NRC TO DISCUSS ANNUAL ASSESSMENT FOR NINE MILE POINT PLANT
AT TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS SET FOR APRIL 23 IN FULTON, N.Y.
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The results of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual safety performance assessment for the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant will be the subject of a public meeting on Wednesday, April 23.  Nine Mile Point, which is the site of two operating boiling-water reactors, is located in Scriba (Oswego County), N.Y., and operated by Constellation Energy, LLC.

At 2 p.m., NRC staff will meet with representatives of Constellation to discuss the assessment, which covers the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, and was documented in a March 3rd letter to the company.  The session will take place at the plant’s Joint News Center, which is at the Oswego County Airport, on County Route 176 in Fulton, N.Y.

Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the plant’s performance during 2007, as well as the agency’s oversight of the facility.

“Through a combination of inspection findings and performance indicators, we are able to develop a comprehensive picture of how nuclear power plants are performing with regard to safety,” said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins.  “As part of our commitment to make the findings of our reviews accessible to the public, we hold meetings near each plant once a year to share the details of those assessments.  We look forward to the opportunity on April 23rd to present that information for the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant.”

The annual assessment letter for Nine Mile Point is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/nmp_2007q4.pdf .  The notice for the meeting, with agenda attached, is available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML080730030.  The slides for the meeting can be found under accession number ML080790187.  ADAMS is accessible at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html .  Help in using ADAMS is available via the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV .

Overall, the Nine Mile Point units operated safely during 2007.  When considering nuclear power plant performance, the NRC uses color-coded performance indicators and inspection findings.  The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” or “red,” commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved.

At the conclusion of last year, there were no performance indicators for Nine Mile Point 2 that were other than “green” and no inspection findings that were “greater than green.”  Therefore, that unit will receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections for the remainder of 2008.  Nine Mile Point 1 did have a single “white” (low to moderate safety significance) inspection finding as of the end of 2007.  That finding involved a compromise of the unit’s licensed operator requalification training program for calendar years 2005 and 2006.  However, the NRC conducted a supplemental inspection at the plant from Nov. 5 to Dec. 4, 2007 to determine if the issue has been sufficiently addressed by Constellation and found that to be the case.  As a result, that finding was closed out effective Jan. 1 and Nine Mile Point 1 will likewise receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections for the remainder of 2008.

Routine inspections are carried out by the two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the agency’s Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa.  Among the areas of performance at Nine Mile Point to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are activities associated with radiological safety, emergency preparedness and operator licensing.  In addition, the NRC will conduct a Component Design Bases Inspection at the plant.
 
Current performance information for Nine Mile Point 1 is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NMP1/nmp1_chart.html .  Current performance information for Nine Mile Point 2 is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NMP2/nmp2_chart.html .

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008