ML092450624
| ML092450624 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Prairie Island  |
| Issue date: | 09/03/2009 |
| From: | Satorius M Region 3 Administrator |
| To: | Schimmel M Northern States Power Co |
| References | |
| EA-09-167, IR-09-013 EA-09-167 | |
| Download: ML092450624 (6) | |
See also: IR 05000306/2009013
Text
September 3, 2009
Mr. Mark A. Schimmel
Acting Site Vice President
Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant
Northern States Power Company - Minnesota
1717 Wakonade Drive East
Welch, MN 55089
SUBJECT: FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION FOR A WHITE FINDING AND
NOTICE OF VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000306/2009013;
PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT, UNIT 2
Dear Mr. Schimmel:
The purpose of this letter is to provide you the final results of our significance determination of the
preliminary White finding identified in Inspection Report 05000282/2009010; 05000306/2009010.
The inspection finding was assessed using the Significance Determination Process and was
preliminarily characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate increased importance to
safety that may require additional U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspections. This
White finding is associated with the licensees failure to design the component cooling water
system such that it would be protected from the impact of a high energy line break, seismic, or
tornado events.
In a telephone conversation with Mr. Steven West of the NRC Region III office, on
August 10, 2009, Mr. Michael Wadley, former Site Vice President, indicated that Northern States
Power Company - Minnesota did not contest the characterization of the risk significance of this
finding and that Northern States Power Company - Minnesota declined the opportunity to discuss
this issue in a regulatory conference or to provide a written response.
After considering the information developed during the inspection, the NRC has concluded that
the inspection finding is appropriately characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate
increased importance to safety that may require additional NRC inspections as stated in
Inspection Report 05000282/2009010; 05000306/2009010.
The NRC has also determined that the finding is a violation of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B,
Criterion III, Design Control, as cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice). The
circumstances surrounding the violation were described in detail in the subject inspection report.
In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the Notice is considered escalated enforcement
action because it is associated with a White finding.
The NRC has concluded that the information regarding the reason for the violation, the corrective
actions taken, and the date when full compliance was achieved is already adequately addressed
on the docket in the subject inspection report. Therefore, you are not required to respond to this
letter unless the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective actions or your
position.
M. Schimmel -2-
As a result of our review of Prairie Island Unit 2s performance, including this White finding, we
have assessed you to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRCs Action Matrix.
Therefore, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001,
Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area, when your staff has
notified us of your readiness for this inspection. This inspection procedure is conducted to
provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk significant performance
issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective actions are
sufficient to prevent recurrence.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter, its
enclosure, and your response, if you choose to provide one, will be made available electronically
for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC=s Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To the extent possible, your response should not
include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made
available to the public without redaction.
Sincerely,
/RA by Cynthia D. Pederson Acting for/
Mark A. Satorius
Regional Administrator
Docket No. 50-306
License No. DPR-60
Enclosure:
Notice of Violation
cc w/encl: D. Koehl, Chief Nuclear Officer
G. Salamon, Regulatory Affairs Manager
P. Glass, Assistant General Counsel
Nuclear Asset Manager
J. Stine, State Liaison Officer, Minnesota Department of Health
Tribal Council, Prairie Island Indian Community
Administrator, Goodhue County Courthouse
Commissioner, Minnesota Department
of Commerce
Manager, Environmental Protection Division
Office of the Attorney General of Minnesota
Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Dakota
County Law Enforcement Center
M. Schimmel -3-
As a result of our review of Prairie Island Unit 2s performance, including this White finding, we have
assessed you to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRCs Action Matrix. Therefore, we plan to
conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, Inspection for One or Two White
Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area, when your staff has notified us of your readiness for this
inspection. This inspection procedure is conducted to provide assurance that the root cause and
contributing causes of risk significant performance issues are understood, the extent of condition is
identified, and the corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter, its enclosure, and
your response, if you choose to provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in
the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC=s Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To
the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards
information so that it can be made available to the public without redaction.
