IR 05000387/2012301
| ML12062A020 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Susquehanna  |
| Issue date: | 03/01/2012 |
| From: | Diane Jackson Operations Branch I |
| To: | Rausch T Susquehanna |
| Shared Package | |
| ML110190451 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-387/12-301, 50-388/12-301 | |
| Download: ML12062A020 (15) | |
Text
-ffi UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGION I
475 ALLENDALE ROAD KING OF PRUSSIA. PENNSYLVANIA 19406-1415 March I, 2012 Mr. Timothy Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer PPL Susquehanna, LLC 769 Salem Blvd.
Berwick. PA 18603-0467 SUBJECT: SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 - NRC EXAM I NATl O N RE PORT 050003 87 t20 1 2301 AN D 05000388/20 1 2301
Dear Mr. Rausch:
On January 23,2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed an examination at Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and2. The enclosed report documents the examination findings, which were discussed on February 23,2012, with you and other members of your staff.
The examination included the evaluation of two applicants for reactor operator (RO) licenses, and two applicants for instant senior operator licenses. The written and operating examinations were developed using NUREG-1021, "Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors," Revision 9, Supplement 1. One applicant for an instant senior reactor operator (SRO) and one applicant for RO failed the written portions of their exams and were denied licenses. One applicant for an instant SRO license and one applicant for an RO license passed the exam but their licenses are being held based on their written exam grades. Licenses for applicants with written exam passing grades of 82 percent or below are normally held for review until those applicants who failed the examination have had an opportunity to appeal their license denials.
No findings were identified during this examination.
f n accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).
Donald E.
Operations Branch Division of Reactor Safety
Mr. Timothy Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer PPL Susquehanna, LLC 769 Salem Blvd.
Benuick, PA 18603-0467 SUBJECT: SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 - NRC EXAMTNATTON REPORT 05000387 t2012301 AND 05000388/2012301
Dear Mr. Rausch:
On January 23,2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed an examination at Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2. The enclosed report documents the examination findings, which were discussed on February 23,2012, with you and other members of your staff.
The examination included the evaluation of two applicants for reactor operator (RO) licenses, and two applicants for instant senior operator licenses. The written and operating examinations were developed using NUREG-1021, "Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors," Revision 9, Supplement 1. One applicant for an instant senior reactor operator (SRO) and one applicant for RO failed the written portions of their exams and were denied licenses. One applicant for an instant SRO license and one applicant for an RO license passed the exam but their licenses are being held based on their written exam grades. Licenses for applicants with written exam passing grades of 82 percent or below are normally held for review until those applicants who failed the examination have had an opportunity to appeal their license denials.
No findings were identified during this examination.
ln accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system Agencyruide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).
Sincerely,
/RN Donald E. Jackson, Chief Operations Branch Division of Reactor Safety DOCUMENT NAME: G:\DRS\Operations Branch\CARUSO\Exam 12-Susq Jan 12 (U01842ISUSQ EXAM REPORT.docx ADAMSPKG: M1110190451 ADAMSACCESSIONNUMBER: M112062A020 V Non-sensitive g Publicly Available V suNstReview n
n Sensitive Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RUDRS/OB RI/DRS/OB NAME JCaruso DJackson DATE 2t28t12 3t1t12 F ICIAL Docket Nos. 50-387, 50-388 License Nos. NPF-14, NPF-22
Enclosure:
NRC lnitial Operator Licensing Examination Report 05000387/2012301 and 050003881201 2301 w/Attachment: Supplemental Information
REGION I==
Dockets: 50-387,50-388 Licenses: NPF-14, NPF-22 Report: 05000387/2012301 and 0500038812012301 Licensee: PPL Susquehanna, LLC Facility: Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 Location: Benrvick, PA Dates: January 17-19,2012 (Operating Test Administration)
January 23, 201 2 (Written Exam ination Adm in istration )
February 7,2012 (Licensee Submitted Post Exam Package)
January 20 - February 23,2012 (NRC Examination Grading)
February 23,2012 (Exam Exit)
Examiners: John G. Caruso, Chief Examiner, Operations Branch Todd Fish, Senior Operations Engineer (Part Time)
Joyce Tomlinson, Operations Engineer Tom Hedigan, Operations Engineer Christopher Lally, Operations Engineer (Certification Exam)
Manan Patel, Operations Engineer (Certification Exam)
Approved By: Donald E. Jackson, Chief Operations Branch Division of Reactor Safety Enclosure
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
ER 0500038712012301;05000388/2012301; January 17 - February 23,2012; Susquehanna
Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2; Initial Operator Licensing Examination Report.
The examination included the evaluation of two applicants for reactor operator (RO) licenses and two applicants for instant senior operator licenses. The written and operating examinations were developed using NUREG-1021, "Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors," Revision 9, Supplement 1. One applicant for an instant senior reactor operator (SRO) and one applicant for RO failed the written portions of their exams and were denied licenses. One applicant for an instant SRO license and one applicant for an RO license passed the exam but their licenses are being held based on their written exam grades. Licenses for applicants with written exam passing grades of 82 percent or below are normally held for review until those applicants who failed the examination have had an opportunity to appeal their license denials.
Reactor Safety No findings were identified.
REPORT DETAILS
4. OTHER ACTTVTTTES (OA)
4OA5 Other Activities (lnitial Operator License Examination)
.1 License Applications
a. Scope
The examiners reviewed allfour license applications submitted by the licensee to ensure the applications reflected that each applicant satisfied relevant license eligibility requirements. The applications were submitted on NRC Form 398, "Personal Qualification Statement," and NRC Form 396, "Certification of Medical Examination by Facility Licensee." The examiners also audited all four of the license applications in detail to confirm that they accurately reflected the subject applicant's qualifications. This audit focused on the applicant's experience and on{he-job training, including control manipulations that provided significant reactivity changes.
b. Findinqs No findings were identified.
