U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Region III Office of Public Affairs

801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532-4351

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-98-48 August 28, 1998

CONTACT: Jan Strasma 630/829-9663

Angela Greenman 630/829-9662

E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

NRC STAFF RATES MONTICELLO PLANT "SUPERIOR" IN THREE AREAS,

"GOOD" IN FOURTH AREA FOR LATEST PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has rated the Monticello Nuclear

Generating Plant "superior" in engineering, maintenance, and plant support and "good"

in plant operations in the latest NRC evaluation of plant performance.

The plant, operated by Northern States Power Company, is at Monticello,

Minnesota.

The review, called the Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP),

covers the period from July 1996 through July of this year.

The SALP report will be discussed in a meeting between the NRC staff and utility

officials at 2 p.m. on September 9. The meeting will be in the Training Center at the

Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in Monticello.

The meeting is open to public observation. Members of the NRC staff will be

available after the meeting for comments and questions from the public and news

media.

NRC SALP reports evaluate 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 Monticello gives the plant a "Category 1"

rating -- indicating superior performance -- in maintenance, engineering, and plant

support and a "Category 2" rating -- indicating good performance -- in plant operations.

Compared to the previous assessment period, Monticello improved from a

"good" rating to "superior" in engineering and declined from "superior" to "good" in

operations. Maintenance and Plant Support were rated "superior" in both assessment

periods.

"Overall, performance at the Monticello station was excellent," said James

Caldwell, acting NRC Regional Administator. "Strong management involvement was

evident throughout the assessment period. The material condition of the plant was

excellent which resulted in high availability and reliability of plant equipment."
He indicated that the conduct of infrequently performed plant operations, like

startups and shutdowns, was excellent. "However, the conduct of routine operations

did not reflect the same level of discipline and vigilance observed during non-routine

evolutions," he added.

"Effective work planning and control, excellent interdepartmental teamwork and

communications, experienced and qualified craft personnel, strong system engineering

support, and active management oversight contributed to the excellent material

condition of plant equipment," Caldwell said.

In the engineering area, he noted that comprehensive corrective actions had

been taken to address design engineering weaknesses identified during the period

assessment period.

Caldwell continued, "The conduct of Plant Support activities was excellent as a

result of strong and well implemented programs in radiation protection, security,

chemistry, and emergency preparedness."

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