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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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No. 98-79

May 21, 1998

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concurred with the NRC staff, subject to conditions, that Northeast Utilities has made appropriate improvements on three issues key to possible restart of the Millstone Unit 3 nuclear power plant near Waterford, Conn.

The Commission is not authorizing the restart of Millstone Unit 3 at this time. It will not consider such action before another public briefing on June 2 at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md.

The issues on which the Commission has concurred that adequate progress has been demonstrated are: (1) the employee concerns program and a safety conscious work environment; (2) management of backlog items; and (3) oversight and quality assurance.

In a memorandum to the staff concerning these matters, subject of an all-day public briefing on May 1, the Commission listed these conditions to its concurrence:

Little Harbor Consultants will continue its third-party oversight of the employee concerns program and safety conscious work environment until the Commission decides the oversight is no longer necessary.

The NRC staff will monitor Northeast Utilities' commitments to reducing the work backlog through a special team inspection to be conducted before the end of the next Millstone Unit 3 refueling outage, as well as through quarterly reviews.

The team inspection also will assess the ongoing effectiveness of the utility's oversight and quality assurance programs.

The Commission has further asked that--before the next scheduled briefing on Millstone June 2--the staff provide any significant new information that may arise about these three issues. Additionally, it has requested an updated assessment of issues associated with a Northeast Utilities document that used the term "isolate cynics" in discussing management strategies.

In future briefings about the other two Millstone units, the Commission has directed that the staff include information about the employee concerns program and safety-conscious work environment, plus the need for continued third-party oversight.

EDITORS: A copy of the Commission's staff requirements memorandum concerning these matters is available on the NRC Internet web page at: http:\\www.nrc.gov\OPA\reports\.