IR 05000456/2004001

Annual Assessment Letter, Braidwood (IR 05000456-04-001 and IR 05000457-04-001)

ML040641149
Person / Time
Site:	Braidwood
Issue date:	03/04/2004
From:	Reynolds S Division Reactor Projects III
To:	Crane C Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear
References
IR-04-001
Download: ML040641149 (8)

Text

rch 4, 2004

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - BRAIDWOOD STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 (REPORT 50-456/04-1; 50-457/04-01)

Dear Mr. Crane:

On February 11, 2004, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2. The end-of-cycle review for the Braidwood Station, Unit 1 and 2 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, Braidwood Unit 1 operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives. Plant performance during the most recent quarter was in the Regulatory Response Column of the NRCs Action Matrix based on one White PI (Safety System Unavailability, Heat Removal System, Auxiliary Feedwater System) in the Mitigating System Cornerstone. All inspection findings were classified as having very low safety significance (Green) and all remaining PIs indicated performance at an acceptable level (Green).

With respect to previous Unit 1 performance, on July 29, 2003, your staff identified a miscalculation for the April 2001 unavailability time for the 1B auxiliary feedwater pump and in August, your staff submitted corrected information. At that time, it was our understanding that the PI was in the White performance band between April 2001 to the second quarter of 2003.

As such, in our August 17, 2003 Mid-Cycle Performance Review letter, Unit 1 was characterized as being in the Regulatory Response Column. Upon further review of your re-submitted PI information, we concluded that for the first quarter of 2003, the PI was actually within the Green performance band; therefore, plant performance for Unit 1 was actually in the Licensee Response Column, not in the Regulatory Response Column as indicated in the August letter. Problems with governor oil level and the turbo charger blower in the second and third quarter of 2003, respectively, resulted in increased fault exposure and unplanned maintenance hours for the 1B auxiliary feedwater pump. This decline in performance resulted the PI moving back into the White performance band. Therefore, during the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2003, plant performance for Unit 1 was in the Regulatory Response Column of the NRC Action Matrix. Accordingly, in addition to the reactor oversight process baseline inspections, we plan to conduct Supplemental Inspection 95001 Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area at your Unit 1 facility to better understand the declining performance of the auxiliary feedwater system.

Overall, Braidwood Unit 2 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 reactor oversight process baseline inspections at your Unit 2 facility through September 30, 2005.

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

In addition to the supplemental inspection discussed above, one infrequently performed inspection, Modifications and 50.59 inspection, is planned. 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 12 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 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 2.390 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 Ann Marie Stone, Chief, Reactor Projects Branch 3 at (630) 829-9729 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/P. Hiland acting for/

Steven A. Reynolds, Acting Director Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-456; 50-457 License Nos. NPF-72; NPF-77 Enclosure: Braidwood Station Units 1 and 2 Inspection/Activity Plan See Attached Distribution