Press Release-III-08-017, NRC to Discuss 2007 Performance Assessment for Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-08-017: NRC to Discuss 2007 Performance Assessment for Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant

ML081230678
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	05/02/2008
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-08-017
Download: ML081230678 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 No. III-08-017 May 2, 2008 Contacts: E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 Web site: www.nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 NRC TO DISCUSS 2007 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. Tuesday, May 13, to discuss the agencys assessment of safety performance for last year at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. EDT at the Davis-Besse Site Energy Education Center, 5501 North State Route 2, Oak Harbor. The NRC staff will present the results of the assessment, talk about the NRC and its range of activities, and be available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of the meeting.

The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Davis-Besse plant and the nations other commercial nuclear power facilities, NRC Region III Administrator James Caldwell said.

This meeting allows us to discuss our annual assessment of safety performance with the company and with local officials and area residents. Our goal is to explain how the NRC works and make sure as much information as possible is available on our regulation of these facilities.

A letter sent from the NRC Region III Office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/davi_2007q4.pdf.

The NRCs assessment concluded that the Davis-Besse plant operated safely during the period. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear plant performance. The colors start with green and then increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved.

All of the inspection findings and performance indicators for Davis-Besse during 2007 were determined to be green. As a result of this performance, the NRC will conduct the normal, baseline level of inspections during the upcoming year.

The NRC letter to the utility identified some deficiencies in the area of maintaining proper engineering calculations and designs for plant equipment. The utility took actions to correct these deficiencies. The NRCs review of the utilitys actions showed the problems were adequately addressed.

FirstEnergy has been conducting annual independent assessments of Engineering, Corrective Action, Operations and Safety Culture at the plant since 2004 under the terms of an NRC Confirmatory Order. The NRC will continue to conduct inspection activities to review these assessments, in addition to the baseline inspection program. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also continue to review the utility's progress in meeting the terms of NRC Confirmatory Order issued in 2007 regarding the companys actions to ensure the prompt sharing of information of potential regulatory interest to the agency.

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill., and the agencys headquarters in Rockville, Md. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are emergency preparedness, radiation protection, and reactor system operations.

Current performance information for Davis-Besse is available on the NRCs web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/DAVI/davi_chart.html.

NRC news releases are available through a free list serve 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.