U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region IV

611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400

Arlington, Texas 76011-8064

RIV: 99-10 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Breck Henderson March 25, 1999

OFFICE: 817-860-8128

PAGER: 888-876-2331

E-Mail: bwh@nrc.gov

NRC FINDS PERFORMANCE ‘ACCEPTABLE’

AT COOPER NUCLEAR STATION IN LATEST REVIEW

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has found that safety performance remains

acceptable in the NRC’s latest plant performance review at Cooper Nuclear Station, located

near Brownville, Nebraska.

Officials of NRC and Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), the utility which operates

the plant, will discuss the review during a meeting set for Tuesday, March 30, in the

Administration Building at Cooper. 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.

In a letter to NPPD Senior Vice President G. R. Horn summarizing the review findings,

NRC Director of the Division of Reactor Projects Kenneth E. Brockman said, “Overall, the

performance of the Cooper staff during the assessment period was acceptable. No significant

events occurred, conservative decision making was noted, and licensed operators routinely

demonstrated professionalism in the main control room. . . . Problems with communications in

the control room resulted in several minor events and, at times, licensed operators failed to

identify or understand equipment operability requirements. Occurrences of inadequate and

improperly implemented procedures continued to result in equipment unavailability.

“Cooper engineering continued to experience significant problems in maintaining the

design basis. Plant staff effectively implemented programs for physical security, access

authorization, radiation protection, and emergency preparedness. Although the threshold for

documenting problems was low, the corrective action program was not always formally

implemented, thereby resulting in failures to identify and correct the cause of plant problems in

all functional areas,” Mr. Brockman said. The core inspection program in Engineering will be

supplemented by several regional initiative efforts during the next eight months. Other areas

will receive only core inspection.

The text of the plant performance review letter is available from the NRC Region IV

Office of Public Affairs and on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/ppr.

NRC reviews safety performance twice a year at every licensed nuclear power plant in

the nation. These reviews give the agency staff an integrated assessment of plant performance

and provide a basis for planning inspection activities.
Plant performance reviews are an interim measure NRC is utilizing to monitor nuclear

power plant safety. The agency began using it for this purpose after suspending the

Systematic Assessment of License Performance (SALP) process until a new assessment

program is developed. Previously, SALP reports were issued every 12 to 24 months.

The new reactor oversight and assessment program being developed will provide

quarterly performance reports, based on a number of performance indicators and on inspection

findings. This program will be tested at eight plants beginning in June and, if found acceptable,

will be extended to all plants next January. A full description of the new program is available on

the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/primer.htm.

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