The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun making available on the Internet monthly performance data collected from nine US nuclear plants (13 units) that have been participating in a six-month pilot test of the agency’s new inspection, assessment and enforcement processes.
The data, which is posted on the NRC’s Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/index.htm show how each of the nine plants is performing, as measured by 19 indicators.
The US nuclear industry has described the new NRC approach as “the most sweeping change in federal oversight in 20 years”.
The new system is designed to replace the Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance ratings and the hated ‘watch list’.
The new approach aims to focus on plant activities which are most important to safety and to avoid spending NRC and industry resources on issues, like antitrust concerns, which have little safety significance.
The NRC plans to implement the revised reactor oversight process for all plants in April 2000. The NRC’s Web site will provide plant-status information through quarterly reports.
The plants participating in the pilot test are: Hope Creek in New Jersey; Salem 1 and 2 in New Jersey; Fitzpatrick in New York; Shearon Harris in North Carolina; Sequoyah 1 and 2 in Tennessee; Prairie Island 1 and 2 in Minnesota; Quad Cities 1 and 2 in Illinois; Ft Calhoun in Nebraska; and Cooper in Nebraska.
