IR 05000397/1988044
| ML17285A210 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Columbia  |
| Issue date: | 01/09/1989 |
| From: | Elin J, Hunemuller N, Meadows T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION V) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML17285A209 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-397-88-44-MM, NUDOCS 8901270290 | |
| Download: ML17285A210 (6) | |
Text
U.
S.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGION V
Report No:
Docket No:
Licensee:
50-397/88-44 50-397 Washington Public Power Supply System P.
0.
Box 968 Richland, Wa.
99352 Facility Name:
Inspection at:
Washington Nuclear Project No.
2 (WNP-2)
WNP-2 Site Richland, Washington Regional V Office Inspection Conducted:
Inspector:
September 21-22, 1988 and December 8, 1988 i/@ADr
.Inspector:
T.
Meadows, Chief Examiner N.
Hunemul r, Simulator Operations Specialist Date Signed r/~/
Date Signed Approved by:
Eli
, Chief Operations Section D t Signed
~Summar:
Ins ection on Se tember 21-22 1988 and December
1988 50-397/88-44 Areas Ins ected:
An on-site review was performed of the licensee's existing simulation facility on September 21 and 22, 1988 to determine if the simulator is capable of supporting license examinations to the extent that an examiner can reach a
valid conclusion about a
candidate's understanding of, and ability to perform, the actions necessary to accomplish licensed duties.
This report also covers a facility requested management meeting on December 8, 1988 at the Region V Office, encompassing facility proposals to improve the simulator facility and meet the Certification Requirements of 10 CFR 55.
During this review, inspection procedures 30703 and 41701 were addressed.
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Resul ts:
No violations or deviations were identified.
The existing simulator can be used effectively unti 1 May 1991 for licensed operator examinations, if the NRC examination team recognizes the limits of the simulation facility in modeling actual plant conditions with adequate fidelity, and adjusts the scope of the walkthrough portion of the examination accordingly.
The facility management plans to replace the existing simulation facility with a new upgraded simulation facility by the summer of 1991 in order to meet the requirements of 10 CFR 55 for simulator certification. This is in the initial purchase contract stage at this time.
Additionally the facility plans to perform a limited upgrade of the existing simulation facility, and continue to identify areas where the existing simulator fails to adequately replicate actual plant conditions.
It appears that the licensee wi 1 1 not meet the 10CFR55. 45. b. iv requirement for a certified simulation facility (oi equivalent)
by May 26, 1991
.
Current schedules projec't the summer of 1991 for meeting this r'equiremen DETAILS 1.
Persons Contacted:
NRC:
Neal Hunemuller, Simulator Operations Specialist, OLB Stuart Richards, Chief, Reactor Safety Branch, RV Phil Johnson, Chief, ProjectsSection III, RV John Elin, Chief, Operations Section, RV Tom Meadows, Licensing Examiner, RV Chris Caldwell, Project Inspector, RV Rita Cross, Licensing Assistant, RV MNP-2:
David Larkin, Manager Engineering Analysis 8 Nuclear Fuel Gerry Sorensen, Manager Regulatory Programs Bob Barmettlor, Manager Nuclear License Training Fred Guyer, Simulator Engineering Richard Stickney, Manager Technical Training Douglas Williams, Bonneville Power Administration Joe Burn, Director of Engineering Simulator Re lacement Pro ra'm'Status'0703)
r The facility intends to replace the existing simulation facility with new simulator in order to meet the requirements of 10 CFR 55 and ANS 3.5.-1985.
The new simulator would be ready for training in June, 1991.
The licensee management stated that the contract for the new simulator would not, be executed until early 1989, since the facility's executive board's approval and notice to proceed would not be obtained before mid-December, 1988.
The Region V staff reminded the licensee that pursuant to 10CFR55. 45. b. iv,
"The simulation facility portion of the operating test will not be administered on other than a certified or approved simulation facility after May 26, 1991."
The Region V staff recommended that the facility formally notify the NRC of. this anticipated delay in obtaining a
certified simulation facility, past the May deadline.
