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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III
801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532 |
| CONTACT: |
Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov |
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Angela Greenman (630) 829-9662/e-mail: opa3@nrc.gov |
NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-96-64 October 18, 1996
CONTACT: Jan Strasma 630/829-9663
Angela Dauginas 630/829-9662
E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov
LASALLE NUCLEAR STATION RATED "ACCEPTABLE" IN THREE AREAS,
"GOOD" IN FOURTH AREA IN LATEST NRC ASSESSMENT REPORT
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has rated the
LaSalle Nuclear Power Station "acceptable" in plant operations,
maintenance, and engineering and "good" in plant support in the
latest Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP)
report.
The report was issued October 15 to Commonwealth Edison Co.,
operator of the plant. The LaSalle Station is located near
Seneca, Illinois. The report covers the period November 27,
1994, through August 3 of this year.
NRC officials will meet Tuesday, October 29, with
representatives of the utility to discuss the SALP findings. The
meeting, which is open to public observation, will be at 1 p.m.
at the Marseilles Lions Club, 511 Commercial Street, Marseilles,
IL. NRC staff members will be available after the meeting for
questions and comments from the public.
NRC SALP reports rate utilities in four functional areas --
plant operations, maintenance, engineering, and plant support --
and assign ratings of Category 1, 2, or 3 depending on whether
their performance in those areas was superior, good or
acceptable.
The report on LaSalle gives the plant a "Category 3" rating
in plant operations, maintenance, and engineering, indicating
acceptable performance. It assigns a rating of "Category 2" to
plant support, indicating good performance. Plant support
includes radiation protection, security, emergency preparedness,
and fire protection.
NRC Regional Administrator A. Bill Beach, in a letter to the
utility, said: "It is my view that the conduct of nuclear
activities in connection with the LaSalle facility was adequate,
and the facility was operated conservatively through most of the
assessment period."
The evaluation of LaSalle's performance was significantly
influenced by an incident which led to the shutdown June 28 of
both reactors because of the fouling of the plant equipment
cooling system with a foam sealant material. The sealant
material was injected into the service water intake tunnel by a
contractor seeking to seal cracks in the concrete structure.
Mr. Beach noted: "That event showed that work controls had
broken down, revealed previously unidentified materiel condition
problems, and disclosed significant engineering weaknesses in
support to plant operations. Thus, the actions during the
service water event weighed heavily into NRC's assessment of the
station's performance in the maintenance and engineering areas,
and, particularly in the operations area."
He continued, "While some performance improvement in the
operations area was noted during the assessment period, plant
management and staff focus on operational safety through this
[service water system] event was unsatisfactory, resulting in
considerable NRC intervention to assure proper actions were
implemented."
The ratings for each functional area of this report and the
previous report were:
Functional Area Current Period Previous Period
Operations 3 2
Maintenance 3 3
Engineering 3 2
Plant Support 2 3
# # # #
Note: The full text of the SALP report is available on the NRC's internet web
site along with the current SALP reports for all operating nuclear plants.
The report may be accessed at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/opafuncdesc.html.
SALP reports are also available as they are issued through an internet e-mail subscription.
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to listproc@nrc.gov with no subject and with
the message: subscribe salp yourfirstname yourlastname.
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