NRC CITES SEABROOK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FOR INSPECTION FINDING

OF LOW TO MODERATE SAFETY SIGNIFICANCE

The Seabrook nuclear power plant will receive additional oversight from the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission following the finalization of a “White” (low to moderate safety 

significance) inspection finding for the facility, which is located in Seabrook, N.H., and operated 

by NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC.

The inspection finding stems from an emergency exercise conducted at the plant in April. 

All U.S. nuclear power plants are required to undergo a graded full-scale emergency exercise 

once every two years. During these exercises, the NRC assesses the company’s on-site 

emergency response capabilities, including the ability to evaluate and respond to a significant 

event, and to communicate what is going on to state, county and local authorities. Meanwhile, 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency assesses off-site response.

During the most recent emergency exercise for the Seabrook plant, on April 17, NextEra 

personnel did not develop and make proper initial protective action recommendations to the 

states, based on radiological conditions at the time, although their recommendations did become 

correct as the exercise scenario progressed. While some deficiencies can be expected in a 

challenging exercise scenario, the NRC requires plant operators to identify the issues, critique 

them and take appropriate corrective actions. 

The “White” inspection finding has to do with the fact that during the company’s critique 

of the exercise, conducted on April 17-19, plant personnel failed to identify the error regarding 

the incorrect protective action recommendations. As the NRC inspection report on the exercise 

states, this represents a “performance deficiency that was reasonably within NextEra's ability to 

foresee and prevent.” The report also states that, “Specifically, the failure of NextEra personnel 

to effectively identify an exercise weakness associated with a risk-significant planning standard 

caused a missed opportunity to identify and correct an exercise-related performance deficiency.”

Prior to the finalization of the inspection finding, the company was offered the

opportunity to take part in a Regulatory Conference to present the NRC with additional 

information related to the finding, but it declined the opportunity. However, NextEra did submit 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

2100 Renaissance Blvd., King of Prussia, Pa. 19406-2713

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov 

Site: www.nrc.gov

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

No. I-12-033

Contact: Diane Screnci, (610) 337-5330

 Neil Sheehan, (610) 337-5331

Aug. 7, 2012

Email: opa1.resource@nrc.gov
a written response on June 21, 2012, in which it did not contest the finding but did provide the 

results of a root cause analysis of the issue.

The NRC will perform a supplemental inspection at Seabrook to evaluate the company’s 

root-cause evaluation of the problem identified during the emergency exercise and its corrective 

actions. NextEra will notify the agency once it is ready for that review.

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