IR 05000259/2003001

Annual Assessment Letter - Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Report No. 50-259/2003-01, 50-260/2003-01, 50-296/2003-01

ML030650321
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	03/04/2003
From:	Cahill S Reactor Projects Region 2 Branch 6
To:	Scalice J Tennessee Valley Authority
Shared Package
ML030650311	List: IR 05000259/2003001 ML030650334
References
IR-03-001
Download: ML030650321 (4)

Text

rch 4, 2003

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, REPORT 50-259/2003-01, 50-260/2003-01, 50-296/2003-01

Dear Mr. Scalice:

On February 5, 2003, 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) for the most recent quarter and inspection results for the period from January 1 through December 31, 2002.

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 so that you will have an opportunity to prepare for these inspections and to inform us of any planned inspections that may conflict with your plant activities.

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 three 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 Browns Ferry Units 2 and 3 through March 31, 2004, as well as an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) construction inspection. Additionally, we have now begun to perform routine oversight inspections of the Unit 1 recovery project and we have planned specialized inspections of significant Unit 1 modification work.

The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections scheduled through March 31, 2004. 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 inspections in the last six months of the inspection plan are tentative and may be revised at the mid-cycle review meeting.

As you are aware, since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the NRC has issued several Orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities and improve guard force

TVA 2 readiness. We have conducted inspections to review your implementation of these requirements and have monitored your actions in response to changing threat conditions.

For calendar year 2003, we plan to continue these inspections, conduct portions of the security baseline inspection program, as well as perform additional inspections to evaluate your compliance with new requirements that may be ordered. Based on our final determinations in this regard, we will notify you of any inspection plan changes.

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 404-562-4520 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Stephen J. Cahill, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 6 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260, 50-296 License No. DPR-33, DPR-52, DPR-68 Enclosure: Browns Ferry Inspection/ Activity Plan cc w/encl: (See page 3)

TVA 3 cc w/encls: State Health Officer Karl W. Singer Alabama Dept. of Public Health Senior Vice President RSA Tower - Administration Nuclear Operations Suite 1552 Tennessee Valley Authority P. O. Box 303017 Electronic Mail Distribution Montgomery, AL 36130-3017 James E. Maddox, Acting Vice President Chairman Engineering and Technical Services Limestone County Commission Tennessee Valley Authority 310 West Washington Street Electronic Mail Distribution Athens, AL 35611 Ashok S. Bhatnagar Institute of Nuclear Power Operations Site Vice President 700 Galleria Parkway Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Atlanta, GA 30339-5957 Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Distribution w/encl: (See page 4)

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 L. Slack, RII EICS RIDSRIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC OFFICE DRP/RII SIGNATURE RC NAME RCarrion:aws DATE 03/04/2003 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO PUBLIC DOCUMENT YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME: C:\ORPCheckout\FileNET\ML030650321.wpd