Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417
Joey Ledford (404) 562-4487

NRC TO MEET WITH SOUTHERN NUCLEAR OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS SAFETY PERFORMANCE AT FARLEY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with Southern Nuclear Operating Company officials on Friday, July 13, to discuss the results of NRC's annual assessment of safety performance at the Farley nuclear power plant.

The meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m.(CDT) in the Training Center Auditorium at the plant site at 7388 North State Highway 95, at Columbia, Alabama, near Dothan. The public is invited to observe the meeting. NRC officials will be available after the meeting to answer questions. The NRC will hold a second meeting with state and local government officials after the first meeting. That second meeting is also open to the public.

Luis A. Reyes, administrator of the NRC's Region II office in Atlanta, will attend the meeting with company officials. In a letter to the company dated May 31, Reyes said that overall, Farley has operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone (safety) objectives. However, Reyes said that during the assessment period (April 2, 2000, to March 31, 2001), several Farley performance indicators for equipment availability declined from the green performance level to the white level, resulting in increased NRC oversight including additional inspections. NRC safety performance reviews at commercial nuclear power plants utilize a color coding process ranging from green to white to yellow to red, signifying progressive increases in significance and NRC oversight.

A letter sent from NRC Region II to Southern Nuclear, which addresses plant safety performance during the previous year and forms the basis of the meeting discussion, is available from the Region II Office of Public Affairs or on the NRC web site at www.nrc.gov/OPA/ppr . Current information for the plant is available at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/FAR1/far1_chart.html and www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/FAR2/far2_chart.html.

NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.

Privacy Policy | Site Disclaimer
Friday, December 05, 2008