U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Region III Office of Public Affairs

801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532-4351

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-98-04 January 9, 1998

CONTACT: Jan Strasma 630/829-9663

Angela Greenman 630/829-9662

E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

NRC STAFF RATES FERMI "SUPERIOR" IN PLANT SUPPORT AND

"GOOD" IN OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, AND ENGINEERING

The Fermi Nuclear Power Station, operated by Detroit Edison

Company, has received performance ratings of "superior" in plant

support and "good" in operations, 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 near Monroe,

Michigan.

The assessment covers the period from March 31, 1996,

through November 7 of last year.

The NRC staff and Detroit Edison Company officials will

discuss the evaluation at a meeting set for 10 a.m., Tuesday,

January 13, in the Monroe County Courthouse, 106 E. First Street

in Monroe, Michigan. The meeting will be open for public

observation. NRC officials will be available afterwards to speak

with reporters, state and local officials, and members of the

public.

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 Fermi gives the plant a "Category 1" rating --

indicating superior performance -- in plant support and a

"Category 2" rating -- indicating good performance -- in

operations, maintenance, and engineering.

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

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

Enrico Fermi 2 station improved from the previous assessment

period and was good overall."

He added: "Most of the improvements noted during this

assessment period were due to successful implementation of the

Fermi Operational Excellence Plan and the effectiveness of the

line organization in responding to performance deficiencies

identified in self-assessments. Fermi staff also improved in

their overall ability to identify problems. This was a major
concern during the previous SALP period."

Mr. Beach continued: "Excellent performance was evident in

the radiation protection, chemistry, and emergency preparedness

program areas. Security weaknesses and personnel errors

identified early during the period were addressed by a

performance improvement plan, which stabilized and improved

security operations."

But he also told the utility: "We note that performance

during the early portion of the SALP period was more problematic.

Some issues required extensive and repeated efforts to resolve

due to incorrect root cause determinations, ineffective

corrective actions, or narrowly focused approaches to resolution.

However, the SALP process emphasizes the performance during the

latter part of the period, and, as already indicated, this was

much improved through self-assessment and effective corrective

action."

Here is an overall comparison between the new SALP report

and the previous one:

Functional Area Current Period Previous Period

Operations 2 3

Maintenance 2 2

Engineering 2 2

Plant Support 1 1

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Note: SALP reports are available for review on the NRC’s

internet web site at http://www.nrc.gov/OPA.