NRC TO DISCUSS 2005 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
FOR VERMONT YANKEE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
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Entergy operates the plant, located in Vernon, Vt.

The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Quality Inn & Suites, 1380 Putney Road in Brattleboro, Vt. The NRC staff will present the results of the assessment and be available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of the meeting.

"As we do every year, we have carefully reviewed the safety performance of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant during the previous calendar year," NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins said. "The meeting on April 20th will afford the public a chance to learn more about the results of our assessment and to pose any questions they might have regarding plant performance or our oversight activities."

A letter sent from the NRC Region I Office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/vy_2005q4.pdf . The meeting notice, with the meeting agenda attached, is available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML06060940190. The NRC slides for the meeting are available in ADAMS under accession number ML060940209. ADAMS is accessible via the agency’s web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR.Resource@NRC.GOV.

Overall, the Vermont Yankee plant operated safely during the period. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear power plant performance. The colors start with "green" and then increase to "white," "yellow" or "red," commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Because all of the inspection findings and performance indicators for the plant during the last quarter of 2005 were determined to be "green," Vermont Yankee will receive a baseline (or routine) level of inspections during the upcoming assessment period.

Vermont Yankee had a "white" inspection finding open during the first three quarters of last year. That finding involved a failure to provide tone alert radios to a portion of the populace within the plant’s 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone. However, a supplemental inspection conducted in June 2005 determined the root causes for the performance deficiencies were understood and the completed and planned corrective actions were appropriate. Based on that information, the finding was closed.

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected during the next year by NRC specialists are radiological safety, component design bases and emergency planning.

Current performance information for Vermont Yankee is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/VY/vy_chart.html.

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Friday, November 28, 2008