NRC: News Release - Region II - 2006-006 - NRC to Discuss 2005 Performance at Summer Nuclear Power Plant

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NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region II
61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303
www.nrc.gov

No. II-06-006		March 24, 2006
CONTACT:	Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417	E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov
NRC TO DISCUSS 2005 PERFORMANCE AT SUMMER NUCLEAR POWER PLANT Printable Version
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff are scheduled to meet with South Carolina Electric & Gas officials March 31, to discuss the NRC’s annual assessment of safety performance last year at the Summer nuclear power plant, located near Jenkinsville, S.C. The period covered is the calendar year 2005. The 11:00 a.m. meeting at the Summer plant’s Nuclear Learning Center building is open to public observation. Before the session ends, NRC staff will be available to answer public questions on the plant’s safety performance, as well as the agency’s role in ensuring safe operation of the facility. "Each year the NRC staff assesses the performance of the Summer plant and all of the nation’s other commercial nuclear power plants," NRC Region II Administrator William Travers said. "This meeting gives us a chance to discuss our assessment with the company, with local officials and with residents near the plant. Our aim is to make this information available to the public and answer any questions people may have about our oversight." A letter sent from the NRC Region II Office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/sum_2005q4.pdf . The Summer plant operated safely during 2005. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear plant performance. The colors start with "green" and increase to "white," "yellow" or "red," commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Because all inspection findings and performance indicators for the plant during 2005 were classified as "green," Summer will receive the baseline, or normal, level of inspections during 2006. Routine inspections are performed by NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region II Office in Atlanta, and the agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Md. In addition to the baseline inspections in 2006, the NRC plans special inspections of the containment building sumps and of the reactor pressure vessel head and head penetration nozzles. These inspections are part of the agency’s review of sump clogging and vessel head penetration cracking at pressurized water reactors. Current information for the Summer plant is available on the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SUM/sum_chart.html.