NRC TO DISCUSS ‘SAFETY CONSCIOUS WORK ENVIRONMENT’
AT SUSQUEHANNA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AT PUBLIC MEETING ON JULY 6
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NRC staff will meet with PPL representatives on Monday, July 6, to discuss the Susquehanna nuclear power plant’s “safety conscious work environment” as a follow-up to earlier concerns at the plant.  A safety conscious work environment is one in which safety issues are promptly identified and effectively resolved and in which employees feel free to raise safety concerns without fear of retaliation.
                                                                   
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Susquehanna Energy Information Center, at 634 Salem Blvd. in Berwick, Pa. Prior to the meeting’s adjournment, NRC staff will answer questions from the public. Also, the meeting will be preceded by an hour-long, informal information session for the public on the subject scheduled to start at 3 p.m. at the same location.

Among the areas to be covered during the formal meeting will be: the status of the safety conscious work environment at the Susquehanna site; the plant operator’s plans for further evaluating the health of that environment; the effectiveness of actions taken to date; and a description of PPL’s plans to preclude a “chilled” work environment going forward.

“We will continue to independently assess the safety conscious work environment at Susquehanna to ensure employees are not hesitant to raise safety concerns to their management or to the NRC,” NRC Region I Administration Samuel J. Collins said. “Information provided by PPL at the July 6th meeting will help us better determine the course of our future inspection activities in this area.”

Susquehanna, which is the site of two boiling-water reactors, is located in Salem Township (Luzerne County), Pa. It is owned and operated by PPL.

On Jan. 28, 2009, based on several work environment issues during 2008, the NRC issued a letter to PPL requesting, in part, a description of PPL’s plans to address existing safety conscious work environment concerns in order to preclude a chilled work environment at Susquehanna, as well as plans for further evaluation of the environment. The company responded to the letter and discussed steps it was taking to address the issues. The NRC continues to evaluate the adequacy of the company’s response and related activities. In addition, the agency continues to monitor PPL’s progress through its regular inspection program and will discuss the subject in the Mid-Year Assessment Letter for the plant, due to be issued in September.

A copy of the Jan. 28th letter to PPL can be found in the NRC’s ADAMS electronic document system at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The letter is available under accession number ML090280115. PPL’s responses to the letter are available under accession numbers ML090620124, ML090760146 and ML091320287. A copy of the meeting notice, including the agenda, is available under accession number ML091480583. Help in using ADAMS can be obtained via the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009