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)