No. I-10-008 

Contact: Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 

 Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 

 March 22, 2010

 E-mail: OPA1@NRC.GOV 

NRC TO HOLD OPEN HOUSE ON MARCH 25 IN OSWEGO, N.Y. TO DISCUSS 

2009 ASSESSMENTS OF NINE MILE POINT, FITZPATRICK NUCLEAR PLANTS 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct an open house on Thursday, March 

25 regarding the agency’s annual assessment of safety performance for the Nine Mile Point and 

James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plants during 2009. 

The open house will run from 4 to 6 p.m. at Scriba Town Hall, located at 42 Creamery 

Road in Oswego, N.Y. It will give members of the public an opportunity to learn first-hand from 

NRC staff members about performance at the plants during 2009, as well as NRC oversight of 

the facilities. Unlike a standard meeting format, the setting will allow citizens to discuss plantrelated topics on a one-on-one basis with NRC inspectors assigned to the plants and their NRC 

Region I supervisors. 

Nine Mile Point, which is the site of two boiling-water reactors, and FitzPatrick, which is 

the site of a single boiling-water reactor, are located adjacent to each other in Scriba (Oswego 

County), N.Y. Constellation Energy, LLC, owns and operates Nine Mile Point while Entergy 

Nuclear Northeast owns and operates FitzPatrick. 

Overall, the Nine Mile Point 1 & 2 reactors and the FitzPatrick reactor operated safely 

during 2009. 

At the conclusion of last year, as assessed through the NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process, 

there were no performance indicators that were other than “green” or any inspection findings that 

were “greater than green” for the Nine Mile Point 1 and FitzPatrick units. Therefore, for the rest 

of 2010, those units will receive the normal, very detailed inspection regime used by the NRC for 

plants that are operating well. 

However, with respect to Nine Mile Point 2, one “white” (low to moderate safety 

significance) inspection finding was identified in an NRC inspection report issued on Nov. 24, 

2009. Specifically, the NRC identified issues involving procedural adequacy and the insufficient 

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Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov
addressing of root causes that led to reliability challenges for service water pumps at the plant. 

(The service water system draws water from Lake Ontario, pumps it to plant systems for cooling 

purposes and then returns it to the waterway. The service water does not come into contact with 

any radioactive steam or water during this process.) 

The inspection finding was identified during an NRC supplemental inspection conducted 

in response to an earlier “white” performance indicator for equipment performance at Nine Mile 

Point 2. Specifically, in the fourth quarter of 2008, the plant’s performance indicator for 

Mitigating Systems Performance Index for Cooling Water Systems crossed the threshold from 

“green” to “white.” This was a result of a combination of availability challenges associated with 

service water pump maintenance activities and reliability challenges associated with the 

introduction of foreign material into the service water pump suction in November 2008. 

The performance indicator returned to “green” in the fourth quarter of 2009, but based on 

the November 2009 inspection finding, additional NRC oversight will continue until the agency 

is satisfied Constellation fully understands the root causes of the problems and has taken 

adequate steps to prevent a recurrence. Until that occurs, Nine Mile Point 2 will remain in the 

“Regulatory Response Column” of the NRC’s Action Matrix: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/actionmatrix_summary.html . The NRC plans 

another supplemental inspection to evaluate the company’s progress in this area. 

“As is warranted under our Reactor Oversight Process, Nine Mile Point 2 will continue to 

receive additional scrutiny from the NRC in 2010 until the issues associated with the service 

water system have been appropriately addressed,” NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. 

Collins said. “Our inspections clearly indicated that there was more work that needed to be done 

in this area.” 

 In 2009, the NRC devoted approximately 7,100 hours of inspection to the Nine Mile 

Point reactors, including two major team inspections, and about 4,600 hours of inspection to the 

FitzPatrick reactor. 

Routine inspections are carried out by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to Nine 

Mile Point and the two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to FitzPatrick, as well as by inspection 

specialists from the agency’s Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas at Nine 

Mile Point to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are emergency preparedness, operator 

licensing, permanent plant modifications, security and radiation protection. Among the areas at 

FitzPatrick to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are the dry cask storage of spent nuclear 

fuel, emergency preparedness, radiation safety, security and the plant’s problem identification 

and resolution program. An engineering team inspection will also be conducted at FitzPatrick 

this year. 

The NRC utilizes a combination of color-coded inspection findings and performance 

indicators to gauge plant performance. The colors start with “green,” representing very low 

safety significance, to “white,” “yellow” or “red,” commensurate with the significance of the 

issues involved. The agency issues reports on performance at specific plants twice a year; during 

the mid-cycle, or mid-point, of the year, and at the conclusion of the year. Inspection findings 
and performance indicators are also updated on the NRC’s web site, www.nrc.gov , each quarter. 

Following the release of the annual reports every March, the NRC meets with the public in the 

vicinity of each plant to discuss the results. The meetings are in keeping with the agency’s 

commitment to transparency with regard to its activities. 

The annual assessment letter for the Nine Mile Point plant is available on the NRC web 

site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/nmp_2009q4.pdf . The 

annual assessment letter for the FitzPatrick plant is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/fitz_2009q4.pdf . The notice for 

the open house is available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS) under accession number ML100670141. ADAMS is available at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html . Help in using ADAMS can be obtained via the 

NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at 

PDR.Resources@NRC.GOV . 

Current performance information for Nine Mile Point 1 is available on the NRC web site 

at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NMP1/nmp1_chart.html . Current 

performance information for Nine Mile Point 2 is available on the NRC web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NMP2/nmp2_chart.html . Current 

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

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/FITZ/fitz_chart.html . 

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