Home > Electronic Reading Room > Document Collections > News Releases > 1998 > I-98-019

	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
	CONTACT:	Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov

I-98-19

February 20, 1998

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will review the findings of a comprehensive pre-start safety inspection at the Salem Unit 1 nuclear power plant during a meeting at the Hancocks Bridge, N.J., facility on Friday, February 27. The session is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Access Processing Facility and will be open to the public for observation.

Officials of Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) Company, which owns and operates the plant, will also attend and make a presentation on Unit 1's readiness to return to service.

Immediately following the meeting, NRC Region 1 Administrator Hubert J. Miller will meet with interested members of the news media to discuss the agency's oversight of the Salem restart process and related issues.

The NRC's review, known as a Readiness Assessment Team Inspection, began on February 10 and involved a nearly two-week closeup look at management controls and programs needed to support a safe restart and continued operation of the plant. Agency inspectors examined documents, directly observed plant equipment and activities, and conducted interviews with workers.

Salem Unit 1 has been out of service since May 16, 1995, when it was voluntarily shut down by PSE&G. During that time, the utility has worked to address multiple programmatic problems, repair degraded equipment and improve corrective action processes.

Salem Unit 2, which had been off-line since June 7, 1995, resumed power production last fall. However, the plant shut down earlier this month, on February 11, so that repairs could be made to an emergency diesel generator and other equipment.

After the reactors were taken out of service in 1995, the NRC issued a Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL) detailing changes PSE&G needed to make to improve the units and requiring that they remain off-line until those commitments were met. The CAL was modified last August to allow the restart of Unit 2, but it remains in place for Unit 1, pending the resolution of its restart issues.