ML100201023
| ML100201023 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Mcguire, McGuire  |
| Issue date: | 01/20/2010 |
| From: | Reyes L Region 2 Administrator |
| To: | Repko R Duke Energy Carolinas |
| References | |
| Download: ML100201023 (6) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION II SAM NUNN ATLANTA FEDERAL CENTER 61 FORSYTH STREET, SW, SUITE 23T85 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-8931 January 20, 2010 Mr. Regis T. Repko Vice President Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC McGuire Nuclear Station 12700 Hagers Ferry Road Huntersville, NC 28078-8985
SUBJECT:
NOTICE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION (NOED) FOR MCGUIRE NUCLEAR STATION [NOED NO. 10-2-001]
Dear Mr. Repko:
By letter dated January 14, 2010, you requested that the NRC exercise discretion to not enforce compliance with the actions required in McGuire Nuclear Station (MNS), Units 1 and 2, Technical Specification (TS) Limiting Condition for Operation (LCO) 3.7.10, Condition E and TS LCO 3.0.3. Your letter documented information previously discussed with the NRC in a telephone conference on January 13, 2010, at 2:30 a.m. (all times discussed in this letter refer to Eastern Standard Time). The principal NRC staff members who participated in the telephone conference are listed in the Enclosure. The staff determined that the information in your letter requesting the NOED was consistent with your oral request. You stated that on January 12, 2010, at 11:32 p.m., both units were required by TS 3.7.10 to enter into TS LCO 3.0.3. TS LCO 3.0.3 required both MNS units be placed in Hot Standby by 6:32 a.m. on January 13, 2010. You requested that a Notice of Enforcement Discretion (NOED) be granted pursuant to the NRCs policy regarding exercise of discretion for an operating facility, set out in Section VII.C of the General Statement of Policy and Procedures for NRC Enforcement Actions (Enforcement Policy), NUREG-1600, and be effective for a period of 36 hours4.166667e-4 days <br />0.01 hours <br />5.952381e-5 weeks <br />1.3698e-5 months <br />. This letter documents our telephone conversation on January 13, 2010, at 4:30 a.m. when we orally issued this NOED.
We understand that the condition causing the need for this NOED was corrected by you, thus allowing you to exit from TS LCO 3.7.10, Condition E, TS LCO 3.0.3, and from this NOED on January 13, 2010, at 9:57 p.m.
On January 10, 2010, at 4:23 p.m., Control Room Area Chilled Water System (CRACWS) train A was declared inoperable in preparation for performing scheduled annual maintenance activities associated with CRACWS A chiller. This maintenance evolution was scheduled to be completed on Wednesday, January 13, 2010. On January 12 at approximately 10:00 p.m., a refrigerant leak was identified on the CRACWS B chiller in an elbow on a section of piping between the chiller condenser and evaporator. On January 12 at 11:32 p.m., CRACWS B train was declared inoperable. This resulted in both trains of CRACWS being inoperable which required immediate entry into TS LCO 3.0.3. The required action for TS LCO 3.0.3 would have required shutdown of both MNS units to Hot Standby within seven hours. The NRC determined that the requested NOED was necessary to avoid unnecessary transients as a result of compliance with the license condition and, thus, minimize potential safety consequences and operational risks (Part 9900, Section B.2.1, criterion 1.a). The NRCs basis for this discretion
DEC 2 considered: (1) CRACWS B train chiller was functional and the refrigerant leak was minimal and stable; (2) your commitment to brief each operating shift on the actions required by procedure AP-39, Control Room High Temperature, (which provides actions for a loss of both trains of CRACWS), your completion of inventories of AP-39 equipment, your commitment to administratively protect CRACWS B train and to defer non-essential maintenance activities for the duration of the enforcement discretion period; (3) the qualitative risk assessment which considered that the risk was bound by the risk associated with shutting down both units as required by TS LCO 3.0.3; (4) the cause and proposed path to resolve the situation were understood such that there was a high likelihood that planned actions to resolve the situation could be completed within the proposed NOED time frame; (5) that the noncompliance would not be of potential detriment to the public health and safety; and (6) independent verification of some of these conditions and actions by our inspection staff. The NRC staff based their decision to exercise enforcement discretion on a qualitative assessment of risk. Since CRACWS is not explicitly represented in any PRA model, a quantifiable risk assessment was not credible. However, your additional actions to maintain the CRACWS B train chiller functional with a minimal refrigerant leak, ensure mitigation actions could be taken in the event of a loss of the CRACWS function, and eliminating elective maintenance of all risk significant systems during the duration of the enforcement discretion, balanced any risk increase associated with granting the enforcement discretion. Consequently, these actions provided reasonable assurance that the 5.0E-7 core damage frequency and 5.0E-8 large early release frequency guidance thresholds in Inspection Manual Part 9900 Technical Guidance were not exceeded.
