No. II-12-025 April 23, 2012

CONTACT: Roger Hannah (404) 997-4417 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov

 Joey Ledford (404) 997-4416

NRC SCHEDULES MEETING TO DISCUSS 2011 PERFORMANCE 

OF NORTH ANNA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, 

May 1, to discuss the agency’s assessment of safety performance during 2011 at the North Anna

nuclear power plant. The plant, operated by Dominion, is on Lake Anna about 40 miles 

northwest of Richmond. 

The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. at Louisa County 

Middle School, 1009 Davis Highway in Mineral, Va. After a brief presentation at 5, NRC staff 

will be available to answer questions on the safety performance of the North Anna plant last 

year, as well as the NRC role in ensuring safe plant operation. 

“During 2011, our inspectors spent many hours ensuring that the North Anna plant met 

NRC safety requirements and protected both people living near the plant and the environment,” 

NRC Region II Administrator Victor McCree said.

NRC inspectors also looked at whether there were immediate safety concerns at North 

Anna and other U.S. plants after the March 2011 events at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

The NRC conducted separate reviews after an earthquake near the North Anna plant in August.

Those reviews found that the units continued to operate safely.

A letter sent from the NRC Region II office to plant officials addresses the performance 

of the plant during 2011 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on 

the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/na_2011q4.pdf.

The NRC found that the performance of the North Anna plant met all of the agency’s

safety objectives in 2011 and was at a level that results in no additional NRC oversight.

However, the NRC has not finalized the significance of an inspection finding related to the 

failure of a gasket on one of the plant’s emergency diesel generators after the August earthquake. 

The failure was unrelated to the quake, but that determination could affect the NRC assessment 

and inspection level. 

The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess plant 

performance. The colors start with “green,” which has very low safety significance, to “white,” 

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which means low to moderate safety significance, to “yellow” or “red,” based on the significance 

of the issues. Inspection findings and performance indicators are updated on the NRC’s web site

(www.nrc.gov) each quarter. 

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

those plants that are operating well. In addition, the agency will complete some generic 

inspections related to operator licensing examinations, emergency preparedness, fire protection 

and buried piping.

Current performance information for North Anna Unit 1 is available on the NRC web site 

at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NA1/na1_chart.html. Current performance 

information for Unit 2 is at www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/NA2/na2_chart.html.

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