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 nas@nrc.gov

I-96-78 December 6, 1996

Contact: Diane Screnci FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan

CALVERT CLIFFS NUCLEAR PLANT RATED "SUPERIOR" IN THREE AREAS,

"GOOD" IN FOURTH AREA OF NRC ASSESSMENT REPORT

The Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant received performance ratings of

"superior" in three areas and "good" in the fourth area of the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission's latest systematic assessment of licensee performance

(SALP) of the facility.

The SALP report was sent Tuesday (December 3) to Baltimore Gas and

Electric Company (BG&E), which operates the facility in Lusby, Maryland. It

evaluates the plant's performance from May 14, 1995, through October 19 of

this year.

The NRC staff will meet with officials of BG&E to discuss the SALP at

12:30 p.m. on December 13, 1996, at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant

Visitors Center. It will be open for public observation.

NRC SALP reports rate licensees in four functional areas ˇ plant

operations, maintenance, engineering, and plant support ˇ and assign ratings

of Category 1, 2 or 3 depending on whether performance in those areas was

superior, good or adequate. This report gives Calvert Cliffs a Category 1

(superior) rating in operations, engineering and plant support, and a Category

2 rating in maintenance, indicating "good" performance.

In a letter to BG&E, NRC Regional Administrator Hubert J. Miller said

Calvert Cliffs' overall performance improved during the SALP period, which he

said was marked by strong management involvement in and oversight of plant

activities and which consistently reflected a strong safety perspective.

"Self-assessment was effectively used to achieve performance improvement

goals," Mr. Miller wrote. "Management was effective in addressing problems

identified in the previous assessment period. This included steps to improve

reactivity management and reduce the frequency of automatic plant trips. The

performance of both the on-site and off-site safety committees continued to be

strong as evidenced by consistently comprehensive reviews, questioning

attitudes and strong safety perspective."

Mr. Miller said licensed operators' performance continued to be strong

and appropriately focused on reactor safety and that outage activities were

well coordinated and safely conducted.

"Major maintenance evolutions were effectively managed, the number of

maintenance-related events decreased and the maintenance backlog was reduced,"

Mr. Miller said. "System engineering and design activities continued to

contribute effectively to station safety performance as evidenced, for

example, by strong support of the station's trip prevention efforts and

normally timely resolution of emergent equipment problems."

Mr. Miller also noted that BG&E implemented a significantly improved

program to keep radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable.

EDITORS: A copy of the full SALP report is available from this office. SALP

reports are also 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.
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