Perry Nuclear Plant continuing slide in 'human performance'

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials urged the operators of the
Perry Nuclear Power Plant to improve human performance Thursday night.

Despite issues with human performance and "cross-cutting" errors found
at the plant by the federal watchdog, the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating
Co.'s plant is operating safely, and its problems are at a "very low safety
significance."

NRC officials held an open discussion with FENOC and the public to
prevent any further slides in safety, said Mark Satorius, regional
administrator of the NRC's Lisle, Ill.-based Region III Projects division,
which covers Perry.

"The plants that have these problems with human performance -- it can
transform themselves into (bigger) problems. And these problems affect
safety," Satorius said.

"It's time for Perry to move forward and get their arms around this."

The meeting, held at the Perry Township Community Building, focused on
the mid-cycle performance review and inspection plan. More than 200 people
filled the room, including some of FENOC's 800 employees.

The review was completed Aug. 19 and marked the fourth time since
March 2008 that the NRC alerted FENOC about these issues.

From July 2008 through June 2009, the assessment period continued to
exhibit weaknesses in human performance, according to the review.

The findings for human performance increased from 12 to 20, which
included planning, human error prevention techniques and oversight.

On the plus side, procedure and documentation mishaps declined.

The findings are not violations of the NRC regulatory requirements.

Although he was disappointed by the findings, Kurt Krueger, director
of site operations at the North Perry Village-based plant, said he is
committed to improving human performance.

To that end, Krueger talked about a 100-day graphic improvement plan
that would focus on peer-to-peer communication, hazard awareness training,
and management-employee relations. The plant also has plans to build a
Safety and Human Performance Center to increase observing, coaching and
mentoring of plant supervisors.

"I asked myself, 'What if each individual searched for one thing that
leads to human error?' " said Krueger, adding that those errors were then
fixed.

"I think this site would be remarkably different. Imagine if we did
that every day."

NRC officials said the Perry plant is not the only one to have such
problems, though they added it will take time to implement change.

FENOC employee Dennis Dervay attended the meeting and pledged to the
NRC that he will go the extra step to prevent further issues.

"I'm not happy with our performance," said Dervay, who's worked at the
plant off and on since 1978. "We're looking for those human performance
errors and traps."

Mark Bezilla, vice president of the Perry plant, said the
internalization of these changes is the key to Perry's long-term success.

"We're going to continue to invest in the plant and improve
reliability. We're going to be relentless," Bezilla said.

FENOC employee Tom Morse, who holds an NRC operator's license, tried
to quell any fears the NRC might have about the Perry plant.

"If I didn't think the plant operated safely, I would shut it down,"
Morse said.