ML042430645
| ML042430645 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Oconee  |
| Issue date: | 08/30/2004 |
| From: | Mccree V Division Reactor Projects II |
| To: | Rosalyn Jones Duke Energy Corp |
| Shared Package | |
| ML042430644 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML042430645 (4) | |
Text
August 30, 2004 Duke Energy Corporation ATTN: Mr. R. A. Jones Vice President Oconee Nuclear Station 7800 Rochester Highway Seneca, SC 29672
SUBJECT:
MID-CYCLE PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND INSPECTION PLAN - OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION
Dear Mr. Jones:
On August 3, 2004, the NRC staff completed its mid-cycle plant performance assessment of the Oconee Nuclear Station. The mid-cycle review for Oconee involved the participation of all technical divisions in evaluating performance for the first half of the calendar year 2004 assessment cycle. The process included a review of performance indicators (PIs) for the most recent quarter and inspection results over the previous twelve months. 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. This will allow you an opportunity to prepare for these inspections and to inform us of any planned inspections that may conflict with your plant activities. This performance review and the enclosed inspection plan do not include physical protection information. A separate mid-cycle performance review letter, designated and marked as Proprietary Information in accordance with 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1), will include the physical protection review results and corresponding inspection plan.
Plant performance for Units 1, 2 and 3 for the most recent quarter was within the Regulatory Response Column of the NRCs Action Matrix due to a third quarter 2003 Mitigating Systems cornerstone finding of low to moderate safety significance (White) involving inadequate corrective actions to address a condition adverse to quality. The condition involved pressurizer ambient heat losses in all three Units that exceeded the capacity of heaters powered from the standby shutdown facility (SSF). The supplemental inspection required by the NRCs Action Matrix was conducted the week of August 9, 2004.
For your information, the following issues are still under staff review as part of the Significance Determination Process and may warrant additional supplemental inspection if they are determined to be of greater than very low risk significance.
Licensee Event Report (LER) 50-269/02-03, Unresolved Item (URI) 50-269/02-02-03, and LER 50-287/01-03 (Reactor Pressure Boundary Leakage from Reactor Pressure Vessel Nozzle Penetrations During Operation)
DEC 2
URI 50-269,270,287/02-05-05 (Improper Installation of Feedwater Line Whip-restraints)
URI 050000269/2004003-01 (Inadequate Unit 1 Reactor Coolant Pump Seal Modification)
URI 05000269,270,287/2004002-04 (Potential Failure to Maintain RB Coatings per GL 98-04 Commitments, Resulting in Potential Loss of RBES Recirculation)
AV 05000269,270,287/2004012-01 (Failure to Maintain License Basis Commitment for Staffing the SSF in the Event of a Confirmed Plant Fire)
Additionally, on April 8, 2004, Oconee was assessed a $60,000 civil penalty for violation of 10 CFR 50.59 requirements. Oconee revised a high energy line break (HELB) analysis in May 2001 without first obtaining NRC review and approval. The revised analysis postponed the initiation time of required safety systems (i.e., emergency feedwater and high pressure injection), for which the NRC determined that Oconees review of the UFSAR changes did not adequately consider the impact to plant safety. A followup inspection of your corrective actions for this violation will be performed as part of baseline inspection program for identification and resolution of problems.
The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections, less those related to physical protection, scheduled through March 31, 2006. In addition to baseline inspection activities, the plan currently includes: (1) special inspection associated with steam generator replacement; (2) operator licensing examinations; (3) routine inspections of activities associated with your Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; and (4) safety issue inspections concerning the reactor pressure vessel lower head penetration nozzles (NRC Bulletin 2003-02). Also during the Fall 2004 refueling outage, an inspection of your response to NRC Bulletin 2004-01:
Inspection of Alloy 82/182/600 Materials Used in the Fabrication of Pressurizer Penetrations and Steam Space Piping Connections at Pressurized-Water Reactors, will be conducted using a Temporary Instruction. The Temporary Instruction is currently in draft form. 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 twelve months of the inspection plan is tentative and may be revised at the end-of-cycle review.
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).
DEC 3
If circumstances arise which cause us to change the inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon as possible. Please contact Robert Haag at (404)562-4550 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.
Sincerely
/RA/
Victor M. McCree, Director Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, 50-287 License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, DPR-55
Enclosure:
Oconee Inspection/ Activity Plan cc w/encl:
B. G. Davenport Compliance Manager (ONS)
Duke Energy Corporation Electronic Mail Distribution Lisa Vaughn Legal Department (PB05E)
Duke Energy Corporation 422 South Church Street P. O. Box 1244 Charlotte, NC 28201-1244 Anne Cottingham Winston & Strawn LLP Electronic Mail Distribution Beverly Hall, Acting Director Division of Radiation Protection N. C. Department of Environmental Health & Natural Resources Electronic Mail Distribution Henry J. Porter, Assistant Director Div. of Radioactive Waste Mgmt.
S. C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Electronic Mail Distribution R. Mike Gandy Division of Radioactive Waste Mgmt.
S. C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Electronic Mail Distribution County Supervisor of Oconee County 415 S. Pine Street Walhalla, SC 29691-2145 Lyle Graber, LIS NUS Corporation Electronic Mail Distribution R. L. Gill, Jr., Manager Nuclear Regulatory Issues and Industry Affairs Duke Energy Corporation 526 S. Church Street Charlotte, NC 28201-0006 Peggy Force Assistant Attorney General N. C. Department of Justice Electronic Mail Distribution
DEC 4
Distribution w/encl:
L. Olshan, NRR A. Hiser, NRR L. Slack, EICS RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC Institute of Nuclear Power Operations 700 Galleria Parkway SE Atlanta, GA 30339-5943 OFFICE RII/DRP RII/DRP SIGNATURE NAME MPribish RHaag DATE 8/ /2004 E-MAIL COPY?
YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO PUBLIC DOCUMENT YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME: C:\\ORPCheckout\\FileNET\\ML042430645.wpd