IR 05000352/2003001

2003 Annual Assessment Letter - Limerick Generating Station (Report 50-352/03-01, 50-353/03-01)

ML030620389
Person / Time
Site:	Limerick
Issue date:	03/03/2003
From:	Blough A Division Reactor Projects I
To:	Skolds J Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear
References
IR-03-001
Download: ML030620389 (6)

Text

rch 3, 2003

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - LIMERICK GENERATING STATION (REPORT 50-352/03-01, 50-353/03-01)

Dear Mr. Skolds:

On February 10, 2003, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of Limerick Generating Station Units 1 and 2. The end-of-cycle review for Limerick 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, both of the units at Limerick 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 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, 2004.

While plant performance for the most recent quarter is within the Licensee Response Column of NRCs Action Matrix, performance was in the Regulatory Response Column during the first three quarters of this assessment period. This was due to two White findings identified in 2001. One finding involved an inadequate critique of an emergency preparedness drill which affected both units. This finding was closed at the end of the second quarter of this assessment period. The other finding involved inadequate measures to identify a degraded Safety/Relief Valve which affected only Unit 2. This finding was closed at the end of the third quarter of this assessment period. We satisfactorily completed supplemental inspections using inspection procedure 95001 for both findings. The inspections determined that Exelons actions relative to root cause determination, extent of condition and corrective actions were appropriate.

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.

John 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 Dr. Mohamed Shanbaky of my staff at 610-337-5209 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

A. Randolph Blough, Director Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos: 50-352, 50-353 License Nos: NPF-39, NPF-85 Enclosure: Limerick Inspection/Activity Plan

John