.2 Operator Knowledqe and Performance
a. Examination Scope
On January 23,2012, the licensee proctored the administration of the written examinations to all four applicants. The licensee staff graded the written examinations, analyzed the results, and presented their analysis to the NRC on February 7, 2012.
The NRC examination team administered the various portions of the operating examination to all four applicants on January 17-19,2012. The two applicants for reactor operator licenses participated in two dynamic simulator scenarios, in a control room and facilities walkthrough test consisting of 11 system tasks, and an administrative test consisting of four administrative tasks. The two applicants seeking an instant senior operator license participated in three dynamic simulator scenarios, a control room and facilities walkthrough test consisting of 10 system tasks, and an administrative test consisting of five administrative tasks.
b. Findinqs All four of the applicants passed all parts of the operating test. One instant senior reactor operator applicant and one reactor operator applicant failed the written examination. For the written examinations, the reactor operator applicants' average score was 78.0 percent and ranged from 76 to 80 percent; the senior operator applicants'average score was 74.5 percent and ranged from 68 to 81 percent. The overall written examination average was 76.25 percent. The text of the examination questions, the licensee's examination analysis, and the licensee's post-examination comments may be accessed in the the Agencyuide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) system under the accession numbers noted in
1. In accordance with current NRC policy, the release of this written
examination in ADAMS to the public will be delayed for 2 years.
The NRC examiners completed the final grading of the written examination on February 23,2012, and conducted a review of each missed question to determine the accuracy and validity of the examination questions. In accordance with current NRC policy, the release of this written examination will be delayed for 2 years. The text of the examination questions, the licensee's examination analysis, and the licensee's post-examination comments may be accessed in the ADAMS system under the accession numbers noted in the attachment Chapter ES-403 and Form ES-403-1 of NUREG 1021 require the licensee to analyze the validity of any written examination questions that were missed by half or more of the applicants. The licensee conducted this performance analysis for 24 questions that met these criteria and submitted the analysis to the chief examiner. This analysis concluded that for 21 of the 24 questions remained valid as written and the remaining three questions were submitted with post examination comments.
The licensee submitted three post-examination questions comments on February 7,2012. The NRC reviewed the facility's post-exam comment submittal package and accepted facility recommendations on all three of the questions submitted for consideration. The answer key was changed for Question 69 to accept answer "D" as a second correct answer, for Question 79 to accept answer "A" as a second correct answer, and for Question 86 to accept answer "D" as a second correct answer. The text of the examination questions, the licensee's examination analysis, and the licensee's post-examination comments with the NRC resolutions may be accessed in the ADAMS system under the accession numbers noted in the Attachment 1. In accordance with current NRC policy the release of this written examination will be delayed for 2 years.
.3 Initial Licensinq Examination Development
a. Examination Scope
The NRC staff developed the examinations in accordance with NUREG-1021, Revision 9, Supplement 1. The NRC conducted an onsite pre-validation of the operating examinations the week of October 24,2011 and a final validation of the operating examinations was conducted the week of December 12, 2011.
b. Findinqs No findings were Simulation Facilitv Performance
a. Examination Scope
The examiners observed simulator performance with regard to plant fidelity during the examination validation and administration.
b. Findinqs No findings were identified.
Examination Securitv Examination Scope The examiners reviewed examination security for examination development and during both the onsite preparation week and examination administration week for compliance with NUREG-102l requirements. Plans for simulator security and applicant control were reviewed and discussed with licensee personnel.
b. Findinqs A potential exam security compromise occurred during pre-validation of exam scenarios on October 26,2011. At the start of the pre-vatidation for one of the four Scenarios, the NRC Chief Examiner was informed that people working in the Technical Support Center (TSC) area located above the simulator were able to hear "alarms and voices" coming from within the simulator while running NRC simulator scenarios the previous day. The pre-validation was stopped and all individuals that were present (i.e., or had been present the previous day) in the Technical Support Center and classroom 20 were questioned and sound checks were conducted to determine if an exam compromise had occurred by both the NRC Chief Examiner and the Assistant Operations Manager-Shift.
The NRC Chief Examiner's investigation determined that an exam compromise had not occurred. lmmediate actions were taken to relocate all those working in the area and they were placed on the exam security agreement. In addition, the area was posted extending the exam security exclusion area to prevent access by those not on the exam security agreement. ln the future, this area will be included as part of the posted exam security exclusion area when exams are being conducted in the simulator. This issue was documented in the licensee's corrective action report (CR 1484490).
4OAO Meetinqs. Includinq Exit The chief examiner presented the examination results to you and other members of your staff on February 23,2012. The licensee acknowledged the findings presented.
The licensee did not identify any information or materials used during the examination as proprietary.
s:
1. Supplemental lnformation
2. Simulator Fidelity Report
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
KEY POINTS OF CONTACT
Licensee Personnel
ffiice President and Chief Nuclear officer
- R. Kearney, Site Vice President
- T. lliadis, General Manager of Operations
- J. Goodbred, Operations Manager
- C. Goff, Nuclear Training Manager
- K. Griffith, Acting Operations Training Manager
- D. Walsh, Assistant Operations Manager
- G. Van Den Berg, Initial Licensed Operator Training Supervisor
- M. Jacopetti, Nuclear Training Instructor
- A. Thompson, Nuclear Training Instructor
- T. North, Examination Reviewer
- C. Dodge, Simulator Support
NRC Personnel
- P. Finney, Senior Resident Inspector
- J. Greives, Resident Inspector
ITEMS OPENED, CLOSED, AND DISCUSSED
Opened
NONE
Opened and Closed
NONE
Closed
NONE
Discussed
NONE