NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs, Region I

 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa.

 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA

No. I-05-014 March 23, 2005

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

Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331

NRC TO DISCUSS 2004 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

FOR MILLSTONE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Dominion Resources

on Tuesday, March 29, to discuss the agency’s annual assessment of safety performance at the

Millstone nuclear power plant. The period of performance to be discussed is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2004.

 Dominion operates the Unit 2 and 3 reactors at the Waterford, Conn., site.

 The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 3

p.m. at the Leland F. Sillin Jr. Nuclear Training Center, located at the plant on Rope Ferry Road.

 NRC staff will also hold a joint meeting at 6 p.m. the same day with Connecticut’s Nuclear

Energy Advisory Council (NEAC) to discuss the annual assessment. That session will take place at

Waterford Town Hall, 15 Rope Ferry Road in Waterford.

 Before the meetings are adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the

public on the safety performance of the Millstone plant, as well as the role of the NRC in ensuring safe

plant operation.

 “The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Millstone plant and the nation’s other

commercial nuclear power facilities,” NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins said. “This

meeting will provide an opportunity for a discussion of our annual assessment of safety performance

with the company and with local officials and residents who live near the plant. Our goal is to explain

the NRC oversight process and make as much information as possible available to the public regarding

our regulation of these facilities.”

 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:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/mill_2004q4.pdf . Notices for the

meetings, with agendas attached, and slides for the annual assessment meeting are available in the

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number
-2-

ML050730393. ADAMS is accessible via the agency’s web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html . Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting 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 Millstone plant operated safely during the period. 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. Because all of the inspection findings and performance indicators

for Millstone during 2004 were determined to be “green,” the plant will receive a baseline level of

inspections during the upcoming assessment period.

 Millstone Unit 2 had a “white” performance indicator during the second and third quarters of

the 2004 assessment period, for exceeding the number of unplanned scrams, or shutdowns, per 7,000

critical hours of operation. The NRC staff performed a supplemental inspection to assess the

company’s response to the events and, after finding satisfactory corrective actions, determined the

indicator could be returned to “green.”

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

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

headquarters in Rockville, Md. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected this year by NRC

specialists are reactor vessel head replacement, fire protection and radiological safety.

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

http://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:

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

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