FW: News Release 98-168 - Suspension of SALP Reports

["Judd M. Sills" <sillsj@gat.com>]

FYI for US Power Reactor folks....
Judd M. Sills, CHP
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
San Clemente, CA
Phone: 949-368-6693 
Fax:   949-368-9841
email: sillsjm@songs.sce.com  or
       sillsj@gat.com

------------------- 98-168.txt follows -------------------
           United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
                     Office of Public Affairs
                       Washington, DC 20555
              Phone 301-415-8200   Fax 301-415-2234
                       Internet:opa@nrc.gov
                                 
No. 98-168                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
                               (Wednesday, September 16, 1998)
                                
                                
            NRC SUSPENDS SALP PROGRAM UNTIL REVIEW 
         OF PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT PROCESS IS COMPLETED


     The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has suspended its
Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) program for
an interim period until the NRC staff completes a  review of its
nuclear power plant performance assessment process. At the end of
the process, the Commission will decide whether to resume the
SALP program or substitute something regarded as more effective.

     The decision to suspend SALP is part of a larger plan to
improve NRC's regulatory effectiveness.  The plan represents a
consolidation, refinement and acceleration of a set of ongoing
initiatives in the following areas: reactor licensee performance
assessment; risk-informed, performance-based regulations; reactor
inspection and enforcement; licensing activities; NRC's
organizational structure; and a number of specific issues
requiring prompt and sound decisions. 
     
     L. Joseph Callan, NRC's Executive Director of Operations,
outlined the plan in a recent memorandum to NRC Chairman Shirley
Ann Jackson.  It responds to issues raised in a recent
congressional hearing and by other stakeholders.

      Resources saved by suspending the SALP program will be used
to accelerate the staff's effort to redesign its regulatory
practices to reflect in a more timely and efficient manner the
performance of a mature nuclear industry.  The NRC staff will
make recommendations to the Commission at the conclusion of the
review early next year.

     SALP evaluations were conducted by regional and headquarters
NRC staff every 12 to 24 months to assess performance of each
licensed nuclear power plant.  The SALP program has been in
existence for almost 20 years.  

     During the interim period that the SALP program is
suspended, the NRC will utilize the results of its  plant
performance reviews to provide nuclear power plant performance
information to licensees, state and local officials, and the
public.  These reviews are intended to identify performance
trends since the previous assessment and make any appropriate
changes to the NRC's inspection plans.   Since beginning the
Plant Performance Review process in 1988, the NRC has
continuously improved it to the point that these reviews now use
similar information and address many of the objectives of the
SALP program.  As a result, licensee performance will be assessed
in much the same way as in the SALP process, and on a more
frequent basis.               

     NRC staff plans to inform nuclear power licensees of further
details about the suspension of its SALP program in the near
future.


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