No. III-09-006 

Contacts: 

Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 

Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 

 March 26, 2009 

 E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov 

 Web site: www.nrc.gov 

 

NRC TO DISCUSS 2009 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT 

FOR BYRON NUCLEAR POWER PLANT UNIT 1 AND 2

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon 

Generation Co. Thursday, April 2, to discuss the agency’s assessment of safety performance for last 

year at the Byron Nuclear Power Plant. The plant has two reactor units in Byron, Ill. 

 The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. CDT at the 

Byron Station Training Center, Room 107 4450 N. German Church Road, Byron. The NRC staff 

will present the results of the assessment, talk about the NRC and its range of activities, and be 

available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of the meeting. 

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

commercial nuclear power facilities,” NRC Region III Administrator Mark Satorius said. “This 

meeting allows us to discuss our annual assessment of safety performance with the company and 

area residents. One of NRC’s main goals is to explain to people in the community how the agency 

regulates nuclear power plants.” 

 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/byro_2008q4.pdf. 

 The NRC’s assessment concluded Byron Units 1 and 2 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 increase to “white,” “yellow” or “red,” 

commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. 

 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Region III 

2443 Warrenville Road 

Lisle IL 60532 
 In 2008, NRC inspectors identified one “white” finding of low to moderate safety 

significance. This finding involved the degradation of the piping for the cooling of the nonradioactive support systems. The NRC conducted a supplemental inspection to review the utility’s 

actions to address the problem and found them adequate. 

 The letter also addressed a substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of human performance. 

A “substantive cross-cutting” affects several areas of plant performance. Examples of cross-cutting 

issues include weaknesses in the staff’s ability to develop effective procedures and adhere to theses 

procedures. When a substantive cross-cutting issue is identified at a nuclear power plant, the NRC 

expects the problem to be corrected. 

 At Byron, the substantive cross-cutting issue relates to the utility’s failure to make decisions 

in a conservative manner. The plant has initiated an improvement plan but, as noted in the NRC 

letter, it has not yet proven to be effective. The issue will remain open until the NRC has confidence 

that the human performance issue at the plant has been effectively addressed. The NRC has 

requested a written response regarding progress in improving cross-cutting issues at Byron. The 

status of the utility’s effort to improve human performance will be discussed at the public meeting. 

 This year, the NRC plans to continue to conduct the very detailed inspections required for 

plants operating well. In addition, the agency will inspect Byron’s problem identification and 

resolution program and preoperational testing of the independent spent fuel storage facility 

installations. 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. 

 Current performance information for Byron is available on the NRC’s web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BYRO1/byro1_chart.html (Unit 1) and 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BYRO2/byro2_chart.html (Unit 2). 

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