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-07-020 April 17, 2007

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

Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331

NRC TO DISCUSS 2006 ASSESSMENT FOR SUSQUEHANNA NUCLEAR PLANT

AT PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 24

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

Susquehanna nuclear power plant, in Salem Township (Luzerne County), Pa., will be the subject of a

public meeting on Tuesday, April 24.

NRC staff will meet with representatives of plant owner PPL Susquehanna, 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 Susquehanna Energy

Information Center, 634 Salem Blvd., Salem Township, about 7 miles northeast of Berwick, Pa.

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

public on the performance of the twin-reactor Susquehanna 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

24th, members of the public will receive information about how we go about that review process for

Susquehanna 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 Susquehanna is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/susq_2006q4.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 ML071000363. ADAMS is accessible at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.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 Susquehanna 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 the Susquehanna

plant 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 activities associated with radiological

safety, control room operator requalification testing and component design bases. In addition, there

will be inspections conducted in conjunction with the agency’s review of license renewal and power

uprate applications for the plant.

Current performance information for Susquehanna 1 is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SUSQ1/susq1_chart.html .

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

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SUSQ2/susq2_chart.html .

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