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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION II 61 Forsyth Street, Suite 23T85, Atlanta, GA 30303

NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING IN ATLANTA ON NOVEMBER 16 ON IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW REACTOR OVERSIGHT PROGRAM

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a public meeting in Atlanta on November 16 to discuss the status of implementation of the agency's new reactor oversight process in the Southeast.

The meeting will be held from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, located at 1900 Sullivan Road in the suburb of College Park, near the Atlanta airport. It is designed to provide a forum at which representatives from the NRC, utility licensees, the nuclear industry and the public can discuss the program's progress, challenges and successes.

The meeting is designed to provide an opportunity for discussion and exchange of information through 90-minute panel sessions on (1) the significance determination process, (2) inspection activities, (3) performance indicators and (4) the NRC assessment and enforcement process. The panels will consist of representatives from the NRC Region II office in Atlanta, NRC headquarters in Washington, D.C., and representatives from the nuclear industry.

The NRC began using a new reactor oversight process across the United States on April 2 of this year. It is designed to use more objective, timely and safety-significant criteria in its assessment of plant safety performance. Under the new program, NRC inspections at commercial nuclear power plants are supplemented by performance indicators which measure important safety aspects of nuclear power plant operations.

The new process is designed to communicate important safety information to local government officials and to the public. Inspection findings and performance indicators for each of the 103 nuclear power plants in the United States are posted on the NRC web site every three months at:

www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/index.html.

Interested persons should pre-register by telephone or by email by contacting Ms. Janet Barnes in the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta by email (jcb@nrc.gov), by phone (404) 562-4502 or by fax (404) 562-4574 no later than November 14, 2000.

Persons having questions concerning the meeting may contact Mr. Robert Carroll at the NRC in Atlanta by calling (404) 562-4511 or by email at (rec@nrc.gov).

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