NRC to discuss South Texas Project safety performance in Bay City

Federal nuclear regulators will meet Bay City residents face-to-face over South Texas Project’s 2025 safety record, and the split between the plant’s two units tells the story plainly: Unit 1 stayed in the NRC’s best oversight category, while Unit 2 remained under closer review after a White finding tied to preventive maintenance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual assessment letter for South Texas Project Electric Generating Station, issued March 11, said the agency reviewed performance indicators, inspection results and enforcement actions from January 1 through December 31, 2025, and concluded that overall performance preserved public health and safety. The same review placed Unit 1 in the Licensee Response Column, the highest Reactor Oversight Process Action Matrix category, because every inspection finding and performance indicator was Green.

Unit 2 landed in the Regulatory Response Column, the second-highest category, because of a single White finding from the fourth quarter of 2024. The NRC said the finding was finalized January 21, 2025, after it was first discussed November 21, 2024, and involved inadequate preventive maintenance instructions that did not align with vendor recommendations for calibration of protective relays and maintenance of hand switch auxiliary contacts. The agency cited a violation of 10 CFR 50.65(a)(2) and said it will conduct a supplemental inspection under Inspection Procedure 95001 to confirm the cause was understood and corrective actions will keep it from recurring.

That distinction matters for residents because it shows how the NRC’s day-to-day oversight system works in practice. South Texas Project was not flagged for a severe safety breakdown; it was assigned normal scrutiny on one unit and additional follow-up on the other, exactly the kind of graded response the Reactor Oversight Process is designed to deliver. The NRC’s March 13 national annual-assessment release said 90 of the nation’s 95 operating reactors were in the highest performance category and five, including South Texas Project Unit 2, were in the second category.

NRC staff will discuss that assessment in Bay City on May 23 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT at 2026 Downtown Bay City May Market Day, 1700 7th St. The informational session will include a question-and-answer period, with John Vera and Leanne Flores of NRC Region IV on hand. The agency said resident inspectors assigned full-time to the site will also be available to explain how the plant is monitored.

South Texas Project, operated by STP Nuclear Operating Company near Bay City in Matagorda County, produces 2,700 megawatts of carbon-free electricity for about two million Texas homes and employs about 1,200 workers. Unit 1 began operating in August 1988 and Unit 2 in June 1989, and the plant’s ownership remains split among Austin Energy, CPS Energy and Constellation Energy. The Bay City outreach will put that long-running oversight record on the table where it belongs, under the public’s eye.