The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled an open house for April 23 to provide information and answer questions regarding the safety performance of the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant, including the recent annual assessment letter covering all of 2018.

The open house will run from 5-6 p.m., at the Athens City Hall Council Chambers, 200 Hobbs St. West, Athens, Ala. NRC employees responsible for plant inspections, including the resident inspectors based full-time at the site, will be available at the open house.

The three-unit Browns Ferry plant, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, is located near Athens, approximately 32 miles west of Huntsville.

The NRC concluded that the Browns Ferry plant operated safely during 2018. At the end of the year, all inspection findings and performance indicators were green or of low safety significance. As a result, the three Browns Ferry units remain under the NRC’s normal level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year.

The NRC Reactor Oversight Process uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight.

Inspections are performed by the NRC resident inspectors and inspection specialists from the NRC Region II office in Atlanta.

The annual assessment letter, which includes upcoming inspection plans for the plant, is available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Browns Ferry Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3 is also on the website and is updated on a quarterly basis.