IR 05000249/2009010
| ML092990547 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Dresden  |
| Issue date: | 10/26/2009 |
| From: | Satorius M Region 3 Administrator |
| To: | Pardee C Exelon Generation Co |
| References | |
| EA-09-172 IR-09-010 | |
| Download: ML092990547 (8) | |
Text
October 26, 2009
SUBJECT:
FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION FOR A WHITE FINDING AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000249/2009010; DRESDEN NUCLEAR POWER STATION, UNIT 3
Dear Mr. Pardee:
The purpose of this letter is to provide you the final results of our significance determination of the preliminary White finding identified in Inspection Report 05000249/2009009. The inspection finding was assessed using the Significance Determination Process and was preliminarily characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate increased importance to safety that may require additional U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspections. This White finding is associated with the licensees failure, on November 3, 2008, to prevent inadvertent and uncontrolled control rod withdrawal by non-licensed operators.
In a letter dated September 21, 2009, Mr. Tim Hanley of your staff provided a response to the NRC staffs preliminary determination regarding the finding. The response indicated that you did not dispute the significance of the event. You agreed that the significance of the event was driven by human performance of the Dresden operations personnel at the time of the event.
Your letter provided your conclusion that it was not feasible that more than three control rods would drift out. Your letter further stated that based on the outage schedule, the normal reactor coolant temperature band, and the limited number of rods that could drift out, your staff concluded that it was extremely unlikely that localized criticality could have occurred.
Notwithstanding this information, the NRC continues to conclude that the finding is properly characterized as a low to moderate increased importance to safety. Your letter also described corrective actions that would be taken to prevent recurrence.
After considering the information developed during the inspection, the NRC has concluded that the inspection finding is appropriately characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate increased importance to safety that may require additional NRC inspections as stated in Inspection Report 05000249/2009009.
The NRC has also determined that the finding had multiple associated violations, as cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice). The circumstances surrounding the violations were described in detail in the subject inspection report. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the Notice is considered escalated enforcement action because it is associated with a White finding.
The NRC has concluded that the information regarding the reason for the violations, the corrective actions taken, and the date when full compliance was achieved is already adequately addressed on the docket in the subject inspection report and in your September 21, 2009, letter.
Therefore, you are not required to respond to this letter unless the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective actions or your position.
As a result of our review of Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3s performance, including this White finding, we have assessed you to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRCs Action Matrix. Therefore, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area, when your staff has notified us of your readiness for this inspection. This inspection procedure is conducted to provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk significant performance issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter, its enclosure, and your response, if you choose to provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC=s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the public without redaction.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Mark A. Satorius Regional Administrator Docket No. 50-249 License No. DPR-25 Enclosure:
Notice of Violation cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv
Letter to Charles