A finding of very low safety significance and an associated
Severity Level IV NCV of
10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(v) were identified by the inspectors for the failure of the licensee to make an eight-hour notification to the NRC for the loss of both
emergency diesel generators (
EDGs). The licensee entered this into their corrective action program (
CAP) as
CAP 053463 and updated the event notification (
EN 43692) to include the loss of safety function resulting from both
EDGs being
inoperable from 0408 to 0715 on October 5, 2007. The inspectors determined that the failure to report the loss of safety function of the onsite emergency
AC power system in accordance with
10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(v) was a performance deficiency. The NRC considers the safety implications of non-compliances that may impact the ability to carry out its statutory mission. Non-compliances may be significant because they may challenge the regulatory envelope upon which certain activities were licensed. This issue is greater than minor, because the failure to report the loss of the
EDGs affected the NRCs ability to perform a regulatory function. Because violations of
10 CFR 50.72 are considered to be violations that potentially impede or impact the regulatory process, they are dispositioned using the traditional enforcement process instead of the
SDP. However, if possible, the underlying technical issue is evaluated under the
SDP to determine the severity of the violation. Using
IMC 0609,
Significance Determination Process, the inspectors screened this issue as having very low safety significance using the phase 1 screening questions under the Mitigation System Cornerstone.