Sincerely,
/RA by Cynthia D. Pederson Acting for/
Mark A. Satorius
Regional Administrator
Docket No. 50-306
License No. DPR-60
Enclosure:
Notice of Violation
cc w/encl: D. Koehl, Chief Nuclear Officer
G. Salamon, Regulatory Affairs Manager
P. Glass, Assistant General Counsel
Nuclear Asset Manager
J. Stine, State Liaison Officer, Minnesota Department of Health
Tribal Council, Prairie Island Indian Community
Administrator, Goodhue County Courthouse
Commissioner, Minnesota Department
of Commerce
Manager, Environmental Protection Division
Office of the Attorney General of Minnesota
Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Dakota
County Law Enforcement Center
DISTRIBUTION:
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FILE NAME: G:\EICS\ENFORCEMENT\Enforcement Cases 2009\EA-09-167 Prairie Island CCW\EA-09-
167 Prairie Island Draft Final Action.doc
- Publicly Available ; Non-Sensitive
OFFICE RIII RIII RIII D:OE RIII RIII
NAME Lougheed Giessner West Bowman for Orth Pederson for
1
Carpenter Satorius
DATE 09/01/09 09/01/09 09/01/09 08/31/09 09/01/09 09/02/09
OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
1. OE concurrence received via e-mail from G. Gulla on August 31, 2009.
Letter to Mark A. Schimmel from Mark A. Satorius dated September 3, 2009
SUBJECT: FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION FOR A WHITE FINDING AND
NOTICE OF VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000306/2009013;
PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT, UNIT 2
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Marvin Itzkowitz
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Eric Leeds
Bruce Boger
Mark Satorius
Cynthia Pederson
Daniel Holody
Carolyn Evans
Ross Moore
Mary Ann Ashley
Holly Harrington
Hubert Bell
Guy Caputo
Mona Williams
James Lynch
Patricia Lougheed
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Susan Bagley
RidsNrrPMPrairieIsland
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NOTICE OF VIOLATION
Northern States Power Company - Minnesota Docket No. 50-306
Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Unit 2 License No. DPR-60
During a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection conducted from June 15 to
July 9, 2009, a violation of NRC requirements was identified. In accordance with the NRC
Enforcement Policy, the violation is listed below:
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50, Appendix B, Criterion III, Design
Control, requires, in part, that measures be established to assure that the design basis
for safety-related functions of structures, systems, and components are correctly
translated into specifications, drawings, procedures, and instructions. Further,
Criterion III requires that the design control measures provide for verifying or checking
the adequacy of designs.
Contrary to the above, as of July 29, 2008, the licensee failed to implement design
control measures to ensure that the design basis for the component cooling water
system was correctly translated into specifications, drawings, procedures, and
instructions. Specifically, the licensee failed to ensure that the safety-related function of
the component cooling water system was maintained following a high energy line break,
seismic, or tornado events in the turbine building.
This violation is associated with a White finding.
The NRC has concluded that information regarding the reason for the violation, the corrective
actions taken and planned to be taken to correct the violation and to prevent recurrence, and the
date when full compliance was achieved, is already adequately addressed on the docket in
Inspection Report 05000282/2009010; 05000306/2009010, dated August 5, 2009. However,
you are required to submit a written statement or explanation pursuant to 10 CFR 2.201 if the
description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective actions or your position. In that
case, or if you choose to respond, clearly mark your response as a "Reply to a Notice of
Violation EA-09-167," and send it to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, DC 20555-0001 with a copy to the Regional
Administrator, Region III, 2443 Warrenville Road, Suite 210, Lisle IL 60532, and a copy to the
NRC Resident Inspector at the Prairie Island facility, within 30 days of the date of the letter
transmitting this Notice of Violation (Notice).
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, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001.
If you choose to respond, your response will be made available electronically for public
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRCs Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at
ENCLOSURE
Notice of Violation -2-
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Therefore, to the extent possible, the response
should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be
made available to the public without redaction.
In accordance with 10 CFR 19.11, you may be required to post this Notice within two working
days.
Dated this 3rd day of September 2009
ENCLOSURE