NRC to host Open House at Oconee Nuclear Power Station

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2017 safety performance of the Oconee Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Duke Energy during an open house on March 20, at the World of Energy, which is located at 7812 Rochester Highway, near Seneca. The open house will run from 6-7pm, and NRC employees responsible for plant inspections, including the resident inspectors based full-time at the site, will be available to discuss its performance. The NRC concluded that the Oconee Plant operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety during 2017. At the end of the year, all inspection findings and performance indicators were green or of low safety significance. As a result, the three Oconee units remain under the NRC’s normal level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year. The NRC Reactor Oversight Process uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight. Inspections are performed by three NRC resident inspectors and inspection specialists from the NRC Region II office in Atlanta. The annual assessment letter for the Oconee Plant, as well as the notice for the open house, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Oconee Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3 is also available.