Press Release-III-10-012, NRC to Discuss 2009 Performance Assessment for Dresden Nuclear Power Plant April 28

Press Release-III-10-012: NRC to Discuss 2009 Performance Assessment for Dresden Nuclear Power Plant April 28

ML101120426
Person / Time
Site:	Dresden
Issue date:	04/22/2010
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-10-012
Download: ML101120426 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 No. III-10-012 April 22, 2010 Contacts: E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 Web site: www.nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 NRC TO DISCUSS 2009 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR DRESDEN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT APRIL 28 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation Company on Wednesday, April 28, to discuss the agencys assessment of safety performance last year at the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant. The two-unit plant is located in Morris, Ill., roughly 60 miles southwest of Chicago.

The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. CDT at the Grundy County Administration Center, Grundy County Board Room, 1320 Union Street, in Morris. 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.

The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Dresden plant and the nations other commercial nuclear power facilities, NRC Region III Administrator Mark Satorius said.

This meeting allows us to discuss our annual assessment of safety performance with the company and area residents. One of NRCs main goals is to explain to people in the community how the agency regulates nuclear power plants.

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/dres_2009q4.pdf.

The NRC utilizes a combination of color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to measure plant performance. The colors go from green to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved.

The NRCs assessment concluded that Dresden Unit 2 and 3 operated safely in 2009.

Dresden Unit 2 performed at a level that required no additional oversight. However, Unit 3 had one white finding of low to moderate safety significance that will result in additional NRC

oversight. The finding was associated with an inadvertent and uncontrolled withdrawal of control rods - which control the nuclear reaction in a reactor - when non-licensed operators were performing maintenance activities without the involvement of licensed operators at the controls.

The NRC will conduct a supplemental inspection to make sure the problems surrounding the finding have been understood and resolved.

The NRC letter also addressed one substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of human performance. Cross-cutting issues are issues that cut across multiple areas of plant operation.

Examples of cross-cutting issues include problems associated with the plant staffs ability to identify and correct problems, to develop effective procedures and adhere to these procedures.

These issues cannot be quantified and are not assigned safety significance. The plant had developed a plan to address these issues but its implementation has been effective. When a substantive cross-cutting issue is identified at a nuclear power plant, the NRC expects the problem to be corrected.

In addition to the supplemental inspection, the NRC will continue to conduct the very detailed routine inspections for plants that are performing well. Inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant, and inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are radiation protection, the independent spent fuel storage installation and license renewal.

Current performance information for Dresden is available on the NRCs web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/DRES2/dres2_chart.html (Unit 2) and http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/DRES3/dres3_chart.html (Unit 3).

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.