Press Release-III-07-005, - NRC to Discuss 2006 Performance Assessment for Perry Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-III-07-005 - NRC to Discuss 2006 Performance Assessment for Perry Nuclear Power Plant

ML070750369
Person / Time
Site:	Perry
Issue date:	03/16/2007
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-07-005
Download: ML070750369 (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-07-005 March 16, 2007 CONTACT: Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 NRC TO DISCUSS 2006 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR PERRY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet in Painesville, Ohio, on Wednesday, March 21, with representatives of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company to discuss the agency's assessment of safety performance for last year at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located at Perry, Ohio.

The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. in the Barberry Room at the Renaissance Quail Hollow Resort, 11080 Concord-Hambden Road, Painesville.

In addition to the performance assessment, the NRC staff will also discuss the recent decision to return the Perry plant to normal NRC oversight. Since August 2004 the plant had been under heightened regulatory scrutiny as a result of equipment problems which occurred between 2002 and 2004.

Before the meeting is adjourned, the NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the safety performance of the Perry plant, as well as the NRCs role in ensuring safe plant operation.

"The Perry plant continues to operate safely," said James Caldwell, NRC Region III Administrator. Our decision to return the plant to regular NRC oversight was based on our extensive inspections and reviews of the facility which have led us to conclude that the plant management and staff have made significant improvements in their performance.

"This meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss our annual assessment of safety performance with the company and with local officials and residents," Mr. Caldwell continued. "Our goal is to explain the NRC oversight process and make as much information as possible available to the public about our regulation of these facilities."

A letter sent from the NRC Region III Office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during 2006 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/perr_2006q4.pdf.

The letter particularly noted significant improvements in the areas of problem identification and resolution and of human performance. These two areas of evaluation are considered cross cutting in

that they affect plant activities throughout the plant. Their measurable improvement contributed to the NRCs decision to return the Perry plant to normal oversight.

A March 2 letter from the NRC to FirstEnergy detailed the reasons for returning Perry to regular oversight. The letter is available through the NRCs online document library at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html.

Performance at the Perry plant is measured through the NRC inspection program and through statistical measures called performance indicators. The significance of inspection findings and performance indicators is measured by a color scale, ranging from green for those of minor safety significance, through yellow and white, to red for problems of high safety significance.

All inspection findings for the Perry plant in 2006 were green.

However, the performance indicator that tracks the availability of the plants emergency diesel generators to provide onsite power in case offsite power supplies are not available in an emergency was determined to be white during the second quarter of 2006. This was due to the frequency of the diesel generators failures to start. A followup NRC inspection determined that FirstEnergy adequately evaluated and addressed the problem. The performance indicator returned to green in the third quarter of 2006.

Routine inspections at the Perry plant are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors and by inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill., and the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Md. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are emergency preparedness, effluents and environmental monitoring, and scheduled routine inspection of components and equipment.

Current performance information for Perry is available on the NRC's web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PERR1/perr1_chart.html.

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.

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