IR 05000390/2004001

Annual Assessment Letter - Watts Bar (IR 05000390-04-001 and IR 05000391-04-001)

ML040630538
Person / Time
Site:	Watts Bar
Issue date:	03/03/2004
From:	Cahill S Reactor Projects Region 2 Branch 6
To:	Scalice J Tennessee Valley Authority
Shared Package
ML040630534	List: IR 05000390/2004001 ML040630543
References
IR-04-001
Download: ML040630538 (5)

Text

rch 3, 2004

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT, REPORT 50-390/2004-01, 50-391/2004-01

Dear Mr. Scalice:

On February 4, 2004, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. The end-of-cycle review for Watts Bar 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, 2003.

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, Watts Bar 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 three 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, per the NRC Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), we plan to conduct only baseline inspections at Watts Bar through September 30, 2005. We also plan on conducting several non-ROP inspections which include lay-up and preservation of Unit 2 and a safety issue inspection to follow-up on industry issues with Reactor Containment Sump Blockage.

The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections scheduled through September 30, 2005.

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

As you are aware, the NRC has issued several Orders and threat advisories to enhance security capabilities and improve guard force readiness since the terrorist attacks on September

TVA 2 11, 2001. 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 2004, we plan to continue inspections of Order implementation combined with newly developed portions of the security baseline inspection program.

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) 562-4520 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Stephen J. Cahill, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 6 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-390, 50-391 License No. NPF-90 and and Construction Permit No. CPPR-92 Enclosure: Watts Bar Inspection/ Activity Plan cc w/encl: (See page 3)

TVA 3 cc w/encls: County Executive Karl W. Singer Meigs County Courthouse Senior Vice President Decatur, TN 37322 Nuclear Operations Tennessee Valley Authority Lawrence E. Nanney, Director Electronic Mail Distribution TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation Division of Radiological Health James E. Maddox, Vice President Electronic Mail Distribution Engineering and Technical Services Tennessee Valley Authority Ann Harris Electronic Mail Distribution 341 Swing Loop Rockwood, TN 37854 William R. Lagergren Site Vice President James H. Bassham, Director Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Tennessee Emergency Management Tennessee Valley Authority Agency Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution General Counsel Institute of Nuclear Power Operations Tennessee Valley Authority 700 Galleria Parkway Electronic Mail Distribution Atlanta, GA 30339-5943 Thomas Niessen, Acting General Manager Distribution w/encl: (See page 4)

Nuclear Assurance Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Mark J. Burzynski, Manager Nuclear Licensing Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Paul L. Pace, Manager Licensing and Industry Affairs Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution Larry S. Bryant, Plant Manager Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution County Executive Rhea County Courthouse 375 Church Street, Suite 215 Dayton, TN 37321-1300

TVA 4 Distribution w/encl:

M. Chernoff, NRR RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC OFFICE DRP/RII DRP/RII SIGNATURE SJC for SJC for NAME RCarrion:aws SShaeffer DATE 03/ 03 /2004 03/ 03 /2004 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO PUBLIC DOCUMENT YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME: C:\ORPCheckout\FileNET\ML040630538.wpd