ML030570720

Request for Enforcement Discretion for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (TAC No. MB7785, NOED No. 03-01-001)

ML030570720
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	01/26/2003
From:	Blough A Division Reactor Projects I
To:	Bellamy R Entergy Nuclear Operations
Shared Package
ML030560748	List: ML030560878 ML030570720
References
03-01-001, NOED 03-1-001, TAC MB7785
Download: ML030570720 (5)

Text

February 26, 2003 Mr. Robert M. Bellamy Site Vice President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station 600 Rocky Hill Road Plymouth, Massachusetts 02360-5599

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION FOR PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION [TAC NO. MB7785, NOED No. 03-01-001]

Dear Mr. Bellamy:

This letter documents our verbal denial, for the reasons outlined herein, of your request for enforcement discretion on February 20, 2003 at 1500 hours0.0174 days <br />0.417 hours <br />0.00248 weeks <br />5.7075e-4 months <br />. Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

(Entergy) in teleconference discussions with the NRC staff, requested that the NRC exercise discretion not to enforce compliance with the actions required by a license condition and the Technical Specifications. By letter dated February 24, 2003, you documented the information previously discussed by teleconference with the NRC. Specifically, Facility Operating License Condition 3.E, requires that if one recirculation loop is out of service, the plant shall be placed in a hot shutdown condition within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> unless the loop is sooner returned to service. The principal NRC staff members who participated in that telephone conference included:

NRC Region I Staff

- A. Randolph Blough, Director, Division of Reactor Projects (DRP)

- Wayne Lanning, Director, Division of Reactor Safety (DRS)

- Clifford Anderson, Branch Chief, DRP Branch 5

- Lawrence Doerflein, Branch Chief, DRS

- Eugene Cobey, Senior Reactor Analyst

- Chris Welch, Resident Inspector

- Wayne Schmidt, Senior Reactor Analyst

- Frank Arner, Project Engineer, DRP Branch 5

- Josephine Talieri, Reactor Inspector, DRS NRC Headquarters Staff

- Stuart Richards, Project Director, Division of Licensing Project Management

- James Clifford, Section Chief, Division of Licensing Project Management

- Travis Tate, Project Manager, Division of Licensing Project Management

- Rich Guzman, Project Manager, Division of Licensing Project Management

- Ralph Caruso, Section Chief, Reactor Systems Branch

- George Thomas, Reactor Engineer, Reactor Systems Branch

- Carl Schulten, Senior Reactor Engineer, Technical Specifications Section

Mr. Robert M. Bellamy 2 Entergy personnel indicated that with one recirculation system loop out of service the plant would be required to be in hot shutdown by 0525 hours0.00608 days <br />0.146 hours <br />8.680556e-4 weeks <br />1.997625e-4 months <br /> on February 21, 2003. Entergy requested that a Notice of Enforcement Discretion (NOED) be issued pursuant to the NRCs policy regarding exercise of discretion for an operating facility, set out in Section VII.C, of the General Statement of Policy and Procedures for NRC Enforcement Actions (Enforcement Policy), NUREG-1600. This request would allow Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station an additional seven days of operation with a recirculation loop out of service.

The Operating License Condition and the Technical Specifications (TS) from which relief was requested were the following:

A. Facility Operating License Condition 3.E B. TS Table 3.1.1, Reactor Protection System, APRM High Flux Trip Level Settings C. TS 3.2.C.1, Control Rod Block Actuation, APRM Upscale Trip Setpoints D. TS 4.6.E, Jet Pumps As indicated in our call with your staff on February 20, 2003, and acknowledged in your letter dated February 24, 2003, the NRC staff denied your request for enforcement discretion. During the teleconference it was apparent that your staff had devoted extensive effort in a short period of time to initially evaluate the recirculation motor generator set failure, develop a safety assessment for continued operation, and propose compensatory actions to minimize risk.

However, on the basis of the staffs evaluation of your verbal request, we concluded that issuance of a NOED in this particular case was not consistent with the Enforcement Policy and staff guidance, given the complexity of the issue and limited time for staff review. Additionally, the staff noted that at the time of the NOED request, there was still substantial uncertainty with the root cause and scope of repairs required for the failed equipment.

Single-loop recirculation pump operational limits are typically addressed in plant specific analyses to support Technical Specification amendments which receive detailed NRC staff review. Further, although you proposed administrative controls (i.e., operating restrictions) to address stability issues, your plant equipment did not fully support the full scope of typical single loop adjustments such as resetting of the setpoints for the flow-biased scram function.

Notwithstanding our ultimate denial of this request, the staff noted that Entergy presented a good level and depth of technical information in a clearly understandable manner, during our discussions of your request.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to call Cliff Anderson at (610-337-5227). We understand that Pilgrim determined that the loop would not be returned to service in the timeframe available without the requested enforcement discretion and commenced a normal shutdown at 0025 hours2.893519e-4 days <br />0.00694 hours <br />4.133598e-5 weeks <br />9.5125e-6 months <br /> on February 21, 2003.

Sincerely,

/RA/

A. Randolph Blough, Director Division of Reactor Projects

Enclosure:

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. letter sent via email on February 24, 2003

Mr. Robert M. Bellamy 3 Docket No. 50-293 License No. DPR-35 NOED No. 03-01-001 cc w/encl: M. Krupa, Director, Nuclear Safety & Licensing W. Riggs, Director, Nuclear Assessment Group D. Tarantino, Nuclear Information Manager B. Ford, Regulatory Affairs Department Manager J. Fulton, Assistant General Counsel R. Hallisey, Department of Public Health, Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Honorable Therese Murray The Honorable Vincent deMacedo Chairman, Plymouth Board of Selectmen Chairman, Duxbury Board of Selectmen Chairman, Nuclear Matters Committee Plymouth Civil Defense Director D. OConnor, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy Resources J. Miller, Senior Issues Manager Office of the Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Office of the Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Chairman, Citizens Urging Responsible Energy S. McGrail, Director, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, SLO Designee Electric Power Division Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Secretary of Public Safety R. Shadis, New England Coalition Staff

Mr. Robert M. Bellamy 4 Distribution w/encl: H. Miller, RA/J. Wiggins, DRA (Inspection Reports)

A. Blough, DRP T. McGinty, RI EDO Coordinator C. Anderson, DRP F. Arner, DRP P. Bonnett, DRP J. Bobiak, DRP S. Richards, NRR T. Tate, PM, NRR R. Pulsifer, Backup PM, NRR W. Raymond, SRI - Pilgrim F. Congel, OE (ridsoemailcenter)

B. Sheron, ADPT, NRR OEWEB (E-mail address of OE webmaster)

NOED (Electronic copy to this E-mail address)

NOED File in DRP Region I Docket Room (with concurrences)

DOCUMENT NAME: G:\BRANCH5\NOEDPILGRIM.wpd After declaring this document An Official Agency Record it will/will not be released to the Public. To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box: "C" = Copy without attachment/enclosure "E" = Copy with attachment/enclosure "N" = No copy OFFICE RI/DRP RI/DRP NRR/PD1 RI/DRP NAME FArner/FJA CAnderson/CJA SRichards/FJA for ABlough/ARB verbal telephone DATE 02/26/03 02/26/03 02/26/03 02/26/03 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY