No: I-15-018 April 20, 2015

CONTACT: Diane Screnci, 610-337-5330 

 Neil Sheehan, 610-337-5331 

NRC to Conduct Open House on April 23 in Oswego, N.Y.,

to Discuss 2014 Performance of James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public open house on April 23 in Oswego, 

N.Y., to discuss the agency’s annual review of safety performance at the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear 

power plant. The single-unit plant is located in Scriba, N.Y., and operated by Entergy Nuclear 

Northeast.

NRC staff will be on hand from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Town of Scriba Municipal Building, 

located at 42 Creamery Road in Oswego, N.Y. Agency employees responsible for inspections of the 

plant, including the Resident Inspectors assigned at the site on a full-time basis, will be available to 

discuss the facility’s performance in 2014 and the agency’s oversight plans for 2015.

Under the NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process, the agency gauges plant performance through the 

use of color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators, which are statistical measurements 

of plant performance that can trigger additional oversight if exceeded.

On an overall basis, the plant operated safely in 2014. The FitzPatrick plant, however, was 

under additional NRC oversight as of the end of 2014 due to a “white” (low to moderate safety 

significance) performance indicator for unplanned power changes per 7,000 hours of operation. The 

performance indicator’s crossing of the threshold from to “green” to “white” in the fourth quarter of 

2012 stemmed from condenser tube leakage. Those tubes were replaced during a refueling and 

maintenance outage last fall.

The NRC has inspected those modifications and concluded they are sufficient to preclude 

downpowers caused by such leakage. An inspection report issued on Feb. 6, 2015, documented that 

evaluation. Nevertheless, the performance indicator has not yet transitioned back to “green.” Once that 

occurs, FitzPatrick will return to the normal level of NRC oversight, which would entail moving from 

the Regulatory Response Column to the Licensee Response Column of the agency’s Action Matrix.

“As appropriate under our Reactor Oversight Process, the FitzPatrick plant has received 

additional scrutiny in response to the issues involving its main condenser. Our inspections have 

confirmed that the replacement of the condenser last year should halt those problems, but the next step 

will be for the performance indicator to return to ‘green’ before the normal level of oversight resumes,” 

NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman said. “More broadly, our annual assessments serve to help 

us focus our inspection resources on those areas where attention is most needed.”
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The NRC’s normal level of oversight at each U.S. nuclear power plant involves thousands of 

hours of inspection. In 2014, the agency devoted approximately 5,960 hours at FitzPatrick.

The NRC issues reports on performance at each plant 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 a quarterly basis on the agency’s website. Following the release of the annual 

assessment letters each March, the NRC meets with the public in the vicinity of each plant to discuss 

the results.

Normal inspections are performed by the two Resident Inspectors assigned to FitzPatrick. 

Reviews are also carried out at the sites by specialist inspectors assigned to the agency’s Region I 

Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas to be inspected this year at FitzPatrick are permanent 

plant modifications, the plant’s dry cask storage facility and operator licensing. In addition, the NRC 

will perform an audit at FitzPatrick with respect to some of the agency’s post-Fukushima requirements, 

namely “Mitigation Strategies for Beyond-Design-Basis External Events” and enhanced spent fuel pool 

instrumentation.

The Annual Assessment letter for FitzPatrick, as well as the notice for the April 23rd open 

house, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available for 

FitzPatrick.