NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 2443 Warrenville Road

 Lisle IL 60532

 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

No. III-07-012 April 5, 2007

CONTACT: Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 

NRC TO DISCUSS 2006 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

FOR LASALLE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation

Co. on Tuesday, April 10, to discuss the agency’s assessment of safety performance for last year at the

LaSalle Nuclear Power Plant. The two-reactor facility is located near Seneca, Illinois.

The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the

Brookfield Townhip Hall, 2099 E. 27th Road, Seneca. The NRC staff will present the results of the

assessment and be available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of

the meeting. 

The public may also participate in the meeting through a telephone conference call. For

instructions on how to participate, interested persons should contact Bruce Burgess at 630/829-9629.

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

commercial nuclear power facilities,” NRC Region III Administrator James Caldwell 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 III 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/lasa_2006q4.pdf

The NRC’s assessment concluded that the LaSalle 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. 

All of the inspection findings and performance indicators for LaSalle during 2006 were

determined to be “green.” As a result of this performance, the NRC will conduct the normal, baseline

level of inspections during the upcoming year.
In addition to the “green” findings, the NRC issued a Notice of Violation to the LaSalle plant in

March 2006 for a willful violation of NRC requirements involving three contractor pipefitters entering a highradiation area without following plant radiation protection procedures during a 2005 outage.

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., and the agency’s headquarters in

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

emergency planning, equipment inspection, effluent monitoring, component design engineering,

corrective action program, and maintenance.

Current performance information for LaSalle is available on the NRC’s web site at: (Unit 1)

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LASA1/lasa1_chart.html and (Unit 2)

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LASA2/lasa2_chart.html.

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