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-97-107 August 18, 1997

Contact: Diane Screnci FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan

NRC STAFF RATES FITZPATRICK “GOOD”

IN ALL FOUR AREAS OF LATEST ASSESSMENT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has rated the James

A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant as “good” in all four areas

of the latest Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance

(SALP) of the facility. The plant is located in Scriba, N.Y.,

and is operated by the New York Power Authority (NYPA).

The assessment covers the period from November 19, 1995,

through June 28 of this year.

NRC staff and NYPA officials will discuss the evaluation

during a meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. on September 4 at the

Training Center at the FitzPatrick site. The meeting is open to

the public for observation.

Four functional areas of nuclear power plant performance are

rated in NRC SALP reports: plant operations, maintenance,

engineering and plant support. Ratings of Category 1

(“superior”), 2 (“good”), or 3 (“acceptable”) are assigned.

FitzPatrick’s latest ratings, “good” in all four categories,

are the same as those it received during the previous assessment

period.

“Operations management provided generally good oversight of

plant activities and demonstrated a conservative approach to

operation of the plant. Significant attention was given to

reducing operator workarounds and burdens. Operator performance

and response to plant transients was generally good. However,

personnel errors and problems with the control of plant

configuration continued to be a concern,” wrote Hubert J.

Miller, NRC Region I Administrator, in a letter to NYPA.

On maintenance, Mr. Miller said, “Good performance was

achieved as evidenced by the maintenance work request backlog

reduction, and generally improved material condition and

equipment reliability. However, personnel errors during the
conduct of maintenance and surveillance activities caused several

equipment and plant operational problems.”

Regarding engineering, Mr. Miller said, “Enhanced efforts by

system engineers to monitor system performance and good selfassessment efforts to identify engineering performance

improvement opportunities were noted. Engineering efforts were

effective in reducing operator workarounds. However, there were

instances in which formal configuration controls were bypassed

and safety evaluations were not performed as required. While

efforts have been made to review and improve retrievability of

design basis information, some lapses in tracking related

corrective actions occurred.

In the area of plant support, Mr. Miller said emergency

preparedness, fire protection and security programs and the

occupational radiation protection program were generally

effective. However, he said, “Several noteworthy problems

occurred involving the failure of radiation workers to adhere to

radiological control barriers and procedures, a recurring problem

from the previous SALP period. These problems persisted despite

initiatives undertaken early in the period to improve radiation

worker and radiation protection technician training and

performance.”

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SALP reports are 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.