The Nuclear Regulatory Commission mailed 99 assessments to 99 operating nuclear power plants this week summing up their safety and security performances for 2017.
The nation's nuclear regulator said all but three plants in the country were in the two highest performance categories. Of the 96 highest performing, 83 met all safety and security performance objectives in the year. These plants were inspected by the regulator using the “baseline” inspection program, which is the level of scrutiny afforded plants with stellar track records and no outstanding safety or security issues presented to inspectors.
Among those plants, the regulator said that 13 of them needed resolution of one or two issues of minor safety significance.
Regulatory oversight and additional inspections aimed at corrective actions were required at Browns Ferry 1, 2 and 3 in Alabama; Catawba 2 in South Caroline; Clinton in Illinois, Columbia in Washington state; Diablo Canyon in California; Fermi 2 in Michigan; Grand Gulf in Mississippi; Perry in Ohio; Sequoyah 1 and 2 in Tennessee; and Wolf Creek in Kansas.
The NRC noted that Diablo Canyon and Fermi 2 plant operators had already resolved their findings since the reporting period ended. They have been returned to the highest performance level status.
While there were no U.S. reactors judged to be in the third performance category, three reactors – Arkansas Nuclear One 1 and 2 and Pilgrim in Massachusetts are both in the fourth performance category.
The first of these, Arkansas One 1 and 2 were found to have two substantially significant safety findings, while Pilgrim remains in category four “because of long-standing issues of low-to-moderate safety significance,” the NRC said.
These two plants will be subjected to increased scrutiny with intensified inspection schedules until the issues are resolved.
Anonymous comments will be moderated. Join for free and post now!