ML051230530
| ML051230530 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palo Verde  |
| Issue date: | 05/03/2005 |
| From: | Mallett B NRC Region 4 |
| To: | Overbeck G Arizona Public Service Co |
| References | |
| Download: ML051230530 (4) | |
Text
May 3, 2005 Gregg R. Overbeck, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Arizona Public Service Company P.O. Box 52034 Phoenix, AZ 85072-2034
SUBJECT:
ASSESSMENT FOLLOW-UP LETTER - (PALO VERDE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION DOCKET NUMBERS 50-528, 50-529, 50-530)
Dear Mr. Overbeck:
On April 26, 2005, the NRC staff completed, as part of our quarterly review, an update of our assessment of Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The assessment evaluated performance indicators (PIs) and inspection results. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of your safety performance during this period and our plans for a future inspection at your facility. This letter supplements, but does not supercede, our annual assessment letter issued on March 2, 2005.
On April 8, 2005, the NRC staff forwarded a letter concerning the final significance determination of a Yellow inspection finding in the Mitigating Systems cornerstone. The issue involved your discovery in July 2004, following notification from another facility where a similar problem had been identified, that a significant section of containment sump safety injection piping at all three Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS) units was void of water.
The voided section of piping had the potential to prevent the fulfillment of the safety function to remove residual heat and mitigate the consequences of a loss-of-coolant accident.
The NRC forwarded a second letter on April 8, 2005, concerning the final determination of a Severity Level III violation and proposed imposition of civil penalty. The issue involved the NRC's identification of a failure to perform a 10 CFR 50.59 safety evaluation and receive prior NRC approval of a change to Procedure 41ST-1SI09, "ECCS (emergency core cooling system)
Leak Test." Had an evaluation been performed, it would have led to a conclusion that the change was contrary to the description of the facility in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report and that it created an unreviewed safety question.
The Annual Assessment letter dated March 2, 2005, described two substantive crosscutting issues in the areas of human performance and problem identification and resolution. Both crosscutting issues were identified as a result of numerous findings in each area. The substantive crosscutting issues indicated that measures to identify and correct the underlying causes had not been effective. The letter also indicated that the NRC would continue to focus inspection activities on your actions to address your assessments of the safety conscious work environment.
Arizona Public Service Company As a result of our review, we have assessed Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station performance to be in the Degraded Cornerstone Column of the NRCs Action Matrix.
Therefore, we plan to conduct Supplemental Inspection Procedure 95002, "Supplemental Inspection for One Degraded Cornerstone or Any Three White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area," in July and August 2005. This inspection procedure is conducted to provide assurance that the root and contributing causes for the individual and collective risk significant performance issues are understood, to independently assess the extent of condition/cause, and to provide assurance that the corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence. Using other applicable inspection procedures, the inspection activity will also include: (1) a review of your root cause analyses, corrective actions, and extent of condition/cause reviews for the Severity Level III violation of 10 CFR 50.59, (2) an assessment your actions in response to the substantive crosscutting issues, and (3) a review of your activities and initiatives in the safety conscious work environment area.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter 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).
Please contact Troy W. Pruett at (817) 860-8173 with any questions you may have regarding this letter.
Sincerely,
/RA/ TPGwynn for Bruce S. Mallett Regional Administrator Dockets: 50-528 50-529 50-530 Licenses: NPF-41 NPF-51 NPF-74 cc:
Steve Olea Arizona Corporation Commission 1200 W. Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007 Douglas K. Porter, Senior Counsel Southern California Edison Company Law Department, Generation Resources P.O. Box 800 Rosemead, CA 91770
Arizona Public Service Company Chairman Maricopa County Board of Supervisors 301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor Phoenix, AZ 85003 Aubrey V. Godwin, Director Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40 Street Phoenix, AZ 85040 Craig K. Seaman, Director Regulatory Affairs Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Mail Station 7636 P.O. Box 52034 Phoenix, AZ 85072-2034 Hector R. Puente Vice President, Power Generation El Paso Electric Company 310 E. Palm Lane, Suite 310 Phoenix, AZ 85004 Jeffrey T. Weikert Assistant General Counsel El Paso Electric Company Mail Location 167 123 W. Mills El Paso, TX 79901 John W. Schumann Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Southern California Public Power Authority P.O. Box 51111, Room 1255-C Los Angeles, CA 90051-0100 John Taylor Public Service Company of New Mexico 2401 Aztec NE, MS Z110 Albuquerque, NM 87107-4224 Cheryl Adams Southern California Edison Company 5000 Pacific Coast Hwy. Bldg. DIN San Clemente, CA 92672 Robert Henry Salt River Project 6504 East Thomas Road Scottsdale, AZ 85251 Brian Almon Public Utility Commission William B. Travis Building P.O. Box 13326 1701 North Congress Avenue Austin, TX 78701-3326
Arizona Public Service Company Electronic distribution by RIV:
Regional Administrator (BSM1)
DRP Director (ATH)
DRS Director (DDC)
DRS Deputy Director (KSW)
Senior Resident Inspector (GXW2)
Branch Chief, DRP/D (TWP)
Senior Project Engineer, DRP/D (GEW)
Team Leader, DRP/TSS (RLN1)
RITS Coordinator (KEG)
Chief, NRR/DIPM/IIPB l RidsNrrDipmIipb SISP Review Completed: __TWP____
ADAMS: / Yes G No Initials: __TWP_
/ Publicly Available G Non-Publicly Available G Sensitive
/ Non-Sensitive R:\\_PV\\2005\\Assessment Followup.wpd RIV:SPE:DRP/D C:DRP/D D:DRP DRA RA GEWerner TWPruett ATHowell TPGwynn BSMallett
/RA/
GEWerner for
/RA/
/RA/
TPGwynn for 4/28/05 4/28/05 5/3/05 5/3/05 5/3/05 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY T=Telephone E=E-mail F=Fax