U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Region III Office of Public Affairs

801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532-4351

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-97-92 October 24, 1997

CONTACT: Jan Strasma 630/829-9663

Angela Greenman 630/829-9662

E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

NRC STAFF RATES BRAIDWOOD "SUPERIOR" IN OPERATIONS AND PLANT

SUPPORT AND "GOOD" IN MAINTENANCE AND ENGINEERING

The Braidwood Nuclear Power Station, operated by

Commonwealth Edison Company, has received performance ratings of

"superior" in operations and plant support and "good" in

maintenance and engineering, the four areas of review in the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff’s latest Systematic

Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) report for the

facility. The plant is at Braidwood, Illinois.

The assessment covers the period from October 1, 1995,

through August of this year.

The NRC staff and Commonwealth Edison officials will discuss

the evaluation at a meeting that will be scheduled at a future

date. The meeting will be open for public observation.

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 is superior, good or acceptable.

The report on Braidwood gives the plant a "Category 1" rating --

indicating superior performance -- in operations and plant

support and a "Category 2" rating -- indicating good performance

-- in maintenance and engineering.

NRC Regional Administrator A. Bill Beach, in a letter to

the utility, noted that "the conduct of nuclear activities at the

Braidwood Station improved from that observed during the previous

assessment period and was very good."

He added: "Effective communications, strong and conservative

management involvement, and excellent teamwork were observed

across the functional areas. Of particular note was the effort

at improving the material condition of the plant. The combined

efforts of operations, maintenance, engineering, and radiation

protection staffs resulted in improved plant performance."
"Management attention to plant material condition, problem

identification and resolution, work control, conduct of

maintenance and surveillance test activities, and self-assessment

resulted in overall improvement in the maintenance area," Mr.

Beach continued. "However, detracting from this improved

performance were procedural adherence deficiencies throughout the

assessment period."

He told the utility, "Initiatives in radiological work

planning and training reduced personnel exposures, and strong

teamwork and effective communications between the radiation

protection staff and other organizations were evident."

Functional Area Current Period Previous Period

Operations 1 2

Maintenance 2 2

Engineering 2 2

Plant Support 1 1

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The full SALP report is available on the NRC’s internet web site

at: <http://www.nrc.gov/OPA>. SALP reports for all nuclear

plants are also available as they are issued through an

electronic mailing list. To receive these reports send an e-mail

message to listproc@nrc.gov with no subject and with the

following message: subscribe salp yourfirstname yourlastname.