ML112440649

Mid-Cycle Assessment Letter (NRC Inspection Report 05000391-12-601)

ML112440649
Person / Time
Site:	Watts Bar
Issue date:	09/01/2011
From:	Haag R NRC/RGN-II/DCP/CPB3
To:	Bhatnagar A Tennessee Valley Authority
References
IR-12-601
Download: ML112440649 (8)

See also: IR 05000391/2012601

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION II

245 PEACHTREE CENTER AVE., NE., SUITE 1200

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-1257

September 1, 2011

Mr. Ashok S. Bhatnagar

Senior Vice President

Nuclear Generation Development and Construction

Tennessee Valley Authority

6A Lookout Place

1101 Market Street

Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT: MID-CYCLE ASSESSMENT LETTER - WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT

UNIT 2 (NRC INSPECTION REPORT 05000391/2012601)

Dear Mr. Bhatnagar:

On August 11, 2011, the NRC staff completed its performance review of the Watts Bar Nuclear

(WBN) Plant Unit 2 construction project. Our technical staff reviewed inspection results for the

period from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of

our assessment of your safety performance during this period and our plans for future

inspections at your facility.

Overall, WBN Unit 2 construction activities were conducted in a manner that complied with the

Commissions rules and regulations, the conditions of your construction permit, and the Unit 2

regulatory framework commitments. Our inspections indicated that your construction program

and procedure development, along with project staffing, were sufficiently implemented to

support ongoing construction activities. Management and Quality Assurance oversight

effectively monitored and assessed construction activities. Recently our inspections identified

concerns with the completeness and adequacy in the implementation of your corrective actions

associated with several historical issues. Specifically, for non-cited violation (NCV)05000391/2011605-01, Failure to take adequate corrective action associated with construction

deficiency reports (CDRs) and issues identified in a NRC Bulletin, the NRC staff identified four

examples of inadequate corrective actions to resolve the historical issues. Because of the large

number of historical Watt Bar 2 issues that will require resolution, the NRC is concerned with the

possible implications if your corrective actions are not thorough and properly documented. Your

approach taken to resolve this NCV should be rigorous enough to ensure that all historical

issues are properly resolved and that the final closure packages contain appropriate

documentation to demonstrate implementation of corrective actions. The NRC staff will

continue to inspect this area during review of corrective actions for historical issues and review

of your closure packages. In addition, a review of your corrective actions for the NCV will be

accomplished by performing a focused Problem Identification and Resolution (PI&R) sample

inspection in this area.

The corrective action program implementation activities, including initiation, classification,

disposition, and trending were deemed satisfactory; however, some issues that were entered

into your corrective action program have not yet been resolved. Specifically, for violation (VIO)

005000391/2010603-08, Failure to Adequately Evaluate and Qualify Molded Case Circuit

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Breakers and for unresolved item (URI)05000391/2011606-01, Electrical Design Issues, the

NRC staff has not seen the corrective actions necessary to close these items. These items are

of high priority for the NRC staff where follow-up inspection will be required. It is important that

you have a plan to resolve these items and implement adequate corrective actions to ensure

that the quality requirements are satisfied so these components and systems will be able

perform their safety-related function during a worst case design basis accident.

During the 2010 End-of-Cycle Assessment, a cross-cutting theme was identified in the Work

Practices component of the Human Performance cross-cutting area (H.4(b)), for the failure to

effectively communicate expectations regarding procedural compliance and that personnel

follow procedures. The NRC staff evaluated this cross-cutting theme during the 2010 End-of-

Cycle Assessment to determine if a Substantive Cross-Cutting Issue existed. Because two of

the four findings that comprised the cross-cutting theme were documented in last quarter of that

assