ML043090120

E-mail D, Collins, NRR, to Rgn 1, Hope Creek & Salem, Request of Status of Staff Efforts at Salem/Hope Creek

ML043090120
Person / Time
Site:	Salem, Hope Creek
Issue date:	05/11/2004
From:	Dan Collins Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Division of Nuclear Materials Safety I
References
FOIA/PA-2004-0314
Download: ML043090120 (4)

Text

Daniel Col s - Fvd: Request for status of staff efforts at Salem/Hope Creek _ Page 1 From: Daniel Collins To: Rgn 1 Hope Creek & Salem Date: May 11, 2004 4:33:40 PM

Subject:

Fwd: Request for status of staff efforts at Salem/Hope Creek Please see the attached request from the Office of Public Affairs.

If Region I would like, I can summarize Marc Ferdas' e-mail on the SCWE update for the purposes of responding to this request.

Dan Collins 301.415.1427 I/

Daniel Collins -Request .for status of staff efforts at SaIemn/Hopb Creek Page 1 From: June Cal To: "%t)Aniel Collins; Glenn Meyer -aT Date: May 11, 2004 4:28:40 PM

Subject:

Request for status of staff efforts at Salem/Hope Creek Please see attached email regarding a request for information on the staff's current efforts at Salem and Hope Creek in the area of Safety Conscious Work Environment/Safety Culture. This isfor a response to a proposed question by the Office of Public Affairs in anticipation of questions by the public to NRC's response to the GAO Davis Besse Report. The response is attached, with the reference to Salem/Hope Creek highlighted. We would appreciate if you could provide us with the requested information.

Thanks for your help June Cai CC: Clare Goodman; David Trimble; James Andersen; Lisamarie Jarriel

Daniel Collins - Re: Input for GAO O&A Page 1

-C.

From: Stacey Rosenberg *'

To: June Cai tJg Date: May 11, 2004 12:47:57 PM

Subject:

Re: Input for GAO Q&A Hi June, In your response to the GAO Q&A, you state *This may lead to possible action, such as the staff's current efforts at Salem and Hope Creek." Can you please provide me with some of the detail on the staff's current efforts at Salem and Hope Creek - just a few lines or one paragraph on both Salem and Hope Creek?

Thank you, Stacey

>>> June Cai 05/06/04 02:33PM >>>>>

Stacey:

Attached please find the response to the preliminary question proposed in response to the GAO report that was assigned to David Trimble.

Thanks June CC: Clare Goodman; David Trimble

~ Cllins

_a -GAO nepqonse-PLA.wpd__ ____ Pag~i~__

0: What actions has the NRC put in place to identify early indications of deteriorating safety conditions, decide on shutting down a plant, and/or monitor lessons learned from previous incidents?

A: One of the key objectives of the NRC inspection program is to determine the causes of declining performance before such performance reaches a level that may result in an undue risk to public health and safety. The inspection program focuses on activities and systems that are risk significant, that is, those activities and systems that have a potential to trigger an accident, can mitigate the effects of an accident, or increase the consequences of a possible accident. The inspection program also evaluates the "cross-cutting issues" of human performance, the "safety-conscious work environment," and how the utilities find and fix problems. Inspections beyond the baseline will be performed at plants with performance below established thresholds, as assessed through information gained from performance indicators and NRC inspections. Additional inspections may also be performed in response to a specific event or problem which may arise at a plant. As a result of the Davis Besse lessons learned, the staff has instituted several changes to the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), which the staff believes should improve the agency's performance in this area. These changes include more discrete guidance for the processing of cross-cutting issues, and more focused inspections of longstanding equipment issues and equipment trends. Future changes include strengthening inspection guidance to consider operating experience.

In addition to the inspection activities discussed above, the NRC staff uses the allegation program to provide insights on licensee performance. The staff reviews data concerning allegations that the agency receives to identify any trends that may indicate a change in the work environment at a licensee's facility. Based on the results of these reviews and the results of follow-up activities regarding individual allegations, the staff determines whether the trend in allegations is indicative of a decline in the licensee's work environment.

The insights the staff gains from our inspection activities, performance indicators, and the analyses of allegation trends are considered during the ROP mid-cycle and end-of-cycle assessments. The assessment process enables the agency to arrive at objective conclusions about the licensee's safety performance. Based on this assessment information, the NRC determines the appropriate level of agency response, including supplemental inspection and pertinent regulatory actions ranging from management meetings up to and including orders for plant shutdown. If the NRC determines that there may be potential issues with a licensee's safety conscious work environment or safety culture, then this concern is elevated to NRC management for further discussion and evaluation. This may lead to possible action, such as the staff's current efforts at Salem and Hope Creek.

In addition, NRC senior management will review the adequacy of agency actions for plants with significant performance problems. The managers will also take a wider view both of the overall industry performance and of the performance of the agency's regulatory programs. The performance of plants requiring heightened agency scrutiny will then be discussed during a public meeting with the NRC Commissioners.