No. III-08-022 

Contacts: 

Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 

Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 

 May 19, 2008 

 E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov 

Web site: www.nrc.gov

 

NRC TO DISCUSS 2007 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT 

FOR QUAD CITIES UNIT 1 AND 2 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon 

Generation Co. Thursday, May 22, to discuss the agency’s assessment of safety performance for 

last year at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located in Cordova, Ill. 

 The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. CDT at 

the Best Western SteepleGate Inn, 100 West 76th Street, Davenport, Iowa. The NRC staff will 

present the results of the assessment, talk about the NRC and its range of activities, and be 

available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of the meeting. 

 “The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Quad Cities plant and the nation’s 

other commercial nuclear power facilities,” NRC Region III Administrator James Caldwell said. 

“This meeting allows us to discuss our annual assessment of safety performance with the 

company and with local officials and area residents. Our goal is to explain how the NRC works 

and make sure as much information as possible is available on our regulation of these facilities.” 

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

of the plant in 2007 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the 

NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/quad_2007q4.pdf. 

 The NRC’s assessment concluded that the Quad Cities plant operated safely over the past 

year. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess 

nuclear plant performance. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” 

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

 All of the inspection findings and performance indicators for Quad Cities during 2007 

were determined to be “green,” with the exception of one “white” finding in the first quarter of 

2007 for Unit 1. The finding, identified in 2006, was associated with the utility’s failure to 

ensure that the engineering design for electromatic relief valves was able to operate at the 

increased vibration levels experienced from the power uprate. The NRC conducted a 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Region III 

2443 Warrenville Road 

Lisle IL 60532 
supplemental inspection on the issue in February 2007. NRC inspectors identified no significant 

findings. As a result of this performance, the NRC will conduct the normal, baseline level 

inspections during the upcoming year. 

 The NRC letter also addressed a substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of human 

performance at the Quad Cities plant. The NRC refers to performance deficiencies that affect 

multiple areas of plant operations as “substantive cross-cutting issues.” Examples of crosscutting issues could include weaknesses with a plant staff’s ability to identify and correct 

problems and the staff’s ability to develop effective procedures and adhere to these procedures. 

These issues cannot be quantified and are not assigned safety significance. When a substantive 

cross-cutting issue is identified at a nuclear power plant, the NRC expects the problem to be 

corrected. 

 At Quad Cities, the substantive cross-cutting issue in human performance relates to 

documentation practices. The letter noted an increase in incidents associated with this crosscutting issue during the second half of 2007. The utility evaluated the root causes of the issue 

and put together a corrective action plan to address it. However, these actions were not fully 

implemented as of the end of the period. The issue will remain open until human performance 

improves. The NRC has requested the utility present their plans for resolving this issue during 

the public meeting. 

 Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant 

and by inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill. Among the areas of plant 

operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are emergency preparedness, radiation 

protection, and reactor system operations. 

 Current performance information for Quad Cities is available on the NRC’s web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/QUAD1/quad1_chart.html (Unit 1) and 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/QUAD2/quad2_chart.html (Unit 2) 

# # # 

 

 NRC news releases are available through a free list serve subscription at the following Web address: 

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html . The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE 

link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.