Home > Electronic Reading Room > Document Collections > News Releases > 2000 > IV-00-38

NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011

NRC, UNION ELECTRIC TO MEET FOR REGULATORY CONFERENCE ON CALLAWAY INSPECTION FINDINGS

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with officials of Union Electric Co., which operates the Callaway Nuclear Plant near Fulton, Missouri, for a regulatory conference to discuss findings in a recent inspection of the plant's ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) program for limiting the radiation dose of plant workers.

The conference will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday, November 9, at NRC's Region IV office in Arlington, Texas. The public is invited to observe the meeting, but participation will be limited to the NRC and Union Electric. NRC officials will be available to answer questions afterward.

The NRC has characterized the inspection findings to be discussed as potentially "white" findings. Under the NRC's new reactor oversight process, inspection findings are evaluated under a significance determination process and assigned a color that indicates safety significance. Findings with very low safety significance are labeled "green." "White" findings have low to moderate importance to safety and may require additional NRC inspection. Progressively more serious findings are labeled "yellow" and "red," and receive commensurately greater oversight. A more detailed explanation of the NRC's new reactor oversight process can be found on the NRC's website at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ROP/description.html.

In an August 7-11 inspection at Callaway, NRC inspectors identified multiple examples in which the radiation doses to workers exceeded pre-job estimates by more than 50% and involved substantial job doses. No workers exceeded their quarterly or annual dose limits. However, the findings may indicate a continuing problem with radiation dose control.

As part of the reactor oversight process, a regulatory conference is being held to provide Callaway officials an opportunity to present information to the NRC that will help it to reach a final determination of the significance of the inspection findings. In addition to determining the significance of the findings, the NRC may also find that a violation of NRC requirements occurred requiring corrective action by the plant's managers.

###