No: III-15-008 April 3, 2015

CONTACT: Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662

 Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663

NRC Schedules Public Meeting Apr. 9

to Discuss Performance of Palisades Nuclear Power Station

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold an open house followed by a public meeting 

Apr. 9 to discuss the annual safety performance of the Palisades Nuclear Power Station. The plant is 

operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc. and is located in Covert, Mich., five miles south of South 

Haven.

The open house is scheduled for 5-6 p.m. EDT and will provide the public with the opportunity 

to discuss past and current issues of concern with the NRC staff. For the first time this year, NRC 

inspectors will be available to discuss the regulation of radioactive material at facilities such as local 

hospitals, engineering firms and other industrial facilities. The open house will be followed by a formal 

public meeting scheduled for 6-8 p.m. EDT during which the NRC staff will discuss the plant’s 2014 

performance and the NRC inspection activities to date. The meeting will be held at the Beach Haven 

Event Center, 10420 M-140, in South Haven.

“In addition to our discussion on plant performance and the NRC’s actions to ensure safety, we 

have invited NRC experts in specific areas of concern to the Palisades community to be available to 

talk to people one-on-one during the open house.” said NRC Region III Administrator Cynthia D. 

Pederson. “We are also excited to have our inspectors specializing in nuclear safety at hospitals, 

clinics, engineering firms, and industrial plants on hand to talk about the important work they do.”

The NRC concluded that, overall, the Palisades facility operated safely last year. 

For the first three quarters of 2014, the Palisades plant was in Column 1 of the NRC's 

performance action matrix, which means it received standard NRC oversight. The plant moved to 

Column 2 in the fourth quarter, leading to increased inspection hours and oversight. This was due to a 

white finding of low-to-moderate safety significance involving the plant’s failure to adequately assess 

the radiation dose to workers conducting a component replacement activity in Feb. and March, 2014. 

The incident did not have a negative impact on worker or public health. The plant has taken corrective 

actions to address the violation. The NRC will conduct a focused inspection to determine if the 

facility’s efforts to address the issue have been effective.

The NRC’s 2014 assessment letter discusses the NRC’s independent review of the plant’s 

efforts to address the chilled work environment within the security department. A Feb. 2014 NRC 

inspection found that some Palisades security officers felt that they were not free to raise safety 
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concerns without fear of retaliation. In December, the NRC conducted an in-depth inspection to 

independently assess the effectiveness of the plant’s actions to address this weakness. NRC inspectors 

“concluded that although the Palisades Security Department no longer had a chilled work environment; 

the cultural improvements remained fragile and vulnerable to events that might be perceived negatively 

by the security officers.” The NRC will perform an additional review to determine if the plant’s 

improvements have been sustained and if additional NRC oversight is warranted.

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

plant performance. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow,” or “red,” 

commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Performance indicators are statistical 

measurements of plant and equipment performance. 

This year, in addition to the follow-up inspections on the white finding and the Safety 

Conscious Work Environment, Palisades will continue to receive the detailed inspection regime used 

by the NRC for all plants. Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors 

assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill., and the 

agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Md. 

The most current performance information for Palisades is available on the NRC website .