IR 05000397/2003001

Annual Assessment Letter - Columbia Generating Station (Report 50-397/2003-01)

ML030650057
Person / Time
Site:	Columbia
Issue date:	03/04/2003
From:	Merschoff E NRC Region 4
To:	Parrish J Energy Northwest
References
IR-03-001
Download: ML030650057 (8)

Text

rch 4, 2003

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION (REPORT 50-397/2003-01)

Dear Mr. Parrish:

On February 5, 2003, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of Columbia Generating Station. The end-of-cycle review for Columbia Generating Station involved the participation of all technical divisions in evaluating performance indicators 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, Columbia Generating Station 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 Regulatory Response Column of the NRCs Action Matrix, based on a low to moderate (White) inspection finding identified in the Mitigating System Cornerstone. The White finding, which was identified in the first quarter of the assessment period, involved degraded performance of safety-related 4160-volt breakers.

While plant performance for the most recent quarter is within the Regulatory Response Column of the Action Matrix, there was an additional safety significant inspection finding that was present during the first two quarters of the assessment cycle. During the first two quarters, plant performance was within the Degraded Cornerstone Column of the Action Matrix based on a finding of substantial safety significance (Yellow) in the Emergency Preparedness Cornerstone that was identified in the third quarter of 2001. The finding involved the failure to meet the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(q) in that Columbia Generating Station did not follow and maintain emergency plans and procedures which met the standards in 10 CFR 50.47(b).

The licensees actions associated with this finding were completed during the second quarter of the assessment period. The NRC staff performed a supplemental inspection and verified the adequacy of the corrective actions taken. As a result, plant performance exited the Degraded Cornerstone Column and entered the Regulatory Response Column in July 2002, based on the White finding (discussed above) identified during the first quarter of the assessment period.

Subsequently, the licensee completed their corrective actions and the NRC verified the

Energy Northwest -2-adequacy of those actions through performance of a supplemental inspection associated with a finding of low to moderate safety significance (White) in December 2002.

In our annual assessment letter dated March 4, 2002, we advised you of a substantive crosscutting issue in the area of human performance. This issue had been identified as a result of multiple findings related to a lack of procedural adherence by numerous personnel. These deficiencies were noted in several areas and affected multiple cornerstones.

The NRC staff conducted a focused problem identification and resolution inspection that reviewed corrective actions to address this human performance crosscutting issue. The NRC staff reviewed performance data and statistics for the past 2 years, which showed marked improvement for the nonoutage period since April 2001. However, because a number of the human performance issues occurred during the previous refueling outage, this issue will remain open to assess the implementation effectiveness of the corrective actions during the scheduled 2003 refueling outage. The effectiveness of these actions will be reviewed as part of the baseline inspection program, including a problem identification and resolution inspection scheduled for June 2003.

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.

The inspections in the last 6 months of the inspection plan are tentative and may be revised at the midcycle 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 and 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).

Energy Northwest -3-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 William B. Jones at 817/860-8147 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Ellis W. Merschoff Regional Administrator Docket: 50-397 License: NPF-21 Enclosure:

Columbia Generating Station Inspection/Activity Plan cc w/enclosure:

Rodney Webring (Mail Drop PE04)

Vice President, Nuclear Generation Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 Richland, Washington 99352-0968 Albert E. Mouncer (Mail Drop PE01)

Vice President, Corporate Services/

General Counsel/CFO Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 Richland, Washington 99352-0968 Chairman Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council P.O. Box 43172 Olympia, Washington 98504-3172 Douglas W. Coleman (Mail Drop PE20)

Manager, Performance Assessment and Regulatory Programs Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 Richland, Washington 99352-0968

Energy Northwest -4-Christina L. Perino (Mail Drop PE20)

Manager, Licensing Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 Richland, Washington 99352-0968 Chairman Benton County Board of Commissioners P.O. Box 190 Prosser, Washington 99350-0190 Dale K. Atkinson (Mail Drop PE08)

Vice President, Technical Services Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 Richland, Washington 99352-0968 Thomas C. Poindexter, Esq.

Winston & Strawn 1400 L Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005-3502 Bob Nichols Executive Policy Division Office of the Governor P.O. Box 43113 Olympia, Washington 98504-3113 Lynn Albin Washington State Department of Health P.O. Box 7827 Olympia, WA 98504-7827 Gary Robertson, Director Division of Radiation Protection Department of Health P.O. Box 47827 Olympia, Washington 98504-7827 Chairman Board of Benton County Commissioners P.O. Box 190 Prosser, Washington 99350 Frank H. Brock, Chair Board of Franklin County Commissioners 1016 North 4th Street Pasco, Washington 99301

Energy Northwest -5-Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Regional Center John Pennington, Regional Director 130 228th Street, SW Bothell, Washington 98021-9796 Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO)

700 Galleria Parkway SE Atlanta, Georgia 30339-5943

Energy Northwest -6-Electronic distribution by RIV:

Regional Administrator (EWM)

DRP Director (ATH)

DRS Director (DDC)

Senior Resident Inspector (GDR)

Branch Chief, DRP/E (WBJ)

Senior Project Engineer, DRP/E (VGG)

Staff Chief, DRP/TSS (PHH)

RITS Coordinator (NBH)

V. L. Dricks, PAO (VLD)

W. A. Maier, RSLO (WAM)

C. J. Gordon (CJG)

DRS Branch Chiefs (TWP, ATG, CSM)

