NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING, OPEN HOUSE ON MAY 15 IN SALEM, N.J.,

TO DISCUSS SALEM, HOPE CREEK NUCLEAR PLANT ANNUAL ASSESSMENTS

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct a public meeting and open house on 

Tuesday, May 15, regarding the agency’s annual assessment of safety performance for the Salem 

and Hope Creek nuclear power plants.

 The open house will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. at the PSEG Energy & Environmental 

Resource Center, at 244 Chestnut St. in Salem, N.J. Members of the public will have an 

opportunity to learn first-hand from NRC staff members about the plant’s safety performance 

during 2011 and the NRC’s oversight of the facility. The meeting format will allow citizens to 

discuss plant-related topics on a one-on-one basis with NRC inspectors assigned to the plant and 

their supervisor. Starting at 7 p.m., at the same location, the NRC will conduct a meeting with 

the public at which NRC staff members will present information on the plants’ performance and 

take questions from audience members.

Salem is the site of two pressurized-water reactors while Hope Creek is the site of a 

single boiling-water reactor. The plants are located adjacent to each other in Hancocks Bridge 

(Salem County), N.J., and are owned and operated by PSEG Nuclear, LLC.

Overall, the Hope Creek and Salem Units 1 and 2 operated safely during 2011. At the 

conclusion of last year, as assessed by the NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process, there were no 

performance indicators for the plants that were other than “Green” (very low risk) and no 

inspection findings that were “Greater than Green” (all findings were of very low safety 

significance). Therefore, for the rest of 2012, the Hope Creek and Salem plants will receive the 

very detailed inspection regime used by the NRC for plants that are operating well. In 2011, the 

NRC devoted approximately 4,800 hours of inspection to the Hope Creek facility and 

approximately 6,600 hours to the Salem units.

“Throughout 2011, our inspectors kept close watch on a daily basis to ensure there were 

no safety issues of significance. The Salem and Hope Creek plants were among those to meet our 

clearly defined performance criteria last year,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said. “In 

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: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov

No. I-12-023

Contact: Diane Screnci, (610) 337-5330

 Neil Sheehan, (610) 337-5331

May 4, 2012

Email: opa1.resource@nrc.gov
addition, our inspectors spent time in 2011 checking on whether there were any immediate safety 

concerns at U.S. nuclear power plants following the March events at the Fukushima Daiichi 

facility in Japan. Those reviews indicated the plants remained safe for continued operation.”

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

indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start with “Green” and then increase to

“White,” “Yellow” or “Red,” commensurate with the safety 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 for the Salem units is available on the NRC web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/salm_2011q4.pdf. The annual 

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

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/hope_2011q4.pdf. The notice for 

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

System (ADAMS) under accession number ML12103A038. ADAMS is available at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.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.Resource@NRC.GOV.

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

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

Among the areas of performance at Salem to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are 

activities associated with emergency preparedness, radiological safety and fire protection. At 

Hope Creek, NRC specialists will evaluate activities associated with license renewal 

commitments, control room operator licensing, and refueling and maintenance outage 

inspections. In addition, the NRC will review both facilities’ implementation of a voluntary 

industry initiative to address potential degradation of underground piping.

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. Current performance 

information for Salem Unit 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 Unit 2 is available on the NRC web site at: 

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

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