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-04-022 April 21, 2004

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

Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331

NRC TO DISCUSS ANNUAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

OF INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Entergy Nuclear

Northeast on Tuesday, April 27, to discuss the results of the agency’s annual assessment of safety

performance at the Indian Point 2 and 3 nuclear power plants. Entergy operates the plants, which

are located in Buchanan, N.Y.

The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled from 7 to 10

p.m. at Crystal Bay on the Hudson, 5 John Walsh Boulevard, Peekskill, N.Y. Before the session

is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the plants’

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. 

The NRC also plans to discuss aspects of the agency’s licensing and oversight of dry cask storage

systems and independent spent fuel storage installations. A separate meeting on this topic will be

scheduled in the future. 

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/inpt_2003q4.pdf . 

Overall, Indian Point 2 and 3 operated safely during the period. Performance at the plants

continues to slowly improve. Nevertheless, some weaknesses still exist in the implementation of

corrective action programs at the plants.

The NRC uses a color-coded system to assess the significance of problems at nuclear

power plants, with “green” at the low end of the spectrum, then increasing to “white,” “yellow”

or “red.” During the first half of 2003, Indian Point 2 still had a “yellow” inspection finding
associated with requalification examination failures by licensed reactor operators. However, the

NRC staff closed out that finding in May 2003 after concluding the issue had been appropriately

addressed by Entergy. A “white” inspection finding related to a degraded control room fire

barrier remained open during the second half of 2003 at Indian Point 2. After the issue was

reviewed by NRC staff inspections in June and December 2003, the agency concluded in January

of this year that sufficient progress had been made to close out that finding.

In addition, the NRC has closed out a substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of human

performance at Indian Point 2 after finding that sufficient improvements have been made. 

Another substantive cross-cutting issue at Indian Point 2, in the area of problem identification

and resolution, remains open, with the NRC continuing to assess progress toward improvements.

With regard to Indian Point 3, a Performance Indicator turned “white” in June after

exceeding a threshold for the number of unplanned scrams, or shutdowns, per 7,000 hours of

operation. A supplemental inspection to review the root cause of and corrective actions for the

number of unplanned shutdowns was satisfactorily completed in November 2003. The

Performance Indicator remained “white” through March 2004 and subsequently returned to

“green” based on the absence of additional unplanned shutdowns. 

On the topic of 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. The NRC will continue security inspections during 2004.

Current performance information for Indian Point 2 is available on the NRC web site at:

www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/IP2/ip2_chart.html.

Current performance information for Indian Point 3 is available on the NRC web site at:

www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/IP3/ip3_chart.html.

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