ML041690266
| ML041690266 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Dresden  |
| Issue date: | 06/14/2004 |
| From: | Ring M NRC/RGN-III/DRP/RPB1 |
| To: | Crane C Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear |
| References | |
| Download: ML041690266 (10) | |
Text
June 14, 2004 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President and Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Nuclear Exelon Generation Company, LLC 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE DRESDEN NUCLEAR POWER STATION PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT MEETING ON APRIL 29, 2004
Dear Mr. Crane:
On April 29, 2004, a public meeting was held at the Grundy County Administration Building in Morris, Illinois, between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Exelon Generation Company staff. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss NRCs assessment of Dresdens performance for the period of January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003.
Overall, as discussed in the Dresden Annual Assessment letter dated March 4, 2004 (ADAMS accession number ML040641172), Dresden operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety. Plant performance for the most recent quarter was within the Regulatory Response Column of the NRCs Action Matrix, based on one White performance indicator (Unit 3 High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) Safety System Unavailability) in the mitigating systems cornerstone. This performance indicator went White in the third quarter of 2001 due to fault exposure hours following the Unit 3 HPCI water hammer event on July 5, 2001. On June 23, 2003, we issued the Final Significance Determination for a White finding involving your failure to promptly correct a nonconforming pipe support resulting in the Unit 3 HPCI being inoperable from July 5, to September 30, 2001. This finding involves the same issue as the White PI. A supplemental inspection conducted in November 2003 concluded that you had appropriately addressed and resolved the finding. As a result the finding was closed at the end of the most recent quarter.
Additionally and also discussed in the Dresden Annual Assessment letter, on June 23, 2003, a Severity Level III Violation of 10 CFR 50.9 was issued in accordance with the enforcement policy. The violation was for incomplete and inaccurate information provided to the Commission on September 27, 2001, that was material because the Commission was evaluating the operability determination for the Unit 3 HPCI system. A Severity Level III Violation of 10 CFR 50.9 was issued on August 29, 2003, for incomplete and inaccurate information provided to the Commission upon which the Commission made a licensing decision. You submitted an operator license renewal request for an individual on March 5, 2002, that stated that an individual was current on all requalification examinations when in fact the
C. Crane individual was not. The NRC conducted inspections to review your corrective actions for these two violations in November 2003 and January 2004, respectively.
During the meeting, Mr. D. Bost, Dresden Site Vice President, briefly described his views on performance at Dresden in 2003 and recent performance in 2004. At the time of the meeting, the two Dresden units had experienced four scrams in calendar year 2004, including a Unit 2 scram the day before the meeting on April 28, 2004, due to the trip of a recirculation pump.
These events were briefly discussed. Mr. Bost described the number one goal of Dresden Station Management as safety, both nuclear and radiological safety, as it affects the workers at Dresden, as well as the public. Other goals included improvements in human performance, equipment reliability, and security.
Four members of the public and two officials from Grundy County and the City of Morris attended the meeting. Those individuals had several questions and comments for the NRC and the Exelon representatives. A rough listing of those questions and comments is included as an attachment to this letter.
The meeting attendance list is enclosed. The slides presented by the NRC are available in ADAMS (accession number ML041530017). Please contact me if there are any questions you have about this meeting at (630) 829-9703.
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).
Sincerely,
/RA/
Mark Ring, Chief Branch 1 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-237; 50-249 License Nos. DPR-19; DPR-25 See Attached Distribution
C. Crane individual was not. The NRC conducted inspections to review your corrective actions for these two violations in November 2003 and January 2004, respectively.
During the meeting, Mr. D. Bost, Dresden Site Vice President, briefly described his views on performance at Dresden in 2003 and recent performance in 2004. At the time of the meeting, the two Dresden units had experienced four scrams in calendar year 2004, including a Unit 2 scram the day before the meeting on April 28, 2004, due to the trip of a recirculation pump.
These events were briefly discussed. Mr. Bost described the number one goal of Dresden Station Management as safety, both nuclear and radiological safety, as it affects the workers at Dresden, as well as the public. Other goals included improvements in human performance, equipment reliability, and security.
