NRC's Mid-Year Review Shows 22 of 100 U.S. Nuclear Reactors in Need of Improvement

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last week, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) released its 2014 mid-cycle assessment letters to the 62 commercially operating nuclear plants across the nation. The letters, which detail the status of each plant's performance for the first half of the year, are expected to be released publicly on October 20, 2014.

Of the 100 operational nuclear reactors in the U.S., the number in the NRC's top two performance categories had increased to 90 in the mid-cycle assessment, from 89 in the 2013 end-year assessment.

However, the number of reactors that met all safety and security performance measurements decreased from 80 to 78, following this cycle's round of baseline inspections.

The NRC uses the Reactor Oversight Process to review plant performance in three areas: reactor safety, radiation safety and security. Those categories then are broken down into seven factors: initiating events, mitigating systems, barrier integrity, emergency preparedness, occupational radiation safety, public radiation safety and physical protection.

The commission said that 12 reactors needed to take corrective action to address issues of low safety significance before they could be placed in the highest category:

• Browns Ferry Unit 3
• Clinton Unit 1
• Fermi Unit 2
• Fitzpatrick Unit 1
• Ginna Unit 1
• Grand Gulf Unit 1
• La Salle Unit 2
• Oconee Unit 1
• Point Beach Unit 2
• Prairie Island Unit 2
• Waterford Unit 3
• Wolf Creek Unit 1

Grand Gulf and La Salle already have addressed their cited issued and have transitioned to the highest level since the reporting period ended.

Eight reactors were reported to be in the third category, which indicates a lower level of performance. Each requires more oversight and inspections from the NRC:

• Arkansas Nuclear units 1 and 2
• Browns Ferry Unit 2
• Duane Arnold Unit 1
• Monticello Unit 1
• Pilgrim Unit 1
• Point Beach Unit 1
• Susquehanna Unit 2

At the time of the report, Browns Ferry 1 was in the fourth performance category, but it already has transitioned to the second-highest level after addressing its reported issues. Duane Arnold since has transitioned to the highest level.

The NRC currently has the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station under a special oversight program due to shutdowns associated with significant performance issues. The commission cleared the plant to resume operations in December 2013, but it will remain part of the oversight program until further notice.

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