IR 05000255/1981001
| ML18046A554 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 03/06/1981 |
| From: | Boyd D, Heishman R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML18046A553 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-255-81-01, 50-255-81-1, NUDOCS 8104070008 | |
| Download: ML18046A554 (6) | |
Text
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT
REGION III
Report No. 50-255/81-01 Docket No. 50-255 Licensee:
Consumers Power Company 212 West Michigan Avenue Jackson, MI 49201 Facility Name:
Palisades Nuclear Generating Plant License No. DPR-20 Enforcement Conference At:
Region III Office - Glen Ellyn, IL Enforcement Conference Conducted:
February 18, 1981 Report Prepared By:
~d D. C. Boy~~ief Reactor Projects Section lA RFW~ ~
Approved By: 'R. F. Heishman, Acting Director Division of Resident and Project Inspection Enforcement Conference Summary 3-&.--B/
Enforcement Conference on February 18, 1981 (Report No. 50-255/81-01)
Areas Inspected:
A special meeting, requested by the licensee, was held to review and discuss the Consumers Power Company program and plans for improving the regulatory performance at the Palisades plan Areas discussed included:
the long and short term actions completed, planned or currently in progres Specific items discussed included:
Use of outside management consultant Formation of a special corporate level committee to review safety event Increasing the number of licensed operator Reorganization of the plant and corporate level Development of a five-year project pla Addition of new training and administrative facilities.
Plant attitude and morale improvemen *
Expanding and upgrading of company training facilities and coverag Contracting simulator trainin Contracting training, including college course Providing degreed supervision/engineering on operating shift Expanded corporate involvement in the Health Physics are Upgrading of the Quality Assurance/Quality Control progra Proposed modifications to the February 9, 1981 Immediate Action Letter.
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DETAILS Attendance:
Consumers Power Company Attendees R. B. DeWitt, Vice President, Nuclear Opera~ions F. W. Buckman, Director of Nuclear Activities R. W. Montross, Plant Manager - Palisades J. G. Lewis, Director, Nuclear Support Division D. Hoffman, Nuclear Licensing Administrator R. W. Sinderman, Corporate Health Physicist A. A. Young, General Superintendent of Training, Nuclear Operations J. F. Firlit, Director, Quality Assurance J. J. Fremeaze, General Supervisor, Quality Assurance IE Attendees J. G. Keppler, Director, Region III A. B. Davis, Deputy Director, Region III R. F. Heishman, Acting Director, Division of Resident and Project Inspection R. C. Knop, Chief, Projects Branch 1 D. C. Boyd, Chief, Reactor Projects Section IA K. R. Baker, Chief, Management Programs Section J. F. Streeter, Acting Director, Enforcement and Investigation Staff c: E. Nor~lius, Acting Director, Division of Engineering and Technical Inspection B. L. Jorgensen, Senior Resident Inspector, Palisades Plant Introductory Statement by the Director, Region III The Consumers Power Company formal presentation was preceeded by an introductory statement by Mr. Keppler, Director of Region III, in which he summarized the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's concerns regarding the Consumers Power Company's regulatory performance at the Palisades plant over the past eighteen month Mr. Keppler stated that he was pleased that Consumers Power Company management had requested the meeting and was anxious to hear their presentation for the correction of their operational problem Mr. Keppler stated that the January 6, 1981, battery isolation event which precipitated the Immediate Action Letter of February 9, 1981, was still under review for possible escalated enforcement actio.
