NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 Office of Public Affairs, Region I

 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406

 www.nrc.gov

No. I-04-012 March 18, 2004

CONTACT: Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 Email: opa1@nrc.gov

Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331

NRC TO DISCUSS ANNUAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

OF MILLSTONE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Dominion

Resources on Thursday, March 25, to discuss the results of the agency’s annual assessment of

safety performance at the Millstone nuclear power plant. Dominion Resources operates the

Millstone Unit 2 and Unit 3 reactors at the site, which is located in Waterford, Conn.

 The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at

4 p.m. at Waterford Town Hall, 15 Rope Ferry Road in Waterford.

 Immediately after discussing the annual assessment results with Dominion Resources

management, NRC staff will meet with Connecticut’s Nuclear Energy Advisory Council and

address any questions posed by its members regarding the review. Before the entire session is

adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the plant’s safety

performance, as well as the role of the NRC in ensuring safe operation of the facility.

 The performance period to be discussed is January 1 to December 31, 2003. In

addition, NRC staff will provide a brief overview of how the agency’s Reactor Oversight Process

works.

 A letter sent from the NRC Region I Office to plant officials addresses the performance

of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is

available on the NRC web site at:

www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/mill_2003q4.pdf .

 Overall, the Millstone plant operated safely and met all cornerstone objectives during

the period. (Cornerstones are measures of plant performance.) Therefore, at this time the NRC

plans to conduct only baseline inspections at the site through September 30, 2005.

 In August 2003, the NRC informed Dominion Resources about a substantive crosscutting issue at Millstone Unit 2 in the area of problem identification and resolution. The issue
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involved some lapses in engineering effectiveness that led to weaknesses in the identification of

problems, determinations of root causes and/or corrective actions. However, several actions

were taken to improve the quality of engineering products and NRC reviews have indicated a

decrease in the number of weaknesses in this area. As a result, the NRC considers the issue

resolved, though the agency will continue to monitor progress in that area through the baseline

inspection program.

 With regard to security issues, the NRC has issued several orders and threat advisories

to enhance security capabilities and improve guard force readiness since the terrorist attacks on

September 11, 2001. The agency has also conducted inspections to review the implementation of

these requirements and has monitored the action of plant operators in response to changing threat

conditions. “For calendar year 2004, we plan to continue inspections of order implementation

combined with newly developed portions of the security baseline inspection program,” the letter

states.

 Current performance information for Millstone Unit 2 is available on the NRC web site

at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/MILL2/mill2_chart.html .

 Current performance information for Millstone Unit 3 is available on the NRC web site

at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/MILL3/mill3_chart.html .

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