ML091320623

IR 05000327-09-007, IR 05000328-09-007, on 12/16/2008, for Sequoyah, Notice of Violation

ML091320623
Person / Time
Site:	Sequoyah
Issue date:	05/12/2009
From:	Eugene Guthrie Reactor Projects Region 2 Branch 6
To:	Swafford P Tennessee Valley Authority
References
EA-08-348 IR-09-007
Download: ML091320623 (9)

See also: IR 05000327/2009007

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION II

SAM NUNN ATLANTA FEDERAL CENTER

61 FORSYTH STREET, SW, SUITE 23T85

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-8931

May 12, 2009

EA-08-348

Mr. Preston D. Swafford

Chief Nuclear Officer and

Executive Vice President

Tennessee Valley Authority

3R Lookout Place

1101 Market Street

Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT: NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS REPORT 2-2008-024, SEQUOYAH

NUCLEAR PLANT INSPECTION REPORT 05000327/2009007,

05000328/2009007 AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION (NOV)

Dear Mr. Swafford:

This refers to the investigation completed on December 16, 2008, at your Sequoyah Nuclear

Power Plant. The purpose of the investigation was to review the facts and circumstances

associated with the failure to provide complete and accurate information regarding a chemistry

standing order. The results of the investigation were discussed on May 12, 2009 with Tim

Cleary and other members of your staff.

Based on the results of the investigation, the NRC has determined that a Severity Level IV

violation of NRC requirements occurred. The violation was evaluated in accordance with the

NRC Enforcement Policy, which is located on the NRCs Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/about-

nrc/regulatory/enforcement/enforc-pol.pdf. The violation is documented in the enclosed Notice

of Violation (Notice). For administrative purposes, this letter is issued as Inspection Report 05000327/2009007 and 05000328/2009007, and the NOV is designated as 05000327,

328/2009007-01.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter will be

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).

You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the

enclosed Notice when preparing your response. The NRC will use your response, in part, to

determine whether further enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with

regulatory requirements.

TVA 2

If you contest the violation or significance of the NOV, you should provide a response within 30

days of the date of this inspection report, with the basis for your denial, to the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington DC 20555-0001, with

copies to the Regional Administrator, Region II, and the Director, Office of Enforcement, United

States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and the NRC Resident

Inspector at the Sequoyah facility.

Your response will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public

Document Room or from the NRCs document system (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web

site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

If Safeguards Information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the

level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Eugene F. Guthrie, Chief

Reactor Projects Branch 6

Division of Reactor Projects

Docket Nos.: 50-327, 50-328

License Nos.: DPR-77, DPR-79

cc w/encls: (See Page 3)

Enclosures: 1. Synopsis OI Investigation 2-2008-034

2. Notice of Violation

3. List of Items Opened, Closed and Discussed

_________________________ X SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE

OFFICE RII:DRP RII:DRS RII:DRP

SIGNATURE PCH CFC for EFG

NAME PHiggins SSparks EGuthrie

DATE 4/24/2009 4/24/2009 5/12/2009 5/ /2009 5/ /2009 5/ /2009 5/ /2009

E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO

TVA 3

cc w/encls: Ludwig E. Thibault, General Manager

Ashok S. Bhatnagar Nuclear Oversight & Assistance

Senior Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority

Nuclear Generation Development and 3R Lookout Place

Construction 1101 Market Steet

Tennessee Valley Authority Chattanooga , TN 37402-2801

Electronic Mail Distribution

General Counsel

Preston D. Swafford Tennessee Valley Authority

Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice Electronic Mail Distribution

President

Tennessee Valley Authority Fredrick C. Mashburn

Electronic Mail Distribution Acting Manager

Corporate Nuclear Licensing & Industry

William R. Campbell Affairs

Senior Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority

Fleet Engineering Electronic Mail Distribution

Tennessee Valley Authority

6A Lookout Place Beth A. Wetzel, Manager

1101 Market Place Licensing and Industry Affairs

Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Sequoyah Nuclear Plant

Electronic Mail Distribution

Christopher R. Church

Plant Manager Lawrence Edward Nanney

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Director

Tennessee Valley Authority Division of Radiological Health

Electronic Mail Distribution TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation

Electronic Mail Distribution

Thomas Coutu

Vice President County Mayor

Nuclear Support Hamilton County

Tennessee Valley Authority Hamilton County Courthouse

Electronic Mail Distribution Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

Michael J. Lorek Larry E. Nicholson, General Manager

Vice President Performance Improvement

Nuclear Engineering & Projects Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution

Electronic Mail Distribution

Michael A. Purcell

Timothy P. Cleary Senior Licensing Manager

Site Vice President Nuclear Power Group

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority Electronic Mail Distribution

