A U.S. agency is conducting a public meeting at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant at 1 p.m. today to discuss a high-risk safety issue found during an inspection in May.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will discuss the results of a "red" inspection finding at Browns Ferry Training Center auditorium, at 10833 Shaw Road in Athens.

"Red is the highest level of risk significance," Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Ray Golden said. "We've been dedicating more money and more manpower to the problem. ... We want to get it back down to green."

The NRC uses four colors to rate the risk of a safety issue, with green signifying the safest.

NRC inspection teams from the Region II office in Atlanta will present the findings of the second of three inspections at the meeting. TVA representatives will have an opportunity to respond and NRC staff will field questions from the public.

"Every year, the NRC evaluates the safety performance of nuclear plants in a systematic and detailed way," NRC Region II Administrator Luis Reyes said.

"These reviews allow us to respond to ongoing issues, if needed, and to plan our future inspections."

Officials plan to discuss the results of the second phase of 95003 inspections, a strict three-part safety inspection that revealed a stuck valve on the emergency cooling system in Unit 1 at Browns Ferry.

Golden said the valve failure affects the plant's fire detection program, which would activate in extreme, but rare, emergencies. The valve has been repaired.

"We're proud of the work we've done to fix it so far," he said. "But we know we've still got work to do."

The third inspection phase should begin later this year.