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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532

RIII-00-02

January 11, 2000

NRC to Hold "Roundtable Discussion" at Public Meeting on New Reactor Oversight Program at Quad Cities Nuclear Plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with invited community leaders, industry representatives and members of public interest groups for a "roundtable" discussion of the agency's new reactor oversight process for the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station during a public meeting on Wednesday, January 19, in Moline, Illinois.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the John Deere Commons of the Radisson Hotel, 1415 River Drive, Moline. The roundtable discussion portion of the meeting will be open to public observation. Members of the general public will have an opportunity to present their views to NRC officials afterward.

The Quad Cities plant, operated by Commonwealth Edison Company, is one of nine nuclear plant sites with 13 reactors that are participating in a pilot program which began June 1 of last year. A public meeting is planned for each plant site. Following a several month trial to determine if revisions are needed, the process is expected to be extended this year to all 103 commercial nuclear power reactors.

The NRC is seeking comments and suggestions from the public on its new reactor oversight process, including the inspection and assessment programs to maintain safety, improve public confidence, increase efficiency and effectiveness, and reduce unnecessary regulatory burden. The changes reflect, in part, improvements in nuclear power plant safety performance over the past 20 years. Plants that perform well will generally have less regulatory oversight than plants that have problems.

The pilot plant sites are: (1) Salem 1 and 2, near Wilmington, Delaware, operated by Public Service Electric & Gas; (2) Hope Creek near Wilmington, Delaware, operated by Public Service Electric & Gas; (3) Fitzpatrick, near Oswego, New York, operated by the Power Authority of the State of New York; (4) Shearon Harris, near Raleigh, North Carolina, operated by Carolina Power & Light Co.; (5) Sequoyah 1 and 2, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority; (6) Prairie Island 1 and 2, near Red Wing, Minnesota, operated by Northern States Power Co.; (7) Quad Cities 1 and 2, near Cordova, Illinois, operated by Commonwealth Edison Co.; (8) Ft. Calhoun, near Omaha, Nebraska, operated by the Omaha Public Power District; and (9) Cooper, near Nebraska City, Nebraska, operated by the Nebraska Public Power District.

Information on the new oversight program, including a list of questions that will be discussed at the roundtable meeting, is available on the NRC website at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/index.html .

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