Reports Show Surry Nuclear Plant Safe; Public Meeting Wednesday

By WYDaily Staff Monday, April 04, 2011

The safety of the Surry nuclear power plant will be up for discussion at a public meeting Wednesday.

The meeting is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. at the Surry Government Center, 45 School Street, in Surry. It will begin with a brief presentation, then U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will be available to answer questions on the safety performance of the Surry plant last year. They'll also be prepared to explain the NRC's role in ensuring safe plant operation.

The Surry plant is operated by Dominion.

“Each year, the NRC evaluates the safety performance of nuclear plants in a detailed and systematic way,” NRC Region II Administrator Victor McCree said in a press release. “The inspections and oversight at Surry ensure that the plant is operated in a way that protects people near the plant as well as the environment.”

A letter sent from the NRC Region II office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during 2010 and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site by clicking here.

The NRC found that the performance of both units at the Surry plant met all of the agency’s safety objectives in 2010 and was at a level that results in no additional NRC oversight. In 2010, all NRC inspection findings and performance indicators were “green” at the Surry plant.

The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess plant performance. The colors start with “green,” which has very low safety significance, to “white,” which means low to moderate safety significance, to “yellow” or “red,” based on the significance of the issues. Inspection findings and performance indicators are updated on the NRC’s web site each quarter, and are available for public viewing by clicking here.

This year, the NRC plans to continue to conduct the very detailed inspections at Surry required at those plants that are operating well. In addition, the agency will complete some generic inspections related to managing gas accumulation in emergency core cooling, decay heat removal and containment spray systems.

Current performance information for Surry Unit 1 is available on the NRC web site by clicking here. Current performance information for Unit 2 is available by clicking here.