NRC TO MEET WITH PPL MARCH 1 TO DISCUSS SUSQUEHANNA INSPECTION FINDING

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members will meet with representatives of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant on Thursday, March 1, to discuss a recent inspection finding pertaining to radiation protection at the facility. The plant is located in Berwick, Pa., and operated by PPL Susquehanna LLC.

The meeting, called a Regulatory Conference, will begin at 10 a.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC Region I office, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. It will be open to the public. NRC staff members will be available afterward to answer questions from members of the public.

Participants will discuss an inspection finding that has been preliminarily assessed as "white," which means it is considered to be of low to moderate safety significance. Color assessments are used to determine the NRC's response to the findings, with options that can include additional meetings with plant officials and follow-up inspections.

The Susquehanna Regulatory Conference will cover a potential white finding involving a substantial potential for plant personnel to sustain external radiation exposures in excess of occupational radiation exposure limits. Specifically, it appears that such a potential for exposure occurred as a result of a failure to adequately evaluate the radiological hazards posed by highly radioactive particles encountered between September and December 14, 2000, during work on irradiated reactor hardware equipment and tools.

The NRC uses a four-category rating system for its inspection findings; from green, through white and yellow, to red, depicting increasing safety significance. A similar rating system is used for the quarterly performance indicators, which are statistical measures of the safety performance of various plant functions. Further information on these inspection findings, including the text of the inspection reports, is available on the NRC's web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/pim_summary.html

Following the March 1 meeting, the NRC staff will continue its review of the finding and determine its final assessment and the agency's resulting actions. The outcome of the NRC staff's review of these findings, which normally takes four to six weeks, will be on the NRC's enforcement web page at" http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement.html

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Friday, December 05, 2008