No. I-08-027 

Contact: Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 

 Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 

April 17, 2008

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

NRC TO DISCUSS ANNUAL ASSESSMENT FOR NINE MILE POINT PLANT 

AT TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS SET FOR APRIL 23 IN FULTON, N.Y. 

The results of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual safety performance 

assessment for the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant will be the subject of a public meeting 

on Wednesday, April 23. Nine Mile Point, which is the site of two operating boiling-water 

reactors, is located in Scriba (Oswego County), N.Y., and operated by Constellation Energy, 

LLC. 

At 2 p.m., NRC staff will meet with representatives of Constellation to discuss the 

assessment, which covers the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, and was documented in a 

March 3rd letter to the company. The session will take place at the plant’s Joint News Center, 

which is at the Oswego County Airport, on County Route 176 in Fulton, N.Y. 

Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, NRC staff will be available to answer questions 

from the public on the plant’s performance during 2007, as well as the agency’s oversight of the 

facility. 

“Through a combination of inspection findings and performance indicators, we are able 

to develop a comprehensive picture of how nuclear power plants are performing with regard to 

safety,” said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. “As part of our commitment to 

make the findings of our reviews accessible to the public, we hold meetings near each plant once 

a year to share the details of those assessments. We look forward to the opportunity on April 

23rd to present that information for the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant.” 

The annual assessment letter for Nine Mile Point is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/nmp_2007q4.pdf . The notice for 

the meeting, with agenda attached, is available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML080730030. The slides for the 

meeting can be found under accession number ML080790187. ADAMS is accessible at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html . Help in using ADAMS is available via 
the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at 

PDR@NRC.GOV . 

Overall, the Nine Mile Point units operated safely during 2007. When considering 

nuclear power plant performance, the NRC uses color-coded performance indicators and 

inspection findings. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” or 

“red,” commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. 

At the conclusion of last year, there were no performance indicators for Nine Mile Point 

2 that were other than “green” and no inspection findings that were “greater than green.” 

Therefore, that unit will receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections for the remainder of 

2008. Nine Mile Point 1 did have a single “white” (low to moderate safety significance) 

inspection finding as of the end of 2007. That finding involved a compromise of the unit’s 

licensed operator requalification training program for calendar years 2005 and 2006. However, 

the NRC conducted a supplemental inspection at the plant from Nov. 5 to Dec. 4, 2007 to 

determine if the issue has been sufficiently addressed by Constellation and found that to be the 

case. As a result, that finding was closed out effective Jan. 1 and Nine Mile Point 1 will likewise 

receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections for the remainder of 2008. 

Routine inspections are carried out by the two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the 

plant and by inspection specialists from the agency’s Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. 

Among the areas of performance at Nine Mile Point to be inspected this year by NRC specialists 

are activities associated with radiological safety, emergency preparedness and operator licensing. 

In addition, the NRC will conduct a Component Design Bases Inspection at the plant. 

 

Current performance information for Nine Mile Point 1 is available on the NRC web site 

at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NMP1/nmp1_chart.html . Current 

performance information for Nine Mile Point 2 is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NMP2/nmp2_chart.html . 

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