U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Region III Office of Public Affairs

801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532-4351

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-96-40 July 12, 1996

CONTACT: Jan Strasma 708/829-9663

Angela Dauginas 708/829-9662

E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

D.C. COOK PLANT RATED "SUPERIOR" IN ONE AREA

"GOOD" IN THREE AREAS IN LATEST SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT REPORT

The D.C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant has received performance

ratings of "superior" in plant support and "good" in operations,

maintenance, and engineering in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) staff's latest Systematic Assessment of Licensee

Performance (SALP) report for the facility.

The report was sent July 8 to American Electric Power

Company, which operates the facility near Benton Harbor,

Michigan. It evaluates the plant's performance from October 30,

1994, through May 25 of this year.

NRC and American Electric Power Company officials will

discuss the assessment during a meeting at 1 p.m., July 25, at

the Donald C. Cook Visitors Center on the plant site. NRC

officials will be available afterwards to speak with reporters,

state and local officials, and members of the public.

NRC systematic assessment reports rate licensees 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 adequate. The report on D.C. Cook gives the

plant a "Category 1" rating in plant support, indicating superior

performance. It assigns a "Category 2" rating in operations,

maintenance, and engineering, indicating good performance.

NRC Regional Administrator Hubert J. Miller, in a letter to

the utility, said: "It is my view that conduct of activities at

the D.C. Cook nuclear plant, while good overall, declined in

operations and maintenance when compared to the last SALP period.

This was primarily due to operational and maintenance errors

leading to several plant trips, transients, and operability

concerns."

He observed that the decline in performance was partly

driven by poor communications between departments, personnel

errors and ineffective work planning.

Mr. Miller noted that the strengths of the facility included

the experience and professionalism of the operators, continued
low personnel exposure, and the maintenance of security systems.

"Early this year, during a management meeting with the NRC

staff, you outlined the initiatives you had implemented to

improve plant performance. We view these as positive plans which

should arrest the decline in performance and encourage you to

continue with these efforts," he added.

The ratings for each functional area of this report and the

previous report were:

Functional Area Current Period Previous Period

Operations 2 1

Maintenance 2 1

Engineering 2 2

Plant Support 1 1

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NOTE: A copy of the full report may be obtained from the Region

III Office of Public Affairs at the telephone numbers or e-mail

address above.

These assessment reports are now available on the internet

at: <http://www.nrc.gov/OPA>. Reports for all plants in the U.S.

may be obtained when they are issued through an internet e-mail

subscription. Send an e-mail addressed to listproc@nrc.gov with

the following message: subscribe salp yourfirstname

yourlastname.