No. I-08-028 

Contact: Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 

 Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 

April 24, 2008

NRC ANNUAL ASSESSMENT FOR SALEM, HOPE CREEK NUCLEAR PLANTS 

TO BE DISCUSSED AT PUBLIC MEETING ON APRIL 30 IN SWEDESBORO, N.J. 

The results of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual safety performance 

assessment for the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants will be the subject of a public 

meeting on Wednesday, April 30. The Salem 1 and 2 reactors and the Hope Creek reactor are 

co-located in Hancocks Bridge (Salem County), N.J., and operated by PSEG. 

At 6 p.m., NRC staff will meet with representatives of PSEG Nuclear, LLC, to discuss 

the assessment, which covers the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, and was documented in a 

March 3rd letter to the company. The session will take place at the Holiday Inn SelectBridgeport, off Exit 10 of Interstate 295 in Swedesboro, N.J. 

Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, NRC staff will be available to answer questions 

from the public on the plant’s performance during 2007, as well as the agency’s oversight of the 

facility. 

“Through a combination of inspection findings and performance indicators, we are able 

to develop a comprehensive picture of how nuclear power plants are performing with regard to 

safety,” said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. “As part of our commitment to 

make the findings of our reviews accessible to the public, we hold meetings near each plant once 

a year to share the details of those assessments. We look forward to the opportunity on April 

30th to present that information for the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants.” 

The annual assessment letter for the Salem plants is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/salm_2007q4.pdf . The annual 

assessment letter for the Hope Creek plant is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/hope_2007q4.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 ML081021052. ADAMS is 

accessible at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html . Help in using ADAMS is 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov
available via the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by email at PDR@NRC.GOV . 

Overall, the Salem and Hope Creek plants operated safely during 2007. When 

considering nuclear power plant performance, the NRC uses color-coded performance indicators 

and inspection findings. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” or 

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

At the conclusion of last year, there were no performance indicators for Salem Unit 2 or 

Hope Creek that were other than “green” and no inspection findings that were “greater than 

green.” Therefore, those units will receive the baseline, or routine, level of inspections for the 

remainder of 2008. 

Salem Unit 1, meanwhile, had a “yellow” Performance Indicator resulting from one of 

the facility’s emergency diesel generators failing to start in the fourth quarter of 2007 and, during 

previous quarters, one instance in which an emergency diesel generator failed to run and one in 

which an emergency diesel generator failed to start. Emergency diesel generators provide 

backup power in the event of an off-site power loss; the Salem Unit 1 and 2 reactors are each 

equipped with three of the generators. 

Because of the “yellow” indicator, Salem Unit 1 will receive additional NRC oversight 

this year in the form of a supplemental inspection. The inspection will be conducted to provide 

the agency with assurance that the root and contributing causes for the issue are understood, and 

so that the NRC can independently assess whether similar issues exist and if appropriate steps 

have been taken to prevent a recurrence. 

Also, the NRC’s mid-year assessment letter for the Salem units identified a substantive 

cross-cutting issue pertaining to procedural compliance. (A cross-cutting issue is one that 

touches on several areas of plant performance.) The letter stated the issue would be cleared once 

PSEG demonstrated sustainable performance improvement in that area. The company did take 

steps in 2007 to address the issue, including a root-cause evaluation and the reinforcement of 

standards. However, there has not been a notable reduction in related inspection findings. 

Therefore, the substantive cross-cutting issue will remain open for now. The NRC will monitor 

the company’s progress in this area through routine inspections in 2008. 

Routine inspections are carried out by the four NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the 

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

Among the areas of performance at the Salem and Hope Creek plants to be inspected this year by 

NRC specialists are activities associated with radiological safety, emergency preparedness and 

operator licensing. In addition, the NRC will review activities related to the power uprate 

proposed for the Hope Creek plant, the initial loading of dry cask storage units for spent nuclear 

fuel at Hope Creek, and the replacement of the steam generators at Salem Unit 2 during that 

plant’s spring 2008 refueling outage. 

 

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

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SALM1/salm1_chart.html . Current 
performance information for Salem 2 is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SALM2/salm2_chart.html . Current 

performance information for Hope Creek is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/HOPE/hope_chart.html . 

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