IR 05000301/1987016

Forwards Safety Insp Rept 50-301/87-16 on 870819-28 & Notice of Violation & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty.Nrc Concerned That Event Not Reported within 4 H as Required. Time Table for Corrective Actions Requested

ML20236G498
Person / Time
Site:	Point Beach
Issue date:	10/29/1987
From:	Davis A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:	Britt R WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER CO.
Shared Package
ML20236G501	List: IR 05000301/1987016 ML20236G512
References
EA-87-182, NUDOCS 8711030043
Download: ML20236G498 (4)

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OCT 2 9198 Docket No'. 50-301'

License =No. 0PR-27 ,)

EA 87-182 q J

Wisconsin Electric' Power Company 1 ATTN: Mr. Russell W. Britt j]

President n Nuclear Power Department .j 231 West Michigan, Room.308 Milwaukee, WI 53201 l]

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Gentlemen: j l

! SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSE'D IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY )

-(NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50-301/87016(DRP)), j l . ..

This refers to the special. safety inspection conducted during_the period August 19-28, 1987, at the. Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Two Creeks, Wisconsin, y The inspection was in response to a licensee-identified. event which' involved- ]

the inoperability of the main steam isolation ~ valves. The details of the: event '

were described in the subject inspection report sent to you by letter. dated {

September 16, 1987. On September 23, 1987, we held an enforcement conference  ;

between Mr. C. W. Fay and others of your staff and Mr. C..J. Paperiello and 1 others of the NRC staff during which the violations, the root causes, and your' )

corrective actions were discusse .]

On August 17, 1987, maintenance personne1Lrequested the operations' department'

to tag the main steam isolation valves (MSIVs). shut Lin order to facilitate: 1 repairs on the secondary side of Unit 2 .. Four tags were issued which provided for two DC control breakers-to the instrument air-solenoid valves'

',o be tagged open and two instrument' air' isolation valves to the MSIVs to be-tagged shut. After completion of the maintenance activities, maintenance .

personnel informed the control room that the' tags could be removed.1 At tha i point, inadequate communications between the control. room operations supervis'or and'the individual removing the tags'resulted in.remo'al v of;only?two of the.'

four tags. Believing that the'DC control _ breakers were! closed, a shift'

supervisor ordered the instrument air solenoid valves for each MSIV:to be reset, thereby opening the MSIVs. However, because the control breakers were i open, the MSIVs were-incapable'of-closure for.approximately four hours'and' 1 twenty-five minutes until the< shift supervisor,.during performance of H procedure,. discovered the red tags on the breakers and closed the bre'akers l after: removing the tags. This situation- would! have been disclosed earlier L had your operations staff-followed normal startup procedures and attempted?

p to cycle the MSIV's as require !

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Wisconsin Electric Power Company 2 OCT 2 91987 l

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In addition to the event itself, the,NRC is also concerned that you did not report it within four hours as require Although the initial investigate o'n . +

of the' significance of the ev9nt.and its related reporting were-pursued by your personnel, these actions were not prompt and did not involve approprhte personne l To emphasize the need for you to ensure that staff communication and i administrative programs are effective in maintaining safety-related equipment l operable, and that events are properly evaluated and reported, I have been authorized, after consultation with. the Director, Office of Enforcement, to l issue the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty l in the amount.of Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000) for the violations described in the enclosed Notice. In accordance with C,e'" General Statement of'

Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions," 10 CFR Part 2, Appendix C (1987) (Enforcement Policy), the violations described in the enclosed Notice i have been categorized as a Severity Level III. problem. LThe base value'of a '

civil penalty for a Severity Level III problem is $50,000. The NRC Enforcement Policy allows for escalation and mitigation af a civil penalty under certain circumstances. In this case, the base civil penalty'is mitigated by 50%-

because of your thorough followup investigation of this event and its causes as well as extensive corrective actions to prevent recurrenc ,

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These corrective actions consist of a comprehensive program to provide '

improvements in procedural control, training, and independent verification of equipment operability. Installation of a relay to provide annunciation to th? :l control room in the event of MSIV DC control power loss and the development of l a safety-related equipment list were also proposed as corrective actions. In i l addition to these actions, counseling of the involved indbriduals occurred and a letter was sent to all employees describing the event. ' ,

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Mitigation of the civil penalty was considered for your good prior-perfor,mance . .

in the operations area as evidenced by a Category 1 rating during the previous t Systematic Assessment of Licensee Perfortunce (SALP) which ended on March 31, 1986. However, your performance during the current SALP period has been declining as indicated by a number of violations involving personnel crror in failing to follow procedures or failing to provide adequate procedures, concerns about a lack of quality in station log keeping, and failures to include pertinent ,

information on records of surveillance testing performed by operations personne We consider all of these factors as evidence of declining performaact and a general lack of attention to detail on the part of the operations grd Since the corrective actions described by your staff during the Sept mber 23, <

1987enforcementconferencewillrequireimplementationoverfanexbndedtime period, you are requested to provide time tables where approjinate and advise the Region III staff of any changes to these timetable r

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Wisconsin Electric Power Company 3 OCT 2 S 1987 i

You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions i specified in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response. In your respunse, you should document the specific' actions taken and any additional j actions you plan to prevent recurrence. After reviewing your actions and the t results of future inspections, the NRC will determine whether further NRC

l enforcement' action is necessary to ensure compliance with NRC regulatory )

requirement In accordance with Section 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," Part 2, 'l Title 10, Code of Federal Regt.lations, a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be placed in the NRC Public Document Roo The responses directed by this letter and the enclosed Notice are not subject to the clearance procedures, of the Office of Management and Budget as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-51

Sincerely,

"

I

. Be Davi l

) w Regional Administrator

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Enclosures: Notice of Violation'

and Propossd Imposition of Civil Penalty l Inspection Report No. 50-301/87016(DRP)

cc w/ enclosures:

J. J. Zach, Plant Manager Virgil Kanable, Chief Boiler Section Mary Lou Munts, Chairperson ,

Wisconsin Public Service Commission Collette Blum-Meister (SLO)

WI Div. of Emergency Government Lawrence J. McDonnell, Chief Radiation Protection Section WI' Department of Health and Social Service, Division of Health

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RII RI gII N4pMnj Stapleton Paphiollo s de en gpp

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