IR 05000461/2002001

Annual Assessment Letter - Clinton Power Station (Report 50-461/2002-01). Includes Clinton Inspection/Activity Plan for Period of 03/04/2002 - 03/31/2003

ML020700101
Person / Time
Site:	Clinton
Issue date:	03/04/2002
From:	Grant G Division Reactor Projects III
To:	Skolds J Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear
References
IR-02-001
Download: ML020700101 (6)

Text

rch 4, 2002

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - CLINTON POWER STATION (REPORT 50-461/2002-01)

Dear Mr. Skolds:

On January 31, 2002, the NRC staff completed its end-of-cycle plant performance assessment of the Clinton Power Station. The end-of-cycle review for Clinton involved the participation of all technical divisions in evaluating performance indicators for the most recent quarter and inspection results for the period from April 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001. 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 which may conflict with your plant activities. On March 18, 2002, we plan to discuss this assessment with you and your staff in a meeting at the Vespasian Warner Public Library in Clinton, IL. This meeting will be open for public observation.

As discussed in our previous annual assessment letter dated May 31, 2001, this inspection and assessment cycle consisted of three quarters (i.e., the second, third, and fourth quarters of calendar year 2001) instead of the usual four quarters. This change was implemented in order to align the inspection and assessment cycle with the calendar year beginning on January 1, 2002.

Overall, the Clinton Power 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 one inspection finding classified as having low to moderate safety significance (White) in the Emergency Preparedness cornerstone in the second calendar quarter of 2001. This finding was the result of a supplemental inspection performed to assess the identification in 2001 that the performance indicator for Drill and Exercise Performance actually indicated White in 1999 and 2000. Since that supplemental inspection also reviewed your evaluation and corrective actions associated with the White finding, we determined that additional NRC supplemental inspections concerning this issue was not warranted. Therefore, we plan to conduct only baseline inspections at your facility through March 31, 2003. The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections scheduled through March 31, 2003. 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 last 6 months of the inspection plan is tentative and may be revised at the Mid-Cycle meeting.

In addition to the baseline inspection program, the NRC issued safeguards advisories recommending that nuclear power plant licensees go to the highest level of security immediately following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and all promptly did so. With continued uncertainty about the possibility of additional terrorist activities, the Nation's nuclear power plants, including the Clinton Power Station, remain at a high level of security. On February 25, 2002, the NRC issued an Order to all nuclear power plant licensees, requiring them to take certain additional interim compensatory measures to address the generalized high-level threat environment. These additional compensatory requirements will provide the NRC with reasonable assurance that public health and safety and the common defense and security continue to be adequately protected in the current generalized high-level threat environment. These requirements will remain in effect pending notification from the Commission that a significant change in the threat environment occurs, or until the Commission determines that other changes are needed following a more comprehensive re-evaluation of current safeguards and security programs. To date, we have monitored the Clinton Power Station actions in response to the terrorist attacks through a series of audits. With the issuance of the Order, we will evaluate the Clinton Power Stations compliance with these interim requirements.

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/NRC/ADAMS/index.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 Christine Lipa at (630) 829-9619 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Geoffrey Grant, Director Division of Reactor Projects, Region III Docket No. 50-461 License No. NPF-62 Enclosure: Clinton Inspection/Activity Plan cc w/encl: J. Heffley, Vice President W. Bohlke, Senior Vice President Nuclear Services J. Cotton, Senior Vice President -

Operations Support M. Pacilio, Plant Manager K. Ainger, Director - Licensing