: NRC Schedules Open House to Discuss 2016 Performance of Catawba Nuclear Station

ML17094A353
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba
Issue date:	04/03/2017
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Download: ML17094A353 (1)

Text

No: II-17-016 April 3, 2017 CONTACT: Roger Hannah 404-997-4417 Joey Ledford 404-997-4416 NRC Schedules Open House to Discuss 2016 Performance of Catawba Nuclear Station Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members will be available to discuss the 2016 safety performance of the Catawba nuclear power plant, operated by Duke Energy, during an open house planned for Wednesday, April 12 in Rock Hill, S.C.

The Catawba plant is located near York, S.C., about 18 miles south of Charlotte.

The open house will run from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Rock Hill City Hall Rotunda, 155 Johnston St., in Rock Hill. Inspectors and managers responsible for NRC oversight of the plant, including the site-based resident inspectors, will be on hand to discuss the plants regulatory performance and NRC inspections.

Overall, the Catawba plant operated safely during 2016 and met NRC requirements. As of 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.

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 Catawba 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 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.

Routine inspections 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 Catawba, as well as the notice for the open house, are available on the NRC website at www.nrc.gov. Current performance information for Catawba Unit 1 and Unit 2 is also available.