United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region I

475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19401

Phone: 610/337-5330 Fax: 610/337-5241

Internet: dps@nrc.gov or vld@nrc.gov

I-96-48

Contact: Diane Screnci FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Victor Dricks July 25, 1996

NINE MILE POINT RATED "GOOD" IN THREE CATEGORIES,

"SUPERIOR" IN FOURTH IN NRC ASSESSMENT REPORT

The Nine Mile Point Nuclear Power Station received

performance ratings of "good" in engineering, maintenance and

plant support, and "superior" in plant operations in the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission's latest systematic assessment of licensee

performance (SALP) of the facility.

The SALP report was sent July 24 to Niagara Mohawk Power

Corporation (NMPC), which operates the plant near Oswego, New

York. It evaluates the plant's performance from January 29,

1995, through June 1 of this year.

NRC and NMPC officials will discuss the report during a

meeting set for 2:30 p.m. on August 8, at the Joint News Center

in Volney, N.Y. The meeting will be open for public observation

and NRC officials will be available afterwards to speak with

reporters, state and local officials and members of the public.

NRC assessment reports rate licensees in four functional

areas - plant operations, engineering, maintenance and plant

support -and assign Category 1, 2 or 3 depending on whether their

performance in those areas was superior, good or adequate. There

was no change in any of the plant's ratings from the previous

SALP period in this most recent assessment.

In a letter to the licensee, NRC Region I Administrator

Thomas T. Martin said: "Overall, the NRC staff continued to

observe good performance at Nine Mile Point. Management

oversight and involvement in all functional areas were evident

and effective. All areas exhibited instances of high levels of

performance during the assessment period, with superior

performance again obtained in the operations area during the

latter part of the assessment period. Although the

deviation/event report (DER) program was successful in that staff

throughout the site identified problems, the program was less

successful in the areas of analysis, evaluation, tracking, and

corrective action determination."

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"These weaknesses allowed longstanding problems to go

uncorrected, for instance, the problem with the design of the

blowout panels for the Unit 1 reactor and turbine buildings. In

addition, issues of procedural adequacy, inattention to detail,

and equipment problems continued to hamper efforts to maintain a

consistently high level of performance."

Mr. Martin has these comments on Nine Mile Point's

performance in the four rated categories:

PLANT OPERATIONS

Operations management provided effective oversight of

activities. Operations personnel demonstrated a clear safety

perspective and a questioning attitude. Response to events was

appropriate and well controlled. Operations personnel generally

performed well and exhibited superior performance in the latter

part of the SALP period. The decline in operator performance

that was noted early in the period reflected a weakness in the

organization determining the underlying causes of personnel

performance errors. In addition, sporadic problems with

procedure adequacy unnecessarily challenged the operators during

routine evolutions.

ENGINEERING

Engineering performance with respect to both units was good.

Engineering management provided appropriate oversight of

activities and implemented effective actions to reduce the

backlog of engineering work activities. In general, the quality

of engineering design and analysis activities was good, but the

NRC staff noted several instances of weak or untimely

performance. Performance of engineering programs varied; for

example, the emergency diesel generator operational trending

program was effectively implemented, but the implementation of

the motor-operated valve program was weak. The DER program was

effectively used to document problems, but the results of the

program were not trended well or consistently shared between

units. Engineering personnel were technically knowledgeable and

system engineers effectively monitored their assigned systems.

PLANT SUPPORT

Good performance continued in the radiological protection

program. Programs to maintain radiological exposures as low as

is reasonably achievable (ALARA) were effective. The

radiological effluents, environmental monitoring, and chemistry

programs remained strong. Security program performance was good,

although the NRC staff noted some instances of inattention to

detail. The emergency preparedness program was well established

and maintained. The NRC staff noted recurring problems with

event classification during most of the period, but the licensee

showed improvement during the latest exercise. Fire protection

and housekeeping were generally very good.

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MAINTENANCE

Maintenance management was generally involved in day-to-day

maintenance work and also directed a particularly noteworthy

level of attention to maintenance activities during outages to

ensure good performance. The NRC staff observed that a strong

focus on maintaining safety system readiness at both units was

evident in the reduced corrective maintenance backlog. Personnel

performance in this area improved as compared with the previous

period, but some performance problems continued to arise. The

licensee effectively used the corrective action process to

identify problems, but tracking and followup of corrective

actions were weak in ensuring corrective action effectiveness.

Revised programs and procedures resulted in an overall

improvement in performing maintenance at the end of the SALP

period. The licensee's efforts to properly maintain the material

condition of the plants were generally effective; however, the

NRC staff continued to observe deficiencies.

***

SALP reports are available on the NRC's Internet web site

(http://www/nrc.gov/OPA) and by e-mail subscription. To receive

SALP reports by e-mail as they are issued, send an e-mail to

listproc@nrc.gov with the following message: subscribe salp

yourfirstname yourlastname.