NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs, Region I

 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa.

www.nrc.gov

 

No. I-07-012 March 28, 2007

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

Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331

NRC TO DISCUSS 2006 ASSESSMENT FOR PEACH BOTTOM NUCLEAR PLANT

AT PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 4

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual assessment of safety performance at the Peach

Bottom nuclear power plant, in Delta (York County), Pa., will be the subject of a public meeting on

Wednesday, April 4.

NRC staff will meet with representatives of plant owner Exelon Generating Co., LLC, at 2:30

p.m. to discuss the assessment, which covers the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2006, and was

documented in a March 2nd letter to the company. The session will take place at the Peach Bottom Inn,

6085 Delta Road in Delta.

Before the meeting is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the

public on the performance of the twin-reactor Peach Bottom plant, as well as the role of the NRC in

providing oversight of plant safety.

“Each year we take a step back to size up plant performance during the previous calendar year,

with the overarching goal of ensuring that facilities are achieving the levels of safety that are essential

to protecting the public and the environment,” said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins,

who noted the agency also conducts mid-year assessments of performance. “At the meeting on April

4th, members of the public will receive information about how we go about that review process for

Peach Bottom and other nuclear power plants across the nation. The NRC staff will also be prepared to

answer questions from attendees.”

The annual assessment letter for Peach Bottom is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/pb_2006q4.pdf . The notice for the

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

Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML070780428. ADAMS is accessible via

the agency’s web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/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 Peach Bottom plant operated safely during 2006. The NRC utilizes color-coded
inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear power 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 performance indicators for Peach Bottom were

determined to be “green” and there were no inspection findings greater than “green” at the end of 2006,

the plant will receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections in 2007.

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

by inspection specialists from the Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of plant

performance to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are emergency preparedness, dry cask storage

of spent nuclear fuel, and problem identification and resolution.

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

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PB2/pb2_chart.html .

Current performance information for Peach Bottom Unit 3 is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PB3/pb3_chart.html .

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