IR 05000259/2002001

Annual Assessment Letter - Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (Report 50-259/02-01, 50-260/02-01 and 50-296/02-01)

ML020660419
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	03/04/2002
From:	Fredrickson P Division of Nuclear Materials Safety II
To:	Scalice J Tennessee Valley Authority
Shared Package
ML020660410	List: IR 05000259/2002001 ML020660429
References
IR-02-001
Download: ML020660419 (5)

Text

rch 4, 2002

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT (REPORT 50-259/02-01, 50-260/02-01, 50-296/02-01)

Dear Mr. Scalice:

On February 5, 2002, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. The end-of-cycle review for Browns Ferry involved the participation of all technical divisions in evaluating performance indicators (PIs) and inspection results for the period from April 1 through December 31, 2001. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our assessment of your safety performance during this period and our plans for future inspections at your facility. This will provide you with the opportunity to prepare for these inspections and to inform us of any planned inspections which may conflict with your plant activities.

As discussed in our previous annual assessment letter dated May 30, 2001, this inspection and assessment cycle consisted of three quarters (i.e., the second, third, and fourth quarters of calendar year 2001) instead of the usual four quarters. This change was implemented in order to align the inspection and assessment cycle with the calendar year beginning on January 1, 2002.

Overall, Browns Ferry operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives. Plant performance for the most recent quarter, as well as for the first two quarters of the assessment cycle, was within the Licensee Response Column of the NRCs Action Matrix, based on all inspection findings being classified as having very low safety significance (Green) and all PIs indicating performance at a level requiring no additional NRC oversight (Green). Therefore, we plan to conduct only baseline inspections at your facility through March 31, 2003, as well as continue to inspect the layup and preservation of Unit 1 safety-related equipment on an annual basis.

The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections scheduled through March 31, 2003. The inspection plan is provided to minimize the resource impact on your staff and to allow for scheduling conflicts and personnel availability to be resolved in advance of inspector arrival onsite. Routine resident inspections are not listed due to their ongoing and continuous nature.

The last six months of the inspection plan are tentative and may be revised at the mid-cycle review meeting.

TVA 2 With respect to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, immediately following the attacks, the NRC issued safeguards advisories recommending that nuclear power plant licensees go to the highest level of security, and all promptly did so. With continued uncertainty about the possibility of additional terrorist activities, the Nation's nuclear power plants, including Browns Ferry, remain at a high level of security. On February 25, 2002, the NRC issued an Order to all nuclear power plant licensees, requiring them to take certain additional interim compensatory measures to address the generalized high-level threat environment. These additional compensatory requirements will provide the NRC with reasonable assurance that public health and safety and the common defense and security continue to be adequately protected in the current generalized high-level threat environment.

These requirements will remain in effect pending notification from the Commission that a significant change in the threat environment occurs, or until the Commission determines that other changes are needed following a more comprehensive re-evaluation of current safeguards and security programs. To date, we have monitored the Tennessee Valley Authoritys actions in response to the terrorist attacks through a series of audits. With the issuance of the Order, in addition to the inspections described in the enclosed plan, we will evaluate Browns Ferrys compliance with these interim requirements.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRCs Rules of Practice, a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

If circumstances arise which cause us to change this inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon as possible. Please contact me at 404-562-4530 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

//RA//

Paul E. Fredrickson, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 6 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260, 50-296 License Nos. DPR-33, DPR-52, DPR-68 Enclosure: Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Inspection/Activity Plan cc w/encl: (See page 3)

TVA 3 cc w/encl:

Karl W. Singer State Health Officer Senior Vice President Alabama Dept. of Public Health Nuclear Operations RSA Tower - Administration Tennessee Valley Authority Suite 1552 Electronic Mail Distribution P. O. Box 303017 Montgomery, AL 36130-3017 Jon R. Rupert, Vice President (Acting)

Engineering and Technical Services Chairman Tennessee Valley Authority Limestone County Commission Electronic Mail Distribution 310 West Washington Street Athens, AL 35611 Ashok S. Bhatnagar Site Vice President Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution General Counsel Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Robert J. Adney, General Manager Nuclear Assurance Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Robert G. Jones, Plant Manager Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Mark J. Burzynski, Manager Nuclear Licensing Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Timothy E. Abney, Manager Licensing and Industry Affairs Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution

TVA 4 Distribution w/encl:

K. Jabbour, NRR RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC OFFICE DRP/RII SIGNATURE PTaylor:vyg NAME pt DATE 3/4/2002 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\PDF Output\BFN Annual Assess Report 0~.wpd