Wednesday, April 22, 2020

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Three TVA Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release
No: II-20-011 April 21, 2020
Contact: Roger Hannah, 404-997-4417

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Three TVA Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2019 safety performance of the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar nuclear power plants during a virtual meeting scheduled for April 30.

The three-unit Browns Ferry plant is located in north Alabama, and the Sequoyah and Watts Bar plants, both of which have two units, are in east Tennessee. All three plants are operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The session will be held from 2-4 p.m., Eastern Time, with NRC employees responsible for plant inspections participating, including the resident inspectors based at the site. The meeting will be accessible via Skype. For individuals without access to Skype, the telephone conference number is 301-415-0333, passcode is 74672#.

The NRC determined that the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar nuclear power plants operated safely during 2019 and all three plants are currently under the NRC’s normal level of oversight.

The NRC Reactor Oversight Process, which requires thousands of hours of inspection each year, 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 at the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar plants are performed by NRC resident inspectors and other inspection specialists from the Region II office in Atlanta.

The annual assessment letters for the Browns Ferry plant, the Sequoyah plant, and the Watts Bar plant, which include upcoming inspection plans for the plants, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Browns Ferry Unit 1Browns Ferry Unit 2Browns Ferry Unit 3Sequoyah Unit 1Sequoyah Unit 2Watts Bar Unit 1, and Watts Bar Unit 2, is also available, updated on a quarterly basis.

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