NRC To Hold Public Meeting On Oyster Creek

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss the annual assessment of Oyster Creek Generating Station on Thursday, May 26 at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn at 290 Route 37 East in Toms River.

“Our annual assessment reviews allow us to step back and gauge whether the nuclear power plants we regulate are on the right track in terms of performance and adhering to the highest levels of safety,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said. “Once we’ve completed these evaluations, we reach out to the public to share that information and to receive their feedback at a location near each plant. We welcome and value these exchanges.”

Following the presentation of the NRC’s Annual Assessment, the public will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding Oyster Creek’s performance and the agency’s oversight of the facility.

According to the NRC’s Annual Assessment, Oyster Creek operated safely during 2010.

The NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process measures reactors according to a color-coded inspection scale — green represents very low safety significance, while white, yellow, and red increase in significance respectively.

The NRC dedicated approximately 5,230 hours to inspections for Oyster Creek, including three major team inspections. Inspections check areas such as the dry cask storage of spent fuel, emergency preparedness, radiological safety and the plant’s radiological environmental monitoring program.

None of the inspection findings at the conclusion of last year were ranked greater than green.

Three green inspection findings from the NRC’s quarterly report included a disconnection of a line attached to Oyster Creek’s stack; four snubbers, or shock absorbers for piping, failed; and an automatic reactor scram.

To learn more about those issues read “.”

The NRC issues its review of Oyster Creek twice a year. The assessments can be find on the NRC’s website, www.nrc.gov, which is updated each quarter. The annual assessment letter for Oyster Creek is also available on the NRC website.

Oyster Creek is owned by Exelon Corporation and is the oldest operating nuclear plant in the country. It has the capacity to supply electricity to 600,000 homes and brings in $96 million to the state’s economy through plant workers' payroll.