W. D. Travers, EDO (WDT)

C. A. Carpenter, Chief, NRR/DIPM/IIPB (CAC)

R. K. Frahm, PPR Program Manager, NRR/DIPM/IIPB (RKF)

R. W. Borchardt, Associate Dir. for Inspection and Programs (RWB1)

B. W. Sheron, Associate Dir. for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis (BWS)

S. Morris, Acting Chief, Regional Operations Staff, OEDO (SAM1)

H. Berkow, NRR Project Director (HNB)

S. Dembek, Chief, Section 2, NRR/DLPM (SXD)

J. Cushing, NRR Project Manager (JXC9)

RidsNrrDipmIipb S:\DRP\DRPDIR\EOC 2003\Assessment Letters\Col.wpd RIV:C:DRP/E D:DRS D:DRP RA WBJones;df;vlh DDChamberlain ATHowell EWMerschoff

/RA/ /RA/ /RA/ /RA/

2/27/3 2/27/03 2/28/03 3/4/03 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY T=Telephone E=E-mail F=Fax

Page 1 of 2 Columbia Generating Station 03/05/2003 07:34:35 Inspection / Activity Plan Report 22 03/02/2003 - 03/31/2004 Unit No. of Staff Planned Dates Inspection Number Inspection Activity Title on Site Start End Type SEC-TI - SECURITY ORDER VERIFICATION (2515/148) 3 2 IP 2515/148 Inspection of Nuclear Reactor Safeguards - Interim Compensatory Measures 03/03/2003 03/07/2003 Safety Issues EMB - TRIENNIAL FP 4 2 IP 7111105T Fire Protection 03/10/2003 03/21/2003 Baseline Inspections ACCESSPI - ACRSA/PI 1 2 IP 71151 Performance Indicator Verification 04/07/2003 04/11/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7112101 Access Control to Radiologically Significant Areas 05/12/2003 05/16/2003 Baseline Inspections EMB - ISI 1 2 IP 7111108G Inservice Inspection Activities - BWR 05/19/2003 05/23/2003 Baseline Inspections OB-PIR - CG PIR INSPECTION 5 2 IP 71152B Identification and Resolution of Problems 06/02/2003 06/06/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 71152B Identification and Resolution of Problems 06/16/2003 06/20/2003 Baseline Inspections EMB - HEAT SINK 1 2 IP 7111107B Heat Sink Performance 06/09/2003 06/13/2003 Baseline Inspections ALARA3 - ALARA PLANNING AND CONTROLS 1 2 IP 7112102 ALARA Planning and Controls 07/28/2003 08/01/2003 Baseline Inspections PSB-EP1 - EP PROGRAM BASELINE INSPECTION 1 2 IP 7111402 Alert and Notification System Testing 08/11/2003 08/15/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7111403 Emergency Response Organization Augmentation Testing 08/11/2003 08/15/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7111404 Emergency Action Level and Emergency Plan Changes 08/11/2003 08/15/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7111405 Correction of Emergency Preparedness Weaknesses and Deficiencies 08/11/2003 08/15/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 71151 Performance Indicator Verification 08/11/2003 08/15/2003 Baseline Inspections PSB-S1 - SECURITY BASELINE INSPECTION 1 2 IP 7113002 Access Control (Search of Personnel, Packages, and Vehicles: Identification and Authorizati 08/25/2003 08/29/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7113003 Response to Contingency Events (Protective Strategy and Implementation of Protective Stra 08/25/2003 08/29/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 71151 Performance Indicator Verification 08/25/2003 08/29/2003 Baseline Inspections EMB - SSD&PCI 5 2 IP 7111121 Safety System Design and Performance Capability 09/08/2003 09/12/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7111121 Safety System Design and Performance Capability 09/22/2003 09/26/2003 Baseline Inspections EMB - 50.59 1 2 IP 7111102 Evaluation of Changes, Tests, or Experiments 09/09/2003 09/13/2003 Baseline Inspections RP-TM - RAD SAFETY TEAM 4 2 IP 7112103 Radiation Monitoring Instrumentation and Protective Equipment 09/15/2003 09/19/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7112201 Radioactive Gaseous and Liquid Effluent Treatment and Monitoring Systems 09/15/2003 09/19/2003 Baseline Inspections This report does not include INPO and OUTAGE activities.

This report shows only on-site and announced inspection procedures.

Page 2 of 2 Columbia Generating Station 03/05/2003 07:34:35 Inspection / Activity Plan Report 22 03/02/2003 - 03/31/2004 Unit No. of Staff Planned Dates Inspection Number Inspection Activity Title on Site Start End Type RP-TM - RAD SAFETY TEAM 4 2 IP 7112202 Radioactive Material Processing and Transportation 09/15/2003 09/19/2003 Baseline Inspections 2 IP 7112203 Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program 09/15/2003 09/19/2003 Baseline Inspections ALARA2 - ALARA PLANNING AND CONTROLS 1 2 IP 7112102 ALARA Planning and Controls 10/20/2003 10/24/2003 Baseline Inspections EMB - MAINTENANCE EFFECTIVENESS 1 2 IP 7111112B Maintenance Effectiveness 02/09/2004 02/13/2004 Baseline Inspections This report does not include INPO and OUTAGE activities.

This report shows only on-site and announced inspection procedures.