IR 05000424/2003001

Annual Assessment Letter - Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (IR 05000424-03-001 & IR 05000425-03-001)

ML030660009
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	03/04/2003
From:	Brian Bonser NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB2
To:	Gasser J Southern Nuclear Operating Co
Shared Package
ML030660007	List: IR 05000424/2003001 ML030660012
References
IR-03-001
Download: ML030660009 (4)

Text

rch 4, 2003

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - VOGTLE ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT (REPORT 50-424/03-01 AND 50-425/03-01)

Dear Mr. Gasser:

On February 4, 2003, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. The end-of-cycle review for Vogtle involved the participation of all technical divisions in evaluating performance indicators (PIs) for the most recent quarter and inspection results for the period January 1, 2002 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, Vogtle 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. In addition, we plan to review your implementation of the Interim Compensatory Measures required by the NRC Security Order dated February 25, 2002, and to review your activities in response to NRC Bulletin 2002-02, Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV)

Head and Vessel Head Penetration (VHP) Nozzle Inspection Programs.

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

SNC 2 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 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 this inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon as possible. Please contact me at (404) 562-4540 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Brian R. Bonser, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 2 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-424, 50-425 License Nos. NPF-68, NPF-81 Enclosure: Vogtle Inspection/Activity Plan cc w/encl: (See page 3)

SNC 3 cc w/encl:

J. D. Woodard Charles A. Patrizia, Esq.

Executive Vice President Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. 10th Floor Electronic Mail Distribution 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D. C. 20004-9500 G. R. Frederick General Manager, Plant Vogtle Arthur H. Domby, Esq.

Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. Troutman Sanders Electronic Mail Distribution NationsBank Plaza 600 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 5200 N. J. Stringfellow Atlanta, GA 30308-2216 Manager-Licensing Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. Senior Engineer - Power Supply Electronic Mail Distribution Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia Director, Consumers Utility Counsel Electronic Mail Distribution Division Governors Office of Consumer Affairs Distribution w/encl: (See page 4)

2 M. L. King, Jr. Drive Plaza Level East; Suite 356 Atlanta, GA 30334-4600 Office of Planning and Budget Room 615B 270 Washington Street, SW Atlanta, GA 30334 Office of the County Commissioner Burke County Commission Waynesboro, GA 30830 Director, Department of Natural Resources 205 Butler Street, SE, Suite 1252 Atlanta, GA 30334 Manager, Radioactive Materials Program Department of Natural Resources Electronic Mail Distribution Attorney General Law Department 132 Judicial Building Atlanta, GA 30334 Resident Manager Oglethorpe Power Corporation Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant Electronic Mail Distribution

SNC 4 Distribution w/encl:

F. Rinaldi, NRR C. Evans (Part 72 Only)

L. Slack, RII EICS RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC INPO OFFICE DRP/RII SIGNATURE cr NAME CRapp:vyg DATE 2/28/2003 3/ /2003 3/ /2003 3/ /2003 3/ /2003 3/ /2003 3/ /2003 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\ML030660009.wpd