IR 05000324/2002001

Annual Assessment Letter - Brunswick Steam Electric Plant (NRC Inspection Report 50-325/02-01 and 50-324/02-01)

ML020660523
Person / Time
Site:	Brunswick
Issue date:	03/04/2002
From:	Brian Bonser NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB4
To:	Keenan J Carolina Power & Light Co
Shared Package
ML020660513	List: IR 05000324/2002001 ML020660568
References
IR-02-001
Download: ML020660523 (5)

Text

rch 4, 2002

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - BRUNSWICK STEAM ELECTRIC PLANT (NRC INSPECTION REPORT 50-325/02-01 AND 50-324/02-01)

Dear Mr. Keenan:

On February 5, 2002, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant. The end-of-cycle review for Brunswick 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 31, 2001, this inspection and assessment cycle consisted of three quarters (i.e. the second, third, and fourth calendar 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, Brunswick 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.

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 on site. Routine resident inspections are not listed due to their on-going and continuous nature.

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

CP&L 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 Brunswick 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 Carolina Power and Light Companys 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 Brunswicks 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) 562-4560 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

//RA//

Brian R. Bonser, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 4 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-325, 50-324 License Nos. DPR-71, DPR-62 Enclosure: Brunswick Inspection/Activity Plan cc w/encl: (See page 3)

CP&L 3 cc w\encl:

C. J. Gannon, Director Peggy Force Site Operations Assistant Attorney General Brunswick Steam Electric Plant State of North Carolina Carolina Power & Light Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution Robert P. Gruber Bill Noll Executive Director Plant Manager Public Staff NCUC Brunswick Steam Electric Plant P. O. Box 29520 Carolina Power & Light Company Raleigh, NC 27626-0520 Electronic Mail Distribution Public Service Commission Terry C. Morton, Manager State of South Carolina Performance Evaluation and P. O. Box 11649 Regulatory Affairs CPB 7 Columbia, SC 29211 Carolina Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Donald E. Warren Brunswick County Board of Leonard R. Beller, Acting Manager Commissioners Regulatory Affairs P. O. Box 249 Carolina Power & Light Company Bolivia, NC 28422 Brunswick Steam Electric Plant Electronic Mail Distribution Dan E. Summers Emergency Management Coordinator Leonard Beller New Hanover County Department of Licensing Supervisor Emergency Management Carolina Power and Light Company P. O. Box 1525 Electronic Mail Distribution Wilmington, NC 28402 William D. Johnson Vice President & Corporate Secretary Carolina Power and Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution John H. O'Neill, Jr.

Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge 2300 N. Street, NW Washington, DC 20037-1128 Mel Fry, Director Division of Radiation Protection N. C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Electronic Mail Distribution Distribution w/encl:

CP&L 4 A. Hansen, NRR RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC OFFICE DRP/RII SIGNATURE GMacDonald:vg NAME GTM DATE 3/4/2002 3/ /2002 3/ /2002 3/ /2002 3/ /2002 3/ /2002 3/ /2002 E-MAIL COPY? NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\PDF Output\Brunswickeocltr1.wpd