1. Bureau of Radiological Health (BRH) Accomplishment Review
2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Holds Public Exit Meeting
3. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Holds Public Annual Assessment Meeting for Oyster Creek
4. Radon Section Outreach

1. Bureau of Radiological Health (BRH) Accomplishment Review

On April 20, 2006 a meeting was held with all BRH staff to review accomplishments as compared to the fiscal year 2006 work plan and to discuss various budgetary and operational issues. Such meetings are held three times a year in order to keep staff apprised of more global department issues, to review past accomplishments, to discuss future goals and directions, and to receive training when applicable.

Meeting highlights focused on inspection accomplishments to date. As of the third quarter FY2006, the bureau had completed 88 percent of its targeted inspection goals. The bureau discussed remaining inspection priorities which are focused on hospital and medical quality assurance inspections. Also discussed were current and future staffing issues in light of upcoming retirements and budgetary constraints.

Ms. Martz and Ms. Clawson gave a brief overview of a three-day course they attended on project management. They provided excellent examples of how the instruction they received could be applied to work functions at all levels throughout the bureau.

The meeting ended with a technical discussion involving inspector and management staff. Al Orlandi reviewed the recently published Conference on Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) document "Nationwide Evaluation of X-ray Trends (NEXT) 2002 on Abdomen/Lumbosacral Spine Survey". Each year, the CRCPD in cooperation with the Federal Drug Agency and state radiation control programs evaluates a chosen x-ray study by performing extensive testing on more than 300 x-ray machines nation wide using specified testing protocols and equipment. The most recent study conducted in 2002 and published this past April was performed on x-ray equipment used in abdomen/lumbosacral spine x-ray studies. The bureau compared the 2002 NEXT data and is pleased to report that New Jersey patient radiation dose is an average eleven percent lower than the national average for abdomen/lumbosacral spine examinations.

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2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Holds Public Exit Meeting

On April 20, 2006 the NRC conducted their public exit meeting at the Lacey Township Municipal Building for the Oyster Creek license renewal team audits conducted by Nuclear Reactor Regulation and Brookhaven National Laboratory contractors. The meeting was held in two parts. The first part was the actual exit meeting between AmerGen and the NRC. The public could observe. The second part was a question and answer session between the NRC and the public. Approximately 100 people attended this meeting including two engineers from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections Bureau of Nuclear Engineering (BNE). The BNE had also been present during the audits. Three Vice Presidents from AmerGen represented Oyster Creek during the exit meeting including the new Oyster Creek Site Vice President.

The meeting was not transcribed.

The results from the exit meeting were that AmerGen has supplied sufficient information to the NRC on all but three issues being reviewed by the NRC to determine if the Oyster Creek's aging management plans (AMP's) and reviews (AMR's) are adequate. The NRC seemed satisfied with AmerGen's AMRs and AMPs but the conclusions will be documented in a future report. The three topics still under NRC review are Medal Fatigue, ASME Section XI Drywell Inspections, and Torus and Drywell protective coating monitoring. For these topics, the NRC team had given specific questions to AmerGen. AmerGen has provided responses to these questions but the NRC has not yet completed their review of these responses. Any future questions on these topics will be handled in a formal request for additional information.

The question and answer session between the public and the NRC lasted about an hour and a half. The public objected that the meeting was not being transcribed because that would have allowed the NRC's responses to be on the record and used in the contentions hearing process.

The public asked the NRC for their basis to conclude that drywell thickness measurements taken by Oyster Creek should be considered proprietary and withheld from the public if there were no problems to hide and that the measurements do not represent any trademark or competitive information.

Some of the issues raised to NRC personnel included evacuations, terrorist attacks, Chernobyl, Yucca Mountain, and renewable energy sources. The pending litigation concerning ultrasonic testing of the containment liner impacted the amount of information the NRC was able to share.

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3. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Holds Public Annual Assessment Meeting for Oyster Creek

The NRC held its annual public meeting to present their assessment of AmerGen's performance for 2005 relative to the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. The meeting was held Monday evening, April 24, 2006, at the Toms River Emergency Operations Facility.

The meeting between the NRC and AmerGen began around 7:00pm and concluded at 8:20pm. There was a short break and then the NRC opened up the floor to take questions and comments. The open session lasted until 10:15pm. There were three press staff and about fifteen members of the public at the meeting. The remaining 60 people were AmerGen employees and federal, state and county government representatives.

Ron Bellamy, the NRC's Branch Chief, presented an overview of the oversight process and a summary of the inspection effort and findings for 2005. Sam Collins, the NRC's Regional Administrator, discussed the two white Emergency Preparedness findings and the "degraded cornerstone" concept. The degraded cornerstone will result in a special NRC inspection of Emergency Preparedness in May 2006.

Mr. Collins discussed the crosscutting issue with corrective action program weakness that was included in the 2004 assessment. He stated that the issue was closed based on improved human performance at Oyster Creek.

AmerGen was asked to respond to the NRC's assessment. Mr. Bud Swenson explained that Tim Rausch was the new Site Vice President. Bud then gave a presentation of the highlights at Oyster Creek for 2005, which included the 98.2% capacity factor, implementation of a new corrective action program, the historically low dose to plant personnel, and the employees' contribution to the United Way.

Bud then explained the tritium investigation underway at all Exelon sites. He stated that Oyster Creek already had 106 wells to use as sampling points. The samples will be taken, results compiled, and redial measures taken if necessary. He provided no conclusions or predictions on the outcome.

During the open part of the meeting, the questions from the public focussed on terrorism/security, evacuations, and Yucca Mountain.

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4. Radon Section Outreach

Radon staff attended the Atlantic Builders' Convention in Atlantic City on April 26 - 28, 2006. Staff discussed and distributed information about the radon hazard sub code, radon health risks and the radon potential map.

Three municipalities will receive an award for their radon outreach efforts: Township of Galloway, Borough of Ridgefield, and Borough of Palisades Park. The presenter and location are currently being discussed with senior management.

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