The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a public webinar at 5:30 p.m. Eastern
time on May 22 to discuss the agency’s annual assessment of safety performance at nuclear power
plants in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
The performance of 17 nuclear power reactors will be addressed during the virtual session.
These facilities include the plants operated by Constellation Nuclear: Calvert Cliffs Units 1 and 2,
in Lusby, Maryland; Nine Mile Point Units 1 and 2 and FitzPatrick, in Scriba, New York; Ginna, in
Ontario Township, New York; Limerick Units 1 and 2, in Limerick, Pennsylvania; and Peach
Bottom Units 2 and 3, in Delta, Pennsylvania.
In addition, the NRC staff will discuss performance at Salem Units 1 and 2 and Hope Creek,
in Hancocks Bridge, New Jersey, operated by PSEG; Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2, in Shippingport,
Pennsylvania, operated by Vistra Corp.; and Susquehanna Units 1 and 2, in Salem Township,
Pennsylvania, operated by Talen Energy.
During the webinar, NRC staff will provide information regarding the plants’ safety
performance in 2023 and the NRC’s oversight activities at the facilities in 2024. All of the plants to
be discussed operated safely in 2023.
Participants can register for the meeting in advance via this online form or listen by phone.
The teleconference number is 301-576-2978, passcode 955 873 798#. Attendees will be able to ask
the NRC staff questions at the meeting.
At the conclusion of last year, the Calvert Cliffs Unit 1 nuclear plant was in the Regulatory
Response Column of the NRC’s Action Matrix and therefore under additional agency scrutiny. This
was due to an inspection finding determined to be “white,” or of low to moderate safety
significance, issued to the plant in October 2023. The issue stemmed from the company’s failure to
establish and implement appropriate procedures and instructions for maintaining one of the plant’s
safety-significant emergency diesel generators, leading to its temporary unavailability.
Constellation Nuclear was required to review the root causes of the problem and develop
corrective actions. Once that was accomplished, NRC inspectors performed a supplemental
inspection, in March 2024, and found the company’s evaluations and remedial actions to be
acceptable. As such, the finding was closed out and the unit was returned to the Licensee Response
Column, or the baseline level of inspections conducted by the NRC.
Another Region I plant, Peach Bottom Unit 2, was under additional NRC oversight during a
portion of 2023 based on the use of an inappropriate procedure during a shutdown on May 16, 2022,
that resulted in a “white” inspection finding. However, an NRC supplemental inspection completed
in June 2023 found Constellation Nuclear had performed a thorough root cause evaluation and put
in place appropriate corrective actions. As a result, based on those inspection results, that finding
was closed in July 2023, and the plant returned to the Licensee Response Column of the Action
Matrix.
The other Region I plants to be discussed during the webinar had inspection findings and
performance indicators assessed as “green,” or of very low safety significance. As a result, each of
those plants in 2024 will receive the normal level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of
inspection each year.
The Reactor Oversight Process uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to assess
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.
Inspections are performed by NRC resident inspectors assigned to each of the plants, as well
as specialists from the agency’s Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
The annual assessment letters for the plants are available on the NRC website. Current
performance information for all of the units is also available on the website and are updated on a
quarterly basis.
