IR 05000414/2003001

Annual Assessment Letter - Catawba Nuclear Station (NRC Inspection Report 50-41`3-03-001 and 50-414-03-001)

ML030650142
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba
Issue date:	03/04/2003
From:	Haag R NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB1
To:	Gordon Peterson Duke Energy Corp
References
IR-03-001
Download: ML030650142 (4)

Text

rch 4, 2003

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - CATAWBA NUCLEAR STATION (NRC INSPECTION REPORT 50-413/03-01 AND 50-414/03-01)

Dear Mr. Peterson On February 5, 2003, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Catawba Nuclear Station. The end-of-cycle review for Catawba 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 you will have an opportunity to prepare for these inspections and to inform us of any planned inspections which may conflict with your plant activities.

Overall, Catawba 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, we plan to conduct only baseline inspections at your facility through March 31, 2004, as well as safety issue inspections in accordance with Temporary Instruction 2515/150, Reactor Pressure Vessel Head and Vessel Head Penetration Nozzles (NRC Bulletin 2002-02), and operator licensing examinations.

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 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

DEC 2 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 our inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon as possible. Please contact me at (404) 562-4550 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Robert C. Haag, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 1 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos.: 50-413, 50-414 License Nos.: NPF-35, NPF-52 Enclosure: Catawba Inspection/Activity Plan

DEC 3 cc w/encl:

Regulatory Compliance Manager County Manager of York County, SC Duke Energy Corporation Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution Piedmont Municipal Power Agency Lisa Vaughn Electronic Mail Distribution Legal Department (PB05E)

Duke Energy Corporation Manager 422 South Church Street Nuclear Regulatory Licensing Charlotte, NC 28242 Duke Energy Corporation 526 S. Church Street Anne Cottingham Charlotte, NC 28201-0006 Winston and Strawn Electronic Mail Distribution Institute of Nuclear Power Operations 700 Galleria Parkway SE North Carolina MPA-1 Atlanta, GA 30339-5943 Electronic Mail Distribution Henry J. Porter, Assistant Director Div. of Radioactive Waste Mgmt.

S. C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Electronic Mail Distribution R. Mike Gandy Division of Radioactive Waste Mgmt.

S. C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Electronic Mail Distribution Richard P. Wilson, Esq.

Assistant Attorney General S. C. Attorney Generals Office Electronic Mail Distribution Vanessa Quinn Federal Emergency Management Agency Electronic Mail Distribution North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation Electronic Mail Distribution Peggy Force Assistant Attorney General N. C. Department of Justice Electronic Mail Distribution

DEC 4 Distribution w/encl:

R. Martin, NRR RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC PUBLIC DOCUMENT (circle one): YES NO OFFICE RII/DRP SIGNATURE REC NAME R. Carroll DATE 2/24/2003 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME: C:\ORPCheckout\FileNET\ML030650142.wpd