Existin Simulator Im rovement Pro ram Status 30703 41701 The licensee discussed the capability of the present simulator for training.
A previous NRC concern with the present simulator training program had been that training on a simulator without adequate fidelity might have an adverse effect on the quality of the training program.
The licensee discussed their program by which the training staff identifies simulation problems during the pre-validation of training scenarios with the facilities'perations staf Negative training is subsequently avoided by corr ecting the problem fidelity area, or simply not training in the affected knowledge area on the simulafor, but instead using other means of training.
The licensee's management staff addressed the Region's recent SALP report, which identified this potential for negative operator training on the existing simulator as the potential root cause for many LER's that occurred during the last reporting period.
Operator training deficiencies that were determined to be the root cause for recent LERs by the Operations or Training departments have been documented and the affected. training areas have been modified as necessary.
This would include the re-validation of an identified problem scenario.
The licensee management discussed their action plan to upgrade the
"existing simulator.
The action plan includes the pre-validation of scenarios and the incorporation of planned instructor intervention (when applicable)
or walkthrough training, in the scenario.
In order to establish the existing capabilities, the existing simulator was evaluated in three comprehensive areas of plant operations; Normal Operating Procedures, Abnormal Operating Procedures, and Emergency Operating Procedures.
The licensee's evaluation of the capability of the existing simulator for implementing these procedures:is as.follows; Normal 0 eratin Procedures:
The operational fidelity is sufficient to support a positive training envir6nment required for hot license and requalification requirements.
b.
Abnormal 0 eratin Procedures:
Malfunctions are available to support many of the required scenarios.
These have been tested and verified. Discrepancies are documented, awaiting further simulation fidelity improvement.
Some of these can be accommodated by minor instructor intervention, which is implemented by the instructor's scenario synopsis guideline.
c.
Emer enc 0 eratin Procedures:
Training in this area is very limited, and generally is not recommended.
The necessity to FREEZE the simulation or provide excessive instructor intervention is detrimental to both training and examinations.
This knowledge area must be walked through unti 1 fidelity upgrade is achieved.
The work necessary to implement the hardware, software, and manpower resources to improve the existing simulator, especially in the area of emergency procedure implementation, has been defined but not
yet entirely funded.
The best estimate for funding the extensive upgrading of the existing simulator is the Spring of 1989.
Licensee management recognizes that this issue is still in debate, as the necessity to implement this plan while parallel resources are being dedicated to the new certified simulator is not clearly mandated.
The R'egion staff noted that preValidation of scenarios had been adapted for NRC licensing examinations administered on the existing simulator in September, 1988 to ensure the validity of the examinations.
This methodology seemed to meet with some success.
The NRC staff expressed their concern that negative training would remain a potential problem until a
certified simulation facility existed, and again stressed the need for continued interim improvement of the exi sting simulator'
capabilities to facilitate a
varied and comprehensive training and examination program.
3.
Re uglification Examination Develo ment 30703 41701 The licensee discussed their progress towards development of their requalification program, encompassing the guidance for conducting NRC requalification examinations given by NUREG 1021, chapter ES-601,
"Administration of NRC Program Evaluations."
The development and implementation of the program includes:
a.
Preparation/Material Development, b.
Review,'.Validation, d.
KSA Cross Referencing, and, e.
Crew Familiarization with the new exam process.
To date, the licensee has developed 67K of the scenarios, 40% of the classroom written examinations, 70K of the static simulator written examinations, and 100%%uo'f the job performance measures required for an accepted NRC requalification program evaluation.
The licensee will
"pilot" test this program during their February of 1989 requalification cycle. All of the licensee's operating crews will be involved.
4.
Mana ement Meetin 30703 A
Management Meeting was held at the facility's request on December 8,
1988 in the Region V offices.
The facility plans to replace and improve the simulation facility at WNP-2 to meet the requirements of l0 CFR 55, as di,scussed in this report, were reviewed.