U.S. NRC issued the following announcement on March 22.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will be available to discuss the 2017 safety performance of the Clinton nuclear power station, operated by Exelon Generation Co., during the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau’s Business Expo on March 28, in Clinton, Ill.
The business expo will be held from 4-7 p.m., at Clinton High School, 1200 Highway 54, in Clinton. On hand to discuss the plant’s performance and the NRC’s oversight of the facility will be agency employees responsible for inspections of the plant, including the resident inspectors based at the site on a full-time basis.
Clinton operated safely during 2017. The plant has been receiving increased NRC oversight since the third quarter of the year due to a white finding of low to moderate safety significance involving an issue with an emergency diesel generator room ventilation fan. NRC inspectors also identified a second white finding related to a degraded condition on a safety-related pump as of the fourth quarter of last year.
The NRC Reactor Oversight Process uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight.
Clinton will remain under increased oversight until NRC conducts independent reviews to verify that Exelon has fully understood the causes for both white findings and has taken sufficient action to prevent recurrence.
In addition, the NRC identified a cross-cutting theme in the area of human performance. Cross-cutting themes, which affect multiple areas of plant operation, cannot be quantified and are not assigned safety significance. However, when a cross-cutting theme is identified at a plant, the NRC monitors the plant’s actions to address it until it is resolved.
Inspections are performed by two NRC resident inspectors and specialist inspectors from the agency’s Region III office in Lisle, Ill.
The annual assessment letter for Clinton, as well as the notice for the meeting, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available.
Original source can be found here.