Four members of the public and two officials from Grundy County and the City of Morris attended the meeting. Those individuals had several questions and comments for the NRC and the Exelon representatives. A rough listing of those questions and comments is included as an attachment to this letter.
The meeting attendance list is enclosed. The slides presented by the NRC are available in ADAMS (accession number ML041530017). Please contact me if there are any questions you have about this meeting at (630) 829-9703.
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).
Sincerely,
/RA/
Mark Ring, Chief Branch 1 Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-237; 50-249 License Nos. DPR-19; DPR-25 See Attached Distribution DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\Branch TSS\\EOC Ltrs\\Mtg Notices 2004\\Dres EOC mtg summary.wpd To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box:"C" = Copy without enclosure "E"= Copy with enclosure"N"= No copy OFFICE RIII RIII NAME PPelke:co (MRing for) MRing DATE 06/14/04 06/14/04 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
C. Crane cc w/encl:
Site Vice President - Dresden Nuclear Power Station Dresden Nuclear Power Station Plant Manager Regulatory Assurance Manager - Dresden Chief Operating Officer Senior Vice President - Nuclear Services Senior Vice President - Mid-West Regional Operating Group Vice President - Mid-West Operations Support Vice President - Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Director Licensing - Mid-West Regional Operating Group Manager Licensing - Dresden and Quad Cities Senior Counsel, Nuclear, Mid-West Regional Operating Group Document Control Desk - Licensing Assistant Attorney General Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety State Liaison Officer Chairman, Illinois Commerce Commission
C. Crane ADAMS Distribution:
AJM DFT MXB RidsNrrDipmIipb GEG HBC DRC1 CAA1 C. Pederson, DRS (hard copy - IRs only)
DRPIII DRSIII PLB1 JRK1
Attendance List Dresden Station Performance Assessment Meeting April 29, 2004 Name Organization Danny Bost Site Vice President, Exelon Nuclear Generation, Dresden Dave Wozniak Plant Manager, Exelon Nuclear Generation, Dresden Jeff Hansen Regulatory Assurance Manager, Exelon Nuclear Generation, Dresden Patrick Simpson Licensing Manager, Exelon Nuclear Generation, Dresden Kristen Wallach Site Communicator, Exelon Nuclear Generation, Dresden Ken Daggett public Judy Daggett public Cynthia Sauer public Dr. Joseph Sauer public Paul Nelson Chair, Grundy County Board Arthur Hornsby Mayor, City of Morris Mark Ring Chief, Projects Branch 1, NRC Desiree Smith Dresden Senior Resident Inspector, NRC Mina Sheikh Dresden Resident Inspector, NRC Robert Shulz Illinois Emergency Management Agency Karen Gladden Dresden Office Administrator, NRC
List of Comments/Questions from Members of the Public Dresden Station Performance Assessment Meeting April 29, 2004 It was an individuals understanding that Davis-Besse performance indicators were Green prior to the discovery of the hole in the reactor head. How can a plants condition go from Green to Shutdown so quickly and without warning?
Had the hole not been discovered, would the disaster at Davis-Besse been worse than 3-Mile Island?
Does the NRC have studies to indicate what could have happened?
Occasionally workers are contaminated, and they or their equipment must be decontaminated or disposed. What is the decontamination or disposal process?
Are there any items sent to an independent laundry facility?
Are these facilities monitored and by whom?
Where does the radiation from these laundry facilities go?
Is the public entitled to know about storage sites for contaminated items or spent fuel?
Where is the spent fuel from Dresden being stored?
Where is the low-level waste being stored?
Individual understood that during construction of the Dresden facility in the 1960s, workers had pits on site where they discarded used and possibly contaminated tools. Do these pits still exist, and have they been accumulating since 1960?
Does the NRC monitor the Morris, Illinois nuclear waste laundry facility?
What would this meeting be like if the public werent present?
We understand that up until about 9 years ago, the State Fire Marshal inspected the storage tanks at Dresden, and now the plant personnel are charged with this task. How can the plant be trusted to monitor themselves?
