Waterford ― The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Connecticut Nuclear Advisory Council are inviting the public to attend a meeting on Thursday, May 16 where they will discuss the NRC’s most recent assessment of safety performance at Millstone Power Station.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Waterford Town Hall.

NRC Public Affairs officer Neil Sheehan said last week that these meetings are scheduled every year for all nuclear plants in the United States. Every year, NRC inspectors prepare an assessment letter of plants’ safety performance.

Sheehan said the inspectors are “there every day, walking the plant down, doing visual reviews.”

“They also look at the logs for the plant,” he said. “They’ll be there whenever there’s a major activity taking place ― they’ll oversee that. They’ll check whether or not the plant is operating in conformance with our requirements, with our regulations.”

After the assessments are done, Sheehan said they are sent to the plants, typically in late March. Then the NRC meets with public. The inspectors who prepared the 2023 assessment will present their findings at the public meeting, and hold a question and answer session, along with the state Nuclear Advisory Council.

“At the meeting coming up, we’ll talk to the council, but we’ll (also) talk to the public more broadly about how the plant is doing in terms of its compliance with these safety requirements,” Sheehan said.

This year’s assessment letter was delivered Feb. 28 to Eric Carr, the president of Dominion Energy, Inc. Dominion owns and operates the Millstone Power Station in Waterford.

The letter stated that inspectors’ 2023 findings were of “very low significance,” and that both operating reactors, Units 2 and 3, were operating within NRC regulations.

But while plant performance was within regulations, the letter made mention of issues relating to a “security event that occurred on Nov. 8, 2023,” that were documented in a separate special inspection report. It said the issues identified in that report have not yet been resolved, and may affect the NRC’s final assessment of plant performance.

In the Nov. 8 incident, the NRC preliminary determined that a former employee at Millstone willfully failed to follow procedures and NRC requirements. The individual’s actions placed the company in apparent violations of NRC requirements. Details of the alleged violations were not disclosed.

“There’s one security finding that’s pending for us right now that we’re looking at for escalating enforcement, but that has yet to be finalized,” Sheehan said.

The finding, which has not been reported publicly, is not expected to be discussed at the public meeting.

Before the NRC makes its final enforcement decision, Dominion has been offered the opportunity to attend a Predecisional Enforcement Conference, Regulatory Enforcement Conference, or to submit additional information in writing, Sheehan said.

“The plant operated safely all of last year and continues to operate safely now, and this is a look back on the performance last year,” said Diane Screnci, senior public affairs officer.

d.drainville@theday.com