The Nuclear Regulatory Commission updated its earlier annual assessment of Columbia Generating Station’s 2017 performance, placing the plant in its highest-performance category. The column 1 designation means Columbia met all safety and security performance objectives for the year.

In a letter dated today, the NRC said that after further review an August 2017 unplanned shutdown did not meet the criteria that would have pushed Columbia into column 2. Columbia’s move to column 1 is retroactive to the first of the year.

Each year, the NRC issues letters to the nation’s 99 commercial nuclear power plants operating in 2017 regarding their operational performance throughout the year. All but three plants were in the two highest performance categories.

Of the 96 highest-performing reactors, 84 met all safety and security performance objectives, and were inspected by the NRC using the standard “baseline” inspection program, including Columbia Generating Station.

Information on the NRC’s oversight of commercial nuclear power plants is available through the NRC’s webpage on the Reactor Oversight Process. The NRC routinely updates information on each plant’s current performance and posts the latest information as it becomes available to the action matrix summary. Assessment letters are posted here​; ​click on “2017q4” for each plant. Annual construction oversight assessments for new reactors at the Vogtle units 3 and 4 sites are also on the NRC website.​

(Some of the information in this update previously released by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission)