Press Release-III-04-025, NRC to Meet with Exelon Generation Company to Discuss Performance of Quad Cities Nuclear Plant

Press Release-III-04-025: NRC to Meet with Exelon Generation Company to Discuss Performance of Quad Cities Nuclear Plant

ML041130636
Person / Time
Site:	Quad Cities
Issue date:	04/22/2004
From:	Viktoria Mitlyng, Strasma J Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-04-025
Download: ML041130636 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov No. III-04-025 April 22, 2004 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 NRC TO MEET WITH EXELON GENERATION COMPANY TO DISCUSS PERFORMANCE OF QUAD CITIES NUCLEAR PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation Company on Tuesday, April 27, to discuss the results of the agencys assessment of safety performance at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant during 2003. The facility, which has two reactor units, is located at Cordova, Illinois.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Best Western Steeplegate Inn, 100 West 76th Street, Davenport, Iowa. The public is invited to observe the meeting, and NRC officials will be available before the conclusion of the meeting to answer questions from the public. In addition, the NRC staff will provide an overview of how the agencys Reactor Oversight Process works.

The NRC has concluded that the plant operated safely last year, and plant performance does not require additional inspections beyond the normal inspection program. All NRC inspection findings during 2003 were of very low safety significance, and safety performance data showed no issues requiring additional NRC review.

Routine inspections are performed by the two NRC resident inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the NRCs Region III office in Lisle, Illinois.

In its assessment, the NRC noted that the company had undertaken a number of human performance initiatives during 2003 which had resulted in a decline in human performance errors from the previous year.

Two issues which continue to affect plant performance are equipment deficiencies resulting from power capacity increases of 17.8 percent which were implemented in 2002 and the collective radiation exposure to plant workers, which is among the highest of all nuclear plants in the country.

While the radiation exposures have been within regulatory limits, the utility is taking actions to reduce the radiation levels within the plant. The NRC is continuing to monitor the utilitys response to these two issues.

A March 4 letter from the NRC to Exelon officials addresses the performance of the plant during 2003 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/quad_2003q4.pdf

With regard to security issues, the NRC has issued several orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities and improve guard force readiness since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The agency has also conducted inspections to review the implementation of these requirements and has monitored the action of plant operators in response to changing threat conditions.

The NRC will continue security inspections during 2004.

Current performance indicators and inspection findings for the Quad Cities plant are available on the NRC web site at: (Unit 1) http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/QUAD1/quad1_chart.html and (Unit 2) http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/A SSESS/QUAD2/quad2_chart.html