NRC To Hold Annual Assessment Of Oyster Creek On May 25 In Stafford

How safe was the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in 2016?

You can get some detailed answers from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission at a discussion slated for 6 p.m. on May 25 at the Holiday Inn in Manahawkin.

The NRC will discuss the Exelon-owned plant's performance and the NRC's oversight of the facility on Route 9 in Lacey Township.

NRC employees and resident inspectors on the site full-time will be on hand to answer any questions, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.

Sheehan said Oyster Creek operated safely during 2016, with no inspection findings or performance indicators outside of the normal range.

But on April 14, 2017, the NRC finalized a white inspection finding of low to moderate safety significance involving deficient maintenance work on a safety-related relief valve. The NRC discovered that the valve had malfunctioned for almost two years. The NRC stepped up oversight of the plant after that.

“Exelon will need to take steps to fix the underlying issues that contributed to this safety
concern,” said NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman. “When those steps have been taken, we will
send a team of inspectors to the plant to validate that the changes put in place are thorough,
comprehensive and improve the plant’s safety posture.”

An emergency relief valve at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant that malfunctioned for nearly two years has led to additional scrutiny by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an NRC spokesman said.

"NRC oversight of Oyster Creek will increase as a result of the finding's finalization," Shcchan has said. "Namely in the form of a team inspection that will be performed to evaluate Exelon's root cause analysis of why the problems occurred, steps it has taken to ensure there is not a recurrence; and its assessment of whether the problem could have implications for other parts of plant operations."

The finding involved a problem with one of the plant’s five electromagnetic relief valves, which are used to depressurize the reactor during a pipe break to allow coolant to be injected into the reactor core. That keeps the nuclear fuel in the reactor covered and cooled during the shutdown, he said.

The problem was identified during an NRC inspection at the end of 2016.

The NRC gauges plant performance through the use of color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators. Any findings great than green trigger more NRC oversight, Sheehan said.

Two resident inspectors at the plant perform day-to-day inspections.

The annual assessment letter for Oyster Creek, as well as the notice for the public meeting, are
available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available for the plant.

Image: Patricia A. Miller

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