The precedent-setting action could greatly reduce maintenance costs for STP and other nuclear plants. The NRC granted the exemption in August after an exhaustive safety review that spanned three years and included more than 14,000 hours of scrutiny by agency staff.
James Sheppard, Vice President of Engineering and Technical Services at STP, said: "This is a significant and unprecedented achievement for STP and the nuclear energy industry. We're going to implement this change very carefully over the next two years. When fully implemented, this will produce significant savings in electricity production costs at STP. It can do the same for other nuclear power plants that institute it."
