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-98-105 September 15, 1998

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

Neil A. Sheehan (610/337-5331)

NRC RATES SALEM NUCLEAR PLANT AS “SUPERIOR” IN TWO CATEGORIES,

“GOOD” IN TWO OTHERS, IN LATEST PERFORMANCE REVIEW

The Salem nuclear power plant has received ratings of

“superior” in two areas and “good” in two others, in the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s latest assessment of the

facility. Operated by Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G)

Company, the two-reactor plant is located in Hancocks Bridge,

N.J., on the Delaware River.

Covered by the most recent Systematic Assessment of

Licensee Performance, or SALP, report for Salem is the period

from March 1, 1997, to August 1 of this year.

The report will be discussed during a meeting between

NRC and PSE&G officials on Wednesday, September 30, in the

Access Processing Facility at the plant. Scheduled to begin at

2 p.m., the session will be open to the public for observation.

Agency staff will remain afterwards to answer questions from

members of the public and media.

Four areas of plant performance are rated in the NRC

SALP process, including plant operations, maintenance,

engineering and plant support. Each area is assigned a rating

of Category 1 (“superior”), Category 2 (“good”) or Category 3

(“adequate”).

SALP reports are issued about once every 18 months for

each plant. However, the previous NRC assessment of Salem was

issued on January 3, 1995. The interval between reports for

Salem reflects a prolonged shutdown that ended for Unit 2 last

year and Unit 1 earlier this year.

In its latest report, Salem was assessed as “superior”

in the areas of plant operations and plant support and “good”

in the areas of maintenance and engineering. While the ratings

for engineering and plant support remained unchanged from the

previous SALP report, Salem saw improvements in the areas of

plant operations and maintenance, both of which were previously

rated as “adequate.”
2

NRC Region I Administrator Hubert J. Miller, in a

letter to PSE&G regarding the report, wrote that overall

performance at the plant had improved, “as demonstrated by a

nearly event-free return of both units to operation following

the extended outage. Performance was characterized by strong

management oversight by the new management team assembled since

the shutdown, safe and conservative operations and decisions,

good day-to-day engineering support to operations, and sound

and effective programs for independent oversight and selfassessment.”

Mr. Miller also pointed out that human performance has

improved significantly, but he noted personnel errors in the

areas of operations and maintenance continue to warrant close

management attention.

Regarding the operations area, the NRC found that a

conservative approach was consistently taken. Also, the agency

saw strong problem identification and self-assessment

activities by both the line and oversight organization.

In the maintenance area, good equipment performance

since the units came back on-line demonstrated the improved

material condition of the facility. Outage work was properly

planned, scheduled and implemented. Nevertheless, problems

were detected in making the transition from a shutdown plant to

an operating one, and human performance problems involving

equipment verification and procedural adherence continued to

occur.

Effective engineering support was noted in the

engineering area, contributing to improved equipment

reliability and plant performance. Improvements in processes

were attributed primarily to good management oversight and

involvement.

Lastly, plant support was characterized by excellent

performance in radiation protection and well-implemented solid

radwaste transportation, radioactive effluent, environmental

monitoring and meteorological monitoring programs. Significant

improvements were observed in emergency preparedness and

security.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The full SALP report can be viewed on the NRC’s

Internet web site at www.nrc.gov.