Brunswick Rated as "Superior" in Two Areas and "Good" in Two Areas in NRC Report.

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 1997--CP&L's Brunswick Nuclear Plant has received the NRC's Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance for the period May 1995 through May 1997. In the report, Operations and Maintenance were rated as "Superior" and Engineering and Plant Support were rated as "Good".

"This report indicates that the core functions of operating and maintaining the plant continue to be at an outstanding level," said C.S. "Scotty" Hinnant, Brunswick Plant Vice President. "Excellent plant operations and quality maintenance have led to safe operation and to record electrical generation in the past two years."

Hinnant added "during this SALP period functions which support plant operations have been good, but they have faced challenges that have kept them from achieving the very top level of performance that we expect of ourselves. We recognize that the standards for performance in our industry are rising, but our goal is to achieve and sustain superior performance in every area of evaluation."

In a letter attached to the report, NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes said the "superior performance" in Plant Operations "was characterized by good management oversight through control of daily plant activities and a clear understanding of management expectations."

He said "maintenance performance was also superior with record-setting plant availability, well managed outages, and low maintenance backlogs."

Reyes wrote that "engineering performance was rated good." He noted that while engineering support to operations showed "significant improvement," issues relating to modifications and "the implementation of corrective action programs including the Environmental Qualification area program detracted from a higher category rating."

Plant support includes radiological control, emergency preparedness, security, fire protection and housekeeping. The report notes "superior" radioactive waste programs, a "superior level of performance" of emergency preparedness equipment and facilities during exercises and actual events, and a "high level of performance" in implementing security operation. The report notes that while the collective exposure to radiation at Brunswick was high relative to other similar nuclear plants, "radiation doses to individuals were controlled to levels well below limits in NRC regulations." The report also notes that during the SALP period CP&L identified deficiencies in the fitness-for-duty and access authorization programs, "which were corrected during the latter part of the assessment period."

CONTACT: Carolina Power & Light

Mac Harris, 910/457-3113, pager - 910/754-0221