The Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission met with the Connecticut Nuclear Energy Advisory Council on Thursday to discuss Millstone Nuclear Power Station's 2020 safety performance.

While Millstone had several unplanned power changes, the NRC determined that "all inspection findings and performance indicators were green, or of very low safety significance," according to a notice from the NRC about the meeting. "As a result, both units remain under the NRC's normal level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year."

Daniel Schroeder, an NRC branch chief for the Division of Reactor Projects, delivered the first presentation about the NRC's findings on Millstone. Schroeder said that NRC inspectors, who have "unfettered access" to everything related to nuclear safety and security, found eight violations for the year during more than 8,000 hours of inspection and related activities. None of these violations was serious enough to alter the NRC's determination that Millstone Units 2 and 3 "operated safely and in a manner that preserved the public health and safety and protected the environment."

Schroeder said Millstone's corrective action program, its audits, self-assessments and efforts at creating a safety-conscious work environment are "adequate." He noted three allegations in 2020, which is equal to or lower than the industry mean.

The Day Editorial Board met with leaders from Millstone Nuclear Power Station's owner Dominion Energy in January. Dominion Senior Vice President and chief nuclear officer Dan Stoddard assured the board at the time that Millstone is a safety-conscious work environment, meaning employees don't fear coming forward if they see a nuclear safety issue that makes them uncomfortable. He said Dominion and Millstone emphasize engaging with employees on the ground "daily to understand what issues and concerns they may have."

"We still have an employee concerns program, as every nuclear plant has, to provide a means for reporting concerns outside the normal management chain. There's also a process where people can go directly to the NRC," Stoddard said. "We also have a built-in reporting tool called our Corrective Action Program where people, if they have an equipment, procedure or process problem or concern, can write a condition report, get that into the system and get it reviewed and evaluated."

Schroeder next touched on how Millstone handled the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Each nuclear power plant has minimum staffing requirements for different personnel positions — Schroeder said these requirements were not challenged at Millstone in 2020. He said Millstone delayed the start of the 2020 refuel outage by one week and reduced the scope of the work to reduce the number of contract workers on site.

"Prior to the Spring 2020 outage, the Unit 2 outage, the licensee tested approximately 500 critical staff and contractors for COVID-19," Schroeder said. "The licensee's COVID-19 guidelines minimized the impact to station operations and to refueling outages this year."

Millstone experienced a sharp increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases in November 2020, Schroeder said, "but the licensee handled it well." He said Millstone "does not see any evidence that this increase was related to the Unit 3 refueling outage" and that "Residents have not observed any significant impacts from COVID-19 on the safety and security of Millstone Power Station."

Millstone employees had a different view during the first refueling outage. In May 2020, during the early months of the pandemic and in the midst of refueling one of its two active nuclear reactors, a process that brought in hundreds of temporary workers, multiple cases of COVID-19 were reported. The arrival of new workers caused concern among some of the employees, including security officer Jim Foley, who said security officers had to "fight" for personal protective equipment as well as partitions at access points to separate staff from security.

Foley said the contracted workers were "staying in rental houses and hotels and eating out in the area." Millstone spokesperson Ken Holt said at the time: "We really can't take account for what they're doing outside of Millstone. We're focused on them when they're at work." He also said a lot of the new on-site personnel live in the area.

While Millstone normally would bring in 1,000 outside people to work on the outage, that number was cut to 750. Millstone also had to deal with the fact that three control room operators tested positive for COVID-19 around the same time.

Senior Resident Inspector Justin Fuller followed Schroeder with a presentation addressing NEAC's concerns and items of interest. He spent much of his time describing unplanned downpowers at Millstone in 2020. There were several instances of unplanned power changes due to weather between April 1 and Dec. 31, two of which were caused by Tropical Storm Isaias. Fuller said inspectors "have not identified any safety significant findings at this time" for these incidents.

An earthquake on Nov. 8 exposed "seismic housekeeping issues at both units." Fuller said the earthquake wasn't powerful enough to damage the plant but inspectors found instances "where ladders and toolboxes may not have been properly tied off or stowed in accordance with the site procedures." Inspectors identified other examples after the fact of Dominion staff not following the same procedures. This issue was deemed to have a low safety significance.

The earthquake drove conversation about 100-year license requirements between NEAC and presenters. Can a plant withstand a more powerful earthquake decades from now if improvements aren't made to its structures?

The NRC convened in January to discuss the possibility of expanding license renewal for nuclear reactors to 100 years, potentially opening the door for Millstone reactors to remain licensed until 2075 and 2085, respectively. The exploratory meeting was meant to begin an official discussion regarding license renewal for 100 years of plant operation. Nuclear plants originally were licensed for 40 years, which later was extended another 20 years to 60, and a subsequent renewal brought that number to 80 years.

NEAC members were told that any nuclear power plant is inspected to make sure it can withstand seismic events.

The yearly meeting ended with Jeff Semancik of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, a council member, praising the presenters and thanking them for their transparency.

s.spinella@theday.com