United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region I

475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406

Fax: 610/337-5241

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

I-98-67 June 10, 1998

Contact: Diane Screnci (610/337-5330) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan (610/337-5331)

NRC RATES HOPE CREEK AS “SUPERIOR” IN AREA OF PLANT SUPPORT,

“GOOD” IN THREE OTHER AREAS, IN LATEST PERIODIC EVALUATION

The Hope Creek nuclear power plant has received ratings of

“superior” in one category and “good” in three others, in the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s latest assessment of the

facility’s performance. The boiling water reactor is located in

Hancocks Bridge, N.J., and operated by Public Service Electric &

Gas (PSE&G) Company.

Covered by the Systematic Assessment of Licensee

Performance, or SALP, report is the period from November 10,

1996, through May 16 of this year.

NRC staff and PSE&G officials will discuss the evaluation

during a meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, at

the Processing Center at the plant site. The session will be

open to the public for observation and NRC staff will remain

afterwards to answer questions from members of the press and

public.

Four functional areas of nuclear power plant performance are

rated in NRC SALP reports: plant operations, maintenance,

engineering and plant support. Ratings of Category 1

(“superior”), Category 2 (“good”) and Category 3 (“acceptable”)

are assigned. The reports are issued roughly once every 18

months for each plant.

Hope Creek received a rating of “superior” in the area of

plant support, up from a “good” rating in the last SALP report

issued in December 1996. Plant operations, maintenance and

engineering all retained “good” ratings since the last report.

Overall, the NRC found performance improvement in all of the

plant’s functional areas during this latest rating period.

Indeed, operations since a fall 1997 refueling outage have been

nearly event-free, the agency determined.
“Several human performance issues associated with operations

and maintenance procedure violations, attention to detail and

work controls were evident during the outage but were reduced

significantly after plant restart,” NRC Region I Administrator

Hubert J. Miller wrote in a letter to the company relaying the

SALP report results. “Though some equipment issues remain, the

material condition of the facility improved as a result of the

numerous modifications installed during the outage. The plant

support functional area improved markedly, particularly with

respect to security and emergency preparedness.”

In the area of operations, the NRC found that operators

performed very well during most major planned evolutions, or

processes, and responded well to a number of problems during the

period. But it was noted that control room operators at times

did not exhibit conservative decision-making.

Regarding maintenance, improvements were observed in the

material condition of the facility and in the on-line maintenance

program, work performed while the plant was operating. Also on

the plus side, the corrective maintenance backlog was reduced by

more than half. Meanwhile, some issues that continued to

challenge maintenance. For example, weak management oversight of

both maintenance personnel and the work control process prior and

during the restart following the refueling outage resulted in the

extended unavailability of some safety systems.

Throughout the assessment period, engineering’s management

oversight and involvement in activities typically produced good

results, the NRC found. Although the backlog of engineering

activities grew, the items involved were properly reviewed for

safety impact and suitably prioritized.

Lastly, performance in the area of plant support was deemed

excellent. Among the favorably attributes were an effective

radiation protection program and well maintained and implemented

effluent control and environmental monitoring programs. Also,

significant positive changes were made in the emergency

preparedness and security programs.

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