Press Release-III-04-036, NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Performance of Prairie Island Nuclear Plant

Press Release-III-04-036: NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Performance of Prairie Island Nuclear Plant

ML041540481
Person / Time
Site:	Prairie Island
Issue date:	06/02/2004
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-04-036
Download: ML041540481 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 801 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov No. III-04-036 June 2, 2004 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 NRC TO MEET WITH NUCLEAR MANAGEMENT COMPANY TO DISCUSS PERFORMANCE OF PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR PLANT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Nuclear Management Company on Thursday, June 10, to discuss the results of the agencys assessment of safety performance at the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Station during 2003. The facility is located at Welch, Minnesota.

The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. at the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant Training Center, 1717 Wakonade Drive E., Welch. 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 concluded that the plant operated safely last year. All NRC inspection findings during the year were of very low safety significance, and safety performance data indicated no issues requiring NRC follow-up. The plants performance does not require any additional inspections this year beyond the normal NRC inspection program.

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

A March 4 letter from the NRC to Nuclear Management Company 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/prai_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 Prairie Island are available on the NRC web site at: (Unit 1) http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PRAI1/prai1_chart.html and (Unit 2) http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PRAI2/prai2_chart.html .