You committed to submit a permanent license amendment to address operability requirements of CRACWS following NRC approval of TSTF-426, Revise or Add Actions to preclude entry into LCO 3.0.3, NRC approval of WCAP-16125, Rev. 1, Justification for Risk Informed Modifications to Selected Technical Specifications for Conditions Leading to Exigent Plant Shutdown, and submittal by the Technical Specification Task Force of the corresponding Traveler applicable to Westinghouse plants (currently under development) and subsequent NRC approval of this Traveler.
On the basis of the NRC staffs evaluation of your request, we have concluded that granting this NOED is consistent with the Enforcement Policy and staff guidance and has no adverse impact on public health and safety or the environment. Therefore, as we communicated to you at 4:30 a.m., on January 13, 2010, we exercised discretion to not enforce compliance with TS LCO 3.0.3 for the period from 4:30 a.m., on January 13 until 4:30 p.m., on January 14, 2010.
As stated in the Enforcement Policy, action will be taken, to the extent that violations were involved, for the root cause that led to the noncompliance for which this NOED was necessary.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Luis A. Reyes Regional Administrator Docket Nos.: 50-369, 50-370 License Nos.: NPF-9, NPF-17 cc w/encl: (See page 3)
_________________________ G SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE OFFICE RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:DRS RII:DRS NRR:DORL SIGNATURE Via email Via email JTM /RA for/ Via email KMK /RA/ WGR /RA/ Via email NAME CRapp JBartley LWert SShaeffer KKennedy WRogers AHowe DATE 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO OFFICE NRR:DORL RII:ORA RII:DRP RII:DRP SIGNATURE Via email Via email Via email Via email NAME JThompson LPlisco JMunday JBrady DATE 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 01/20/2010 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO DEC 3 cc w/encl: Dhiaa M. Jamil Steven D. Capps Group Executive and Chief Nuclear Officer Station Manager Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution Scotty L. Bradshaw Training Manager Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Electronic Mail Distribution Kenneth L. Ashe Regulatory Compliance Manager Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Electronic Mail Distribution R. L. Gill, Jr.
Manager Nuclear Regulatory Issues & Industry Affairs Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Electronic Mail Distribution Lisa F. Vaughn Associate General Counsel Duke Energy Corporation 526 South Church Street-EC07H Charlotte, NC 28202 Kathryn B. Nolan Senior Counsel Duke Energy Corporation 526 South Church Street-EC07H Charlotte, NC 28202 David A. Repka Winston Strawn LLP Electronic Mail Distribution County Manager of Mecklenburg County 720 East Fourth Street Charlotte, NC 28202 W. Lee Cox, III (Acting) Section Chief Radiation Protection Section N.C. Department of Environmental Commerce & Natural Resources Electronic Mail Distribution
DEC 4 Letter to Regis T. Repko from Luis A. Reyes dated January 20, 2010
SUBJECT:
NOTICE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION (NOED) FOR MCGUIRE NUCLEAR STATION [NOED NO. 10-2-001]
Distribution w/encl:
C. Evans, RII L. Slack, RII OE Mail RIDSNRRDIRS PUBLIC RidsNrrPMMcGuire Resource
List of Participants Loren Plisco, Deputy Regional Administrator for Construction, Region II (RII)
Leonard Wert, Director, Division of Reactor Projects (DRP), RII Joel Munday, Deputy Director, DRP, RII Jonathan Bartley, Chief, Reactor Projects Branch 1 (RPB-1), DRP, RII Joseph Brady, McGuire Senior Resident Inspector, RPB-1, DRP, RII Scott Shaeffer, Chief, RPB-2, DRP, RII Kriss Kennedy, Director, Division of Reactor Safety (DRS), RII Walter Rogers, Senior Reactor Analyst, Engineering Branch 2, DRS, RII Allen Howe, Deputy Director, Division of Operator Reactor Licensing (DORL), Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)
Jon Thompson, McGuire Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch II-2, DORL, NRR Enclosure