Consumers Power Company Presentation (CPC)
The agenda for the CPC presentation was as follows: Introductory Statement Mr. R. B. DeWitt, Consumers Power Company, Vice President of Nuclear Operations, stated that CPC was also concerned about
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- the Palisades plant's regulatory performance and had undertaken a program several months ago to expedite the resolution of these problem He stated that CPC was very sincere in their desire to improve this plant's performance and that a comprehensive program had been put together to accomplish this improvemen Mr. Hoffman, Consumers Power Company, Nuclear Licensing Adminis-trator, acted as the presentation coordinato His opening statement included acknowledgement that CPC has already utilized the services of outside management consultants to aid in their appraisal of problems, had formed a "Blue Ribbon Committee",
following the November 9, 1979, order, and that this committee had devoted five months to the review and update of procedures resulting in a marked improvement in their qualit He stated that his review of other plants in Region III and in the nation indicated that the six personnel errors made at the Palisades plant during 1980 was not unlike other plants in the nation, but that CPC was involved in a concentrated effort to reduce the number and nature of these error Bob Montross, Plant Manager, presented a comprehensive discussion regarding activities planned, in progress, or completed at the plan These included:
plans to increase the plant staff by approximately fifty percent, a program in progress to increase the number of licensed personnel (three additional ROs by mid-March 1981 and six additional RO licenses within one year),
reorganization to provide a plant systems engineer for each major system, improved planning and scheduling of activities by expansion of scheduling staff, providing closer supervision of safety related activities by increasing the degree of direct involvement of supervision (briefing, stressing adherence to procedure, review, verification), development of a five year project plan, and a five year equipment upgrade plan, providing new training facilities by the end of March, providing additional administrative control and maintenance procedures, including more plant employees in training programs, developing an LCO matrix coupled with a computer program by early summer, and development and implementation of programs to improve the attitude and morale of plant personne Fred Buckman, Director of Nuclear Activities, stated that two programs are in progress to identify management problem area One program being conducted by top level company personnel includes:
extensive interviews with company personnel at all levels, review of incidents and reports and comparison of data with other utilitie The second program already in progress, is being conducted by outside management consultant firm The CPC will also conduct a manpower review and pay scale evaluation for possible impact on morale and attitude.
- 4 - * Avery Young, General Superintendent of Training, Nuclear Opera-tions, presented a detailed program for expanding and upgrading the the company training capabilitie This included a new and expanded training department, organization, and facilitie He discussed in detail a 1981 training budget for the Palisades plant (approximately 1.8 million dollars) which included:
simulator training, computer assist to training, contracted instructors, temporary classrooms, college courses, and other The training program includes formal training for all plant personnel including the operations, maintenance, technician and support group The discussion also included providing degreed supervision on each operating shif A program for providing the present non-degreed supervisors with the opportunity to attend college courses for credit was included in this presentatio Roger Sinderman, Corporate Health Physicist, gave a presentation for the development of a uniform company wide Health Physics Progra This included the involvement of the corporate office in preparing procedures, developing programs, and providing auditing function The program will include a formal definition of the CPC ALARA Program, and get down to such details as uniform step-off pads for company facilitie He stated that the major manpower effort in the development and implementation of this program would be provided by corporate personne Joe Firlit, Director of Quality Assurance, gave a comprehensive discussion on Quality Assurance/Quality Control including a program and schedule for upgrading this area on a company wide basi The major subjects discussed included revisions to Quality Assurance policies and program procedures, development of a nuclear operations department standards manual, development of a two year audit schedule, and the review and update of CPC's present corrective action syste Other key points discussed included:
establishment of criteria for specifying hold points based on safety significance, incorporating these criteria into Quality Control procedures, elimination of inconsistencies regarding the waiver of hold points, implementation of a Quality Control training program, and a re-evaluation of CPC's Quality Control staffing requirement Consumers Power Company Summary Summary statements made by the Consumers Power Company staff included:
assurance that the identified program would be developed and imple-mented by utilizing corporate personnel, contracted personnel, and personnel from other CPC facilities, such that the distraction of Palisades plant personnel from their primary function of operating the plant would be held to a minimum; consideration is being given to building additional administrative facilities at the site;
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!
...
consideration is being given to performing safety related surveil-lance testing on redundant systems on different days rather than to test both trains on the same day as is presently done; and discussions regarding possible modifications to the February 9, 1981, Immediate Action Lette Mr. DeWitt assured the group that CPC has given this effort top priority and fully intends to complete the program definition and the schedule for implementation in a timely manne.
NRC Summary Mr. Keppler stated that CPC had addressed the immediate, short term, and long term corrective actions in the areas of major NRC concer Mr. Keppler requested that, by April 1, 1981, CPC provide to the NRC for review the final version of the CPC program and schedul He suggested that this final version be prepared in the critical path format with the starting and ending dates for major items identifie CPC committed to provide in writing by Monday, February 23, 1981, their position on the maximum use of overtime for licensed operators; and the structure and function of a special corporate level safety review tea Mr. Keppler stated that the above schedule and commitments might be incorporated in an Order, possibly a Confirmatory Order, to formalize these corrective actions.
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