NRC Finds "Steady Progress" in Work Leading to Restart at Clinton Nuclear Plant in Latest Review

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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532

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NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT: RIII-99-23
April 5, 1999

CONTACT:

Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov Angela Greenman (630) 829-9662/e-mail: opa3@nrc.gov

 

NRC FINDS "STEADY PROGRESS" IN WORK LEADING TO RESTART
AT CLINTON NUCLEAR PLANT IN LATEST REVIEW

**April 16 Meeting Planned to Discuss Review & Plant Restart**

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has found Illinois Power Company is making "steady progress" in addressing work needed for restart of the Clinton Nuclear Power Station in the NRC's latest plant performance review. The plant is located near Clinton, Illinois.

The performance review covered the period from April 1997 through January.

The NRC staff will meet with utility officials on April 16 to discuss the findings of the performance review and the readiness of the plant to restart. The Clinton plant has been shut down since September 1996 for performance improvement activities and modifications.

The meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. in the utility's Energy and Environmental Center, which is six miles east of Clinton on Illinois Highway 54. The meeting is open to public observation. NRC officials will be available following the meeting for questions from members of the public and the news media.

In a letter to Illinois Power Company, Geoffrey Grant, Division Director in the NRC's Region III Office, noted that the plant has remained shut down while work was performed to address problems identified by the NRC staff and the utility.

"Steady progress has been made to address these items," he said. "However, a recurring theme for many of the closure packages for the restart items presented to the NRC for review was that comprehensive plans to address the items were developed but not all aspects of the plans had been sufficiently implemented to warrant closure of the items."

Grant continued, "The three areas of most concern with the performance at Clinton are operator performance, corrective action program implementation, and the resolution of engineering design issues."

The text of the plant performance review letter is available from the NRC Region III Office of Public Affairs and on the NRC web site.

NRC reviews safety performance twice a year at every licensed nuclear power plant in the nation. These reviews give the agency staff an integrated assessment of plant performance and provide a basis for planning inspection activities.

Plant performance reviews are an interim measure NRC is using to monitor nuclear power plant safety. The agency began using it for this purpose after suspending the Systematic Assessment of License Performance (SALP) process until a new assessment program is developed. Previously, SALP reports were issued every 12 to 24 months.

The new reactor oversight and assessment program being developed will provide quarterly performance reports, based on a number of performance indicators and on inspection findings. This program will be tested at eight sites beginning in June and will be extended to all plants next January. A full description of the new program is available on the NRC web site.