IR 05000333/1988023

Discusses Insp Repts 50-333/88-23 & 50-333/88-17 on 880808- 1005 & 1006-1125 & Notice of Violation & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty.Nrc Concern Re Inoperability of Coolers Heightened Due to Listed Reasons

ML20236D664
Person / Time
Site:	FitzPatrick
Issue date:	03/13/1989
From:	Russell W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Brons J POWER AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK (NEW YORK
Shared Package
ML20236D667	List: IR 05000333/1988023 ML20236D669
References
EA-88-304, NUDOCS 8903230210
Download: ML20236D664 (4)

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liarch 13, 1989 Docket No. 50-333 License No. DPR-59 EA 88-304 New York Power Authority James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant ATTN: Mr. John C. Brons Executive Vice President Nuclear Generation 123 Main Street White Plains, New York 10201 Gentlemen:

Subject: NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY (INSPECTION NO. 50-333/88-23 AND 50-333/88-17)

This refers to two NRC inspections conducted on August 8 - October 5, 1988 and October 6 - November 25, 1988 at the FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, Lycoming, New York, of activities authorized by NRC License No. DPR-59. The inspection reports were forwarded to you on November 3,1988 and December 20, 1988, respectively. During the inspections, the NRC reviewed the circumstances associated with the inoperability of the ECCS pump room unit coolers, as well as the operation of the reactor with service water temperature in excess of the design limits. As a result of these inspections, five violations of NRC requirements were identifie The violations, which are described in the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Inposition of Civil Penalty (Notice),

were discussed at an enforcement conference held with you and other members of your staf f on January 13, 198 The first three violations set forth in the enclosed Notice involve the inoperability of the ECCS unit coolers for an undetermined period of time prior to October 1988, because of reduced or totally impeded cooling flow in the coolers and the failure to detect the deficiency during periodic surveil-lance tests. Although the surveillance procedure was periodically performed, the procedure was inadequate because it did not verify the coolers' ability to perform their intended safety function. Specifically, the procedures did not require a determination of the heat removal capacity of the unit NRC concern regarding the incperability of the coolers is heightened because of your failure to take corrective action based on information which indicated a significant operability issue. Specifically, a report prepared by a contractor in July 1987 identified that the cooling coil cores in the units may have been obstructed, and a subsequent review of this report by your Mechanical Design and Analysis Group in January 1988 confirmed this finding. Nevertheless, the

CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED OFFICIAL RECORD COPY CP PKG FITZPATRICK EA 88-304 -

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New York Power Authority -2-

1 operability of the coolers was not evaluated and appropriate corrective actions l were not taken until October 1988, following plant shutdown for a refueling i outag I The two other violations, which are set forth in the enclosed Notice, involve -

operation of the reactor in a condition outside those set forth in the Final l Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) without (1) having completed a written safet !

evaluation to assure that this condition did not create an unreviewed safety J question, and (2) without notifying the NRC Operations Center of this conditio Specifically, the reactor operated at power for approximately two weeks in  ;

August 1988 with inlet service water temperature exceeding the design limits assumed in the FSA I These violations represent a significant failure to ensure (.1) the timely and systematic evaluation of plant operational conditions, to ensure that the facility is operated in accordance with the technical specifications and within the design limits set forth in the FSAR; and (2) proper coordination and communication is exercised throughout your organization to ensure that

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safety issues are promptly identified and corrected. To emphasize the need to improve performance in these areas I have been authorized, af ter consulta-tion with the Director, Office of Enforcement, and the Deputy Executive Director for Nuclear Materials Safety, Safeguards, and Operations Support, to issue the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in the ,

i amount of. Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars (575,000) for the violations, described .

in the enclosed Notice. In accordance with the " General Statement of Policy *

and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions," 10 CFR Part 2, Appendix C (Enforcement Policy) (1988), the violations described in the enclosed Notice

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have been categorized as a Severity Level III proble i The base civil penalty for a Severity Level III problem is $50,000. The NRC I

escalated the civil penalty based on these multiple examples of a failure to j adequately disposition potential safety issues. Escalation for prior notice

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was also considered but since those concerns were previously considered in i the NRC's assessment of the significance of the violations, and assignment j of severity level, further escalation for prior notice was deemed inappropriat i Nevertheless, because you did have significant prior notice it warrants restate- l ment. As discussed earlier, prior notice of the problem with the coolers was provided by a contractor's report which was subsequently reviewed by your  !

i Mechanical Design and Analysis Group. In the case of the elevated service water temperatures, prior notice was provided in NRC Information Notice 87-65

" Plant Operation Beyond Analyzed Conditions." Additionally, given the wide- i spread nature of the elevated service water temperature problem in the summer of 1988, including your Indian Point 3 facility, the NRC staff concludes that you should have been aware of the potential for a problem at FitzPatrick. The ,

other factors set forth in the policy were also considered, and no further l

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adjustment to the civil penalty has been deemed appropriat >

You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response. In your response, you should document the specific actions taken and any additional actions you l

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, New York Power Authority -3-plan to prevent recurrence. Your response should also describe the actions you have taken or plan to take to assure safety issues-are identified and resolved in a timely manner. After reviewing your response to this Notice, i including your proposed corrective actions and the results of future inspections, l the NRC will determine whether further NRC enforcement action is necessary to !

ensure compliance with NRC regulatory requirement In~accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules and Practice," Part 2, Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, a copy of this letter and the enclosure will be placed in the NRC's Public Document Roo The responses directed by this letter and accompanying Notice are not subject i to the clearance procedures of the Office of Management and Budget as required j by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, PL 96-51 i Orisinal Signed By 1;nJJf'. T. RUSSELL

William T. Russell  !

Regional Administrator

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Enclosure:  !

Notice of Violation and Proposed  ;

Imposition of Civil Penalty j cc w/ encl:

J. Phillip Bayne, President A. Klausmann, Senior Vice President - Appraisal and Compliance Services R. L. Patch, Quality Assurance Superintendent George M. Wilverding, Manager Nuclear Safety Evaluation Gerald C. Goldstein, Assistant General Counsel i

.R. E. Beedle, Vice President Nuclear Support  !

l S. S. 'Zulla, Vice President Nuclear Engineering i R. Burns, Vice President Nuclear Operat10, Dept. of Public Service, State of New York j State of New York, Department of Law Licensing Project Manager, NRR Public Document Room (POR)  ;

Local Public Document Room (LPOR) i Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)

NRC Resident Inspector j State of New York i

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. New York Power Authority -4-DISTRIBUTION:

Region I DIEket Room (with concurrences)

Management Assistant, DRMA (w/o enc 1)

Section Chief, DRP Robert J. Bores, DRSS B. Clayton, EDO H. Thompson, DEDS J. Lieberman, OE W. Russell, RI T. Murley, NRR S. Varga, NRR E. Wenzinger, RI L. Chandler, 0GC T. Martin, DEDR0 Enforcement Cooridnators RI, RII, RIII, RIV, RV F. Ingram, PA J. Bradburne, CA E. Jordan, AEOD B. Hayes, 0I S. Connelly, OIA M. Johnson, EDO H. Wong, OE Day File EA File EDO Rdg File DCS M. Banerjee, DRP J. Johnson, DRP W. Schmidt, SRI D. LaBarge, LPM, NRR PA0 (9) SALP Reports Only

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