NRC TO MEET WITH WESTINGHOUSE NUCLEAR FUEL PLANT
OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS FACILITY SAFETY PERFORMANCE
Printable Version

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials will meet with officials of the Westinghouse commercial nuclear fuel plant in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday, April 12, to discuss the agency’s latest review of the facility’s safety performance.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. in the Red Room of the South Carolina State Museum, located at 301 Gervais Street in Columbia. The NRC staff will present the results of the review and be available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of the meeting.

The NRC staff will discuss with Westinghouse safety performance in the major areas of safety operations, radiological controls, facility support and special topics. The evaluation covers a period from January 23, 2005, through February 17, 2006.

The review found that Westinghouse had conducted its activities safely during the period of review and is currently engaged in significant upgrades to its human performance and criticality safety programs. The NRC said the results of those efforts were evident because the more significant issues covered in the performance review occurred early in 2005 and in some cases were identified by activities begun by Westinghouse to monitor compliance.

However, Westinghouse’s performance still warrants additional NRC oversight beyond the routine inspection program for fuel facilities. Additional NRC inspections will focus on nuclear criticality safety program improvements, safety bases revisions, identification of controls and compliance with procedures. The NRC will also conduct the next Licensee Performance Review at Westinghouse again in 12 months, rather than the normal 24-month frequency for such plants.

A copy of the NRC letter to Westinghouse which outlines details of the review is available by contacting OPA2@nrc.gov or from the NRC web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html as document ML060750108.

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