NRC TO DISCUSS 2006 ASSESSMENT FOR PILGRIM NUCLEAR PLANT
AT PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 17
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual assessment of safety performance at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant, in Plymouth, Mass., will be the subject of a public meeting on Tuesday, April 17.

NRC staff will meet with representatives of the plant's owner, Entergy Nuclear Operations, at 6:00 p.m. to discuss the assessment covering the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2006, and which was documented in a March 2nd letter to the company. The session will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn, Four Home Depot Drive, in Plymouth.

Before the meeting is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the performance of the Pilgrim plant, as well as the role of the NRC in providing oversight of plant safety.

“Each year we take a step back to size up plant performance during the previous calendar year, with the overarching goal of ensuring that facilities are achieving the levels of safety that are essential to protecting the public and the environment,” said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins, who noted the agency also conducts mid-year assessments of performance. “At the meeting on April 17th, members of the public will receive information about how we go about that review process for Pilgrim and other nuclear power plants across the nation. The NRC staff will also be prepared to answer questions from attendees.”

The annual assessment letter for Pilgrim is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/pilg_2006q4.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 ML070610612 is accessible at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available via the NRC’s Public Document Room at 800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV.

Overall, Pilgrim operated safely during 2006. The NRC utilizes color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear power plant performance. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” or “red,” commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Because all of the performance indicators for the Pilgrim plant were determined to be “green” and there were no inspection findings greater than “green” at the end of 2006, the plant will receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections in 2007.

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of plant performance to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are radiation protection, operator licensing and problem identification and resolution.

Current performance information for Pilgrim is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PILG/pilg_chart.html.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007