Washington (Platts)--11May2007

NRC's executive director for operations, or EDO, has upheld a "white"
finding at Vogtle related to an emergency preparedness exercise in March 2006.
     A white finding is the second-lowest level in NRC's four-category,
color-coded safety classification system and denotes low to moderate safety
significance. 
     It is rare for a finding to be appealed to the EDO level; Vogtle operator
Southern Nuclear Operating Co. had earlier appealed the NRC staff's finding to
the Region II administrator, who upheld the staff decision. 
     In a May 3 letter, released publicly May 11, EDO Luis Reyes said, "After
careful consideration of all the available information, I have determined that
the NRC staff's White finding regarding the post-exercise critique is
appropriate." The finding has to do with the Vogtle emergency director's
declaration of a site area emergency, or SAE, during the drill; NRC said an
alert would have been the correct response. An SAE is a more serious emergency
classification than an alert. Reyes' letter said, "Had this been an actual
event, the SAE declaration could have resulted in unnecessary and
inappropriate public protective actions."