ML040720136

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Summary of Public Meeting with NRC Executive Director for Operations & Regional Administrator to Discuss with Senior NMC Officials Results of NRC Inspection Procedure (IP) 95003 Supplemental Inspection and Recent Performance of Point Beach
ML040720136
Person / Time
Site: Point Beach  NextEra Energy icon.png
Issue date: 03/11/2004
From: Anton Vegel
NRC/RGN-III/DRP/RPB7
To: Vanmiddlesworth G
Nuclear Management Co
References
EA-03-057
Download: ML040720136 (6)


Text

March 11, 2004 EA-03-057 Mr. Gary D. Van Middlesworth Site Vice-President Point Beach Nuclear Plant Nuclear Management Company, LLC 6610 Nuclear Road Two Rivers, WI 54241-9516

SUBJECT:

PUBLIC MEETING WITH THE NRC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS

Dear Mr. Van Middlesworth:

On February 20, 2004, a public meeting was held between Dr. William Travers, the NRC Executive Director for Operations, Mr. James Caldwell, the NRC Region III Regional Administrator, and members of their staff, and you, Messrs. Michael Sellman, John Paul Cowan, and Douglas Cooper, and other senior managers of the Nuclear Management Company (NMC). The purpose of the meeting was for the Executive Director for Operations and the Regional Administrator to discuss with senior NMC officials the results of the NRC Inspection Procedure (IP) 95003 supplemental inspection and recent performance of Point Beach.

The meeting, a public, regulatory performance meeting, was conducted in accordance with the guidance in Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0305, Operating Reactor Assessment Program.

During this meeting, the NRC Executive Director for Operations and the Regional Administrator discussed with you and other senior NMC managers the NRCs overall assessment of Point Beach performance and our intent to closely monitor your progress in addressing the identified problem areas. NRC managers stated that Point Beach was being operated safely but that the two Red findings related to the AFW system has resulted in increased regulatory oversight being warranted. The NRC further stated that the recently completed IP 95003 inspection should have only served to confirm that NMC had identified and had corrected or had plans to correct problems at Point Beach. Instead, the inspection identified problems in the emergency preparedness program that had not been identified by NMC. In addition, the IP 95003 inspection team identified problems with the implementation of corrective actions related to the AFW findings, engineering program issues, and operations engineering interface issues.

Overall, the NRC determined that Point Beach was effective in identifying problems, but was inconsistent in effectively evaluating and fixing the problems.

G. Van Middlesworth Nuclear Management Company officials acknowledged the results of the IP 95003 inspection and emphasized that improving performance and sustaining that improvement at Point Beach was the priority of NMC. The officials stated that in the past, Point Beach management has been inconsistent in effectively addressing equipment and personnel performance issues, but that NMC has recently hired and assigned to Point Beach managers with no previous affiliation with the plant and whose mission was to affect long-lasting, improved performance. The licensee then briefly described its improvement initiatives in problem areas, including the interface of operations and engineering, control of design basis documents, upgrade of calculations, and the conduct of corrective action effectiveness reviews.

A listing of principal NMC and NRC meeting attendees and a copy of the slides shown at the meeting by the NRC are enclosed as Enclosures 1 and 2 to this letter.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs Rule of Practice, a copy of this letter and its enclosures will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records System (PARS) component of NRCs 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 you have any questions regarding this conference, please contact Patrick Louden at (630) 829-9627.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Anton Vegel, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 7 Docket Nos. 50-266; 50-301 License Nos. DPR-24; DPR-27

Enclosures:

1. List of Principal Attendees
2. NRC Slides See Attached Distribution See Previous Concurrence DOCUMENT NAME: C:\ORPCheckout\FileNET\ML040720136.wpd 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 RIII RIII RIII RIII NAME MKunowski:dtp* PLouden AVegel* SReynolds DATE 03/4/04 03/08/04 03/4/04 03/11/04 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

G. Van Middlesworth cc w/encls: R. Kuester, President and Chief Executive Officer, We Generation J. Cowan, Executive Vice President Chief Nuclear Officer D. Cooper, Senior Vice President, Group Operations D. Weaver, Nuclear Asset Manager Plant Manager Regulatory Affairs Manager Training Manager J. Rogoff, Vice President, Counsel & Secretary K. Duveneck, Town Chairman Town of Two Creeks Chairperson Public Service Commission of Wisconsin J. Kitsembel, Electric Division Public Service Commission of Wisconsin State Liaison Officer

G. Van Middlesworth ADAMS Distribution:

WDR DFT DWS RidsNrrDipmIipb GEG HBC PGK1 DRPIII DRSIII PLB1 JRK1

Enclosure 1 PUBLIC MEETING PRINCIPAL ATTENDEES February 20, 2004 Nuclear Management Company, LLC (NMC)

M. Sellman President and Chief Executive Officer, NMC J. Cowan Chief Nuclear Officer, NMC D. Cooper Senior Vice-President, NMC G. Van Middlesworth Point Beach Site Vice-President J. McCarthy Point Beach Site Director T. Sullivan Consultant, Chairman of the NMC Nuclear Oversight Committee NRC W. Travers Executive Director for Operations J. Caldwell Regional Administrator, Region III S. Reynolds Acting Director, Division of Reactor Projects, Region III D. Weaver Executive Director for Operations/Region III Liaison A. Vegel Chief, Branch 7, Division of Reactor Projects, Region III, and Team Leader, 95003 Inspection Team P. Louden Chief, Branch 5, Division of Reactor Projects, Region III P. Krohn Senior Resident Inspector, Point Beach M. Morris Resident Inspector, Point Beach J. Strasma Public Affairs Officer, Region III R. Lickus State Liaison Officer, Region III R. Krsek Senior Resident Inspector, Kewaunee M. Kunowski Project Engineer, Region III