The Nuclear Regulatory Commission met with the public in St. Joseph on Thursday to discuss the safety record of the Cook nuclear power plant in 2023.
Plant senior resident inspector Joseph Mancuso told us it was the NRC’s annual meeting to keep residents in the loop. He said Cook operated safely in 2023, with very few issues.
So, what does the NRC do at Cook each day?
“They have a meeting at the beginning of every day where they discuss what work they’re going to be doing,” Mancuso said. “We use those as well as their normal online schedules to look for risk-significant work that is associated with some of their more risk-significant systems, and we try to follow those, what work they’re doing, what testing they’re doing.”
Mancuso told us he’s found residents near Cook tend to have few concerns about the plant, something that’s not the case with some other nuclear power plants.
Cook Director of Regulatory Affairs Michael Scarpello told us the Cook plant is preparing to seek an extension of its license to operate.
“Unit One is licensed to 2034 and Unit Two is licensed to 2037,” Scarpello said. “We are currently looking at, there’s a process called subsequent license renewal. We’ve already renewed our license once for an additional 20 years and we’re looking at doing that again. So, the project will be kicking off probably starting next year.”
Scarpello said he works with the NRC each and every day. Its two resident inspectors not only tour the facility to observe work taking place, but they also review inspection reports and maintenance plans regularly.
NRC inspectors stood in the hall of the Silver Beach Center to share information on the plant and their role overseeing it as part of Thursday’s annual open house. The conversations were informal, and the NRC told us the day is a good chance to explain to the public what it does each day.