Electronic Mail Distribution

James H. Bassham

Ann Harris Director

341 Swing Loop Tennessee Emergency Mgmt. Agency

Rockwood, TN 37854 Electronic Mail Distribution

TVA 4

Letter to Preston D. Swafford from Eugene Guthrie dated May 12, 2009

SUBJECT: NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS REPORT 2-2008-024, SEQUOYAH

NUCLEAR PLANT INSPECTION REPORT 05000327/2009007,

05000328/2009007 AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION (NOV)

Distribution w/encls:

C. Evans, RII

L. Slack, RII

OE Mail

RIDSNRRDIRS

PUBLIC

R. Pascarelli, NRR

RidsNrrPMSequoyah Resource

SYNOPSIS

This investigation was initiated on February 20, 2008, by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC), Office of Investigations (OI), Region II (RII), to determine whether a

Chemistry Shift Manager at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant deliberately failed to provide complete

and accurate information regarding a chemistry standing order, as required, and in violation of

10 CFR 50.5.

Based upon the evidence developed, OI:RII substantiated that the Chemical Shift Supervisor

deliberately failed to provide complete and accurate information as required in the chemistry

standing order he signed and acknowledged on December 28, 2007.

NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE WITHOUT APPROVAL OF

FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, REGION II

Official Use Only - OI Investigation Information

Case No. 2-2008-024

Enclosure 1

NOTICE OF VIOLATION

Tenneesee Valley Authority (TVA) Docket Nos. 50-327 & 50-328

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant License Nos. DPR-77 &

DPR-79

EA-08-348

During an NRC investigation conducted between February 20, 2008 and December 16, 2008, a

violation of NRC requirements was identified. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy,

the violation is listed below:

10 CFR 50.9 (a) requires that information provided to the Commission by a licensee or

information required by statute or by the Commissions regulations, orders, or license conditions

to be maintained by the licensee shall be complete and accurate in all material respects.

Technical Specification 6.8.1 requires procedures described in Appendix A of RG 1.33, Revision

2 to be established, implemented, and maintained. Paragraph 10 of Appendix A of RG 1.33

requires, in part, that chemical control procedures be written to prescribe the limitations on

concentrations of agents that may cause corrosive attack or fouling of heat transfer surfaces

and specify laboratory instructions and calibration of laboratory equipment. Licensee procedure

SPP-5.3, Chemistry Control, Revision 5, implemented this requirement for all TVA nuclear

facilities.

Step 3.1.3 of procedure SPP-5.3 required Chemistry licensee personnel, including Chemistry

Supervisors, to implement chemistry quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) programs.

Appendix D of procedure SPP-5.3 described chemistry quality assurance, quality control and

referenced procedure CHTP-109, Chemistry QA/QC, for the details. Step 4.2.3E of procedure

CHTP-109 required that a known control standard check within the same concentration range

as the instrument calibration range be performed along with each batch of samples and

described a batch as less than or equal to 10 samples in a 12 hour1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br /> period.

Contrary to the above, on January 25, 2008, a Chemistry Shift Supervisor deliberately entered

false data into the Chemistry Department internal laboratory statistics database. Specifically, on

January 24, 2008, the licensee employee failed to perform the required QA/QC standard check

for the evening shift, and the following day entered false data into the database. This

information was material to the NRC in that the substance of the information is used to

determine compliance with the Technical Specifications. The Chemistry Shift Supervisors

deliberate entry of false data into the internal laboratory statistics database caused the licensee

(TVA) to be in violation of 10 CFR 50.9 (a).

This is a Severity Level IV violation.

Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, TVA is hereby required to submit a written

statement or explanation to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN:

Document Control Desk, Washington, DC 20555-0001 with a copy to the Regional

Administrator, Region II, and a copy to the NRC Resident Inspector at the facility that is the

subject of this Notice, within 30 days of the date of the letter transmitting this Notice of Violation

(Notice).

Enclosure 2

NOV 2

This reply should be clearly marked as a Reply to a Notice of Violation; EA-08-348 and should

include for the violation: (1) the reasons for the violation, or, if contested, the basis for disputing

the violation or severity level, (2) the corrective steps that have been taken and the results

achieved, (3) the corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations, and (4) the date

when full compliance will be achieved.

Your response may reference or include previously docketed correspondence, if the

correspondence adequately addresses the required response. If an adequate reply is not

received within the time specified in this Notice, an order or a Demand for Information may be

issued as to why the license should not be modified, suspended, or revoked, or why such other

action as may be proper should not be taken. Where good cause is shown, consideration will

be given to extending the response time.

If you contest this enforcement action, you should also provide a copy of your response, with

the basis for your denial, to the Director, Office of Enforcement, United States Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

If Safeguards Information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the

level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.

Dated this 12th day of May 2009

Enclosure 2

LIST OF ITEMS OPENED, CLOSED, AND DISCUSSED

Opened

05000327,328/2009007-01 NOV Falsifying Data

Enclosure 3