Why are nuclear power plants not built like Shippingport, which was much safer? Individual read an article about how it is cheaper to build the less safe type of power plant.
When Dresden was built, is it true that it was safe to operate for only 1 year?
Individual lived in an area east of Morris, where many of her neighbors had cancer, some have died, and their animals have died due to cancers.
Mr. Tappert of the NRC is working with me in finding out about the release of tritium into storm sewers. Can Exelon lend assistance in the researching of this issue, and help find the answers? I am asking Exelon to be a good neighbor and join our cause.
Do the smokestacks at a nuclear power plant emit dangerous substances?
Are there filters on these stacks? How often are they monitored?
Do the smokestacks ever get cleaned out by sending a whoosh of air through them during the night hours?
A whistle blower brought up issues about the spent fuel storage containers not being sufficient.
Is there any truth in his observations? Does the NRC monitor the storage of spent fuel rods?
Where there valid problems found as a result of his allegations?
The G.E. facility which is located down the road from Dresden station, are they monitored and by whom?
Do any of you (indicating the NRC and Exelon people present) live in Grundy County?
Is there a correlation between shallow wells and the cancer rate?
Stated that she is concerned about all the industries in Grundy county, not just the nuclear facility.
When a well water test is performed for declaring it fit for drinking, such as when a home is sold, what do they test for?
She heard that there were signs on the drinking fountains at the Dresden site stating Do not drink the tap water, contact the plant chemist for direction, and that personnel were told to drink only bottled water, not tap water. Is this true?
Is there any ongoing monitoring of the health effects of continuous, low dose exposure?
Have you (NRC or Exelon) conduct a study of the health effects of continuous, low dose exposure?
What were the causes of the last 2 scrams (unit 2 in April)?
Is the public notified of scrams?
At what point do you consider the emissions of the power plant dangerous? Are the standards raised periodically to accommodate operations? Even the long term, multiple doses?
How long did Dresden unit 1 operate?
Why was it shut down?
Who is responsible for the spent fuel handling and its safety integrity? (As related to keeping track of where it is stored.)
Have they found the lost rod in Vermont?
Understanding that a different division of the NRC watches the G.E. facility; if there were a leak on that site, would there be a way to detect the leak?
Is the water in the spent fuel pool tested?
How many rods are stored in the pool? Is there a limit to how many can be stored?
Nevada doesnt want Yucca Mountain, why is that? Why would Illinois want to be the storage site?
How is the spent fuel pool water purified?
How does the radioactive material which comes from the filtering process get handled?
Where is this waste stored?
Is the water which is used to store the fuel rods contained within the plant?
Do the cooling ponds have any contaminated water pass through them?
If the fuel rods are still potent, why cant they still be used in the plant?
Are there any members of the press here?
If nuclear power generation is so safe; why is Canada, England, and Europe closing their facilities and using different processes to generate electricity?
It is his understanding that Dresden was at a higher threshold in the 1990s. Could they have released contaminates during that time?
Hearing about a leak of radioactive substance in the south (Honeywell) where they facility who release the substance did not initiate a call to emergency agencies, but rather a citizen made this notification.
Would the public be notified if an issue occurred at a nuclear power plant?
Do you monitor the ground water around the site, as well as areas outside the plant? Do you check the ground water for contamination?
How dangerous is tritium?
Would tritium be a by-product of a nuclear power plant?
Do you know how the tritium got into the storm sewers?
What is bromine? Would it be a byproduct of a nuclear power station?
There was an article in the newspaper about this meeting tonight. The article states that the NRC is more concerned about the corrective actions being taken than the amount of fines charged. Is this true?
The amount of a fine ($60,000), is comparable to me paying a speeding ticket out of my salary; does this actually cause the company to perform better? Are the penalties high enough?
How can you trust someone who has falsified records previously?
Does the NRC pull ground water samples independently from the plant personnel?
Are there any applications for new reactors to be built in this area?
Can you put more reactors in the same general area?
If so, does this say, double the exposure to emissions for the public?
Does any of the electricity generated at Dresden get used in Morris?