IR 05000220/1998008
| ML20248A770 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Nine Mile Point  |
| Issue date: | 05/20/1998 |
| From: | Wiggins J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Mueller J NIAGARA MOHAWK POWER CORP. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20248A775 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-220-98-08, 50-220-98-8, 50-410-98-08, 50-410-98-8, EA-98-234, NUDOCS 9806010038 | |
| Download: ML20248A770 (3) | |
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May 20,1998 EA 98-234 Mr. John Chief Nuclear Officer Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station Operations Building,2nd Floor P.O. Box 63 Lycoming, NY 13093 SU8 JECT:
NOTICE OF VIOL.ATION (NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50-220/98-08 and 50-410/98-08)
Dear Mr. Mueller:
This letter refere to the NRC security inspection conducted on April 6-9,1998, at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station. During the inspection, apparent violations of NRC requirements were identified and were discussed with Mr. C. Terry and other members of your staff at an exit meeting on April 9,1998. The inspection report was sent to you April 28,1998.
On May 11,1998, a predecisional enforcement conference (conference) was conducted with you and members of your staff, to discuss the violations, their causes, and your corrective actions.
Based on the information developed during the inspection, and the information provided durirsg the conference, one violation of NRC requirements is being cited and is described in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice). The violation concerns your failure to properly control, store, and classify Safeguards information (SGI) which was located in a non-
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approved SGI records storage vault, located outside the Protected Area. The NRC is concerned that your initial corrective actions were limited, in that once the issue was
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identified, your staff failed to aggressively evaluate the safety significance of that SGI in a timely manner, and also failed to limit access to only those persons wid "a need to know".
Therefore, the potential existed sar an unauthorized individual to gain access to the information, and use it in an attempt to commit radiological sabotage.
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At the conference, you indicated that senior management was aware of the SGI control
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issues. Howce,er, management did not aggressively pursue corrective actions until after the inspection. The NRC relies upon the licensee's ability to identify potential programmatic weaknesses and to evaluate and irnplement effective corrective actions in a timely manner.
L380CC3 9806010038 930520 PDR ALOCK 05000220 G
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-. l The MtC recognizes that the safety significance of this violation was low since the
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significance of the reviewed SGI was low, access to the recads storage vault we limited, and the information could not be used to commit radiological sabotage. Therefore this violation has been categorized as a Severity Level IV. Nonetheless, the NRC is concerned that your staff failed to demonstrate an adequate undustanding of the classification of SGl. This resulted in the untimely evaluation, classification and reclassif! cation of the SGI that was initially discovered. Any similar violation in the future could result in more significant enforcement action.
Additionally, for the second apparent violation example identified in the inspection report, concerning the licensee's failure to properly report the event, we concluded that your rationale for not reporting the event was adequate. Accordingly, no violation of 10 CFR 73.71 existed in this case.
You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response. The NRC will use your response, in part, to determine whether further actions is necessary to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
In accoroance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room.
Sincerely, ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:
James T. Wiggins, Director Division of Reactor Safety Docket Nos. 50-220,50-410 License Nos. DPR-63, NPF-69 Enclosures:
1. Notice of Violation 2. Nine Mile Point Enforcement Conference Handout cc w/ encl:
G. Wilson, Senior Attorney
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M. Wetterhahn, Winston and Strawn j
J. Rettberg, New York State Electric and Gas Corporation i
P. Eddy, Electric Division, Department af Public Service, State of New York l
C. Donaldson, Esquire, Assistant Attorney General, New York Department of Law J. Vinquist, MATS, Inc.
F. Valentino, President, New York State Energy Research
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and Development Authority l
J. Spath, Program Director, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
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J. Maeller
Distri5ution w/ encl:
H. Miller, RA/W. Axelson, DRA Region i Docket Room (with concurrences)
Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)
PUBLIC NRC Resident inspector J. Wiggins, DRS Director L. Nicholson, DRS Deputy Director L. Doerflein, DRP R. Junod, DRP A. Chaffee, NRR C. Miskey, DRS (2)
Distribution w/ encl: (VIA E-MAIL)
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B. McCabe, RI EDO Coordinator D. Norris - Nine Mile Point S. Bajwa, NRR D. Hood, NRR R. Zimmerman, ADPR, NRR F. Davis, OGC A. Nicosia, OGC i
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J. Lieberman, OE (OEMAIL)
M. Campion, RI D. Screnci, PAO Inspection Program Branch (IPAS)
R. Correia, NRR
F. Talbot, NRR DOCDESK
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DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\EP&SB\\ KING \\NMP9808.LTR Ta seesive a copy of this document. Indicate in the bes: "C" = Copy without attachment / enclosure
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DATE 05/19/98 05/w/98 05/lo/98 05hp/98 05//jy98 V
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OFFICIAL RECORD COPY l
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