IR 05000282/2003001

Annual Assessment Letter - Prairie Island Report 05000282-03-001; 05000306-03-001)

ML030640430
Person / Time
Site:	Prairie Island
Issue date:	03/04/2003
From:	Grant G Division Reactor Projects II
To:	Nazar M Nuclear Management Co
References
IR-03-001
Download: ML030640430 (7)

Text

rch 4, 2003

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT (REPORT 50-282/03-01; 50-306/03-01)

Dear Mr. Nazar:

On February 12, 2003, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant. The end-of-cycle review for Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant involved the participation of all technical divisions in evaluating performance indicators 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, Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives. Plant performance for the most recent quarter 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 performance indicators at a level requiring no additional NRC oversight (Green). Therefore, we plan to conduct only baseline inspections at your facility through March 31, 2004.

While plant performance for the most recent quarter is within the Licensee Response Column of the Action Matrix, there was one finding of low to moderate safety significance (White) in the Mitigating Systems cornerstone that put the plant in the Regulatory Response Column during the second quarter of the assessment cycle. This finding was associated with the lubrication water source for the safety-related cooling water pumps. Prairie Island was within the Licensee Response Column for the remainder of the assessment period.

Additionally, on December 13, 2002, the staff issued a Severity Level III Notice of Violation and a Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in accordance with the enforcement policy. This action was issued for incomplete and inaccurate information provided in April 2001 as part of a request for a Notice of Enforcement Discretion.

The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections scheduled through March 31, 2004. In addition to baseline inspections, there will be a safety issues inspection performed in June 2003 regarding security and a safety issues inspection performed in September 2003 regarding circumferential cracking of reactor pressure vessel head penetration nozzles. 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 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 630-829-9757 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Geoffrey E. Grant, Director Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-282; 50-306 License Nos. DPR-42; DPR-60 Enclosure: Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant Inspection/Activity Plan See Attached Distribution