NRC TO HOLD TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS
ON ISSUES REGARDING DIABLO CANYON POWER PLANT
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold public meetings on June 9 and 10 to discuss issues regarding the Diablo Canyon power plant. Diablo Canyon is located near San Luis Obispo, California and is operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The public will have an opportunity to participate in a Town Hall-style meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. on June 9, at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 333 Madonna Road, in San Luis Obispo. NRC staff will be available to discuss the results of inspections following the December 22 San Simeon earthquake, which was the subject of an NRC public meeting on February 4. Security issues, PG&E’s license application for an independent spent fuel storage installation on site, and other topics related to the safety performance of the plant will also be discussed.

“As an agency, our primary mission is the protection of public health and safety. We want people who live near the plant to know the NRC values their opinions and wants to address their concerns,” NRC’s Region IV Administrator Bruce S. Mallett said. “We are actively seeking public participation in this meeting and will use the informality of a Town Hall meeting to encourage this.”

On June 10, the NRC will hold a second meeting beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the PG&E Community Center, 6588 Ontario Road, in San Luis Obispo to discuss the agency’s annual assessment of safety performance at Diablo Canyon.

The performance period to be discussed is January 1 to December 31, 2003. The public is invited to observe the meeting, and NRC officials will be available before the conclusion of the meeting to answer questions from the public. In addition, the NRC staff will provide an overview of how the agency’s Reactor Oversight Process works.

A March 3 letter from the NRC to Diablo Canyon officials addresses the performance of the plant during this period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/diab_2003q4.pdf .

The NRC concluded that the plant operated safely last year. Plant performance does not require additional inspections beyond the normal inspection program. Routine inspections are performed by the two NRC resident inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region IV office in Arlington, Texas.

With regard to security issues, the letter points out that the NRC has issued several orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities at all nuclear power plants and improve guard force readiness since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The agency has also conducted inspections to review the implementation of these requirements and has monitored the action of plant operators in response to changing plant conditions. The NRC will continue security inspections during 2004.

Current performance indicators for Diablo Canyon Unit 1 are available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/DIAB1/diab1_chart.html. Current performance indicators for Unit 2 are available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/DIAB2/diab2_chart.html.

NRC plans to make video broadcasts of both meetings available on SLO-Span, the San Luis Obispo County government cable access channel. A transcript of the NRC’s February 4 public meeting regarding Diablo Canyon and answers to questions raised by attendees is available in the electronic reading room on the agency’s web site and through the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at:http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. Help in using ADAMS is available from the Public Document Room staff by calling 1-800-397-4209.

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Thursday, February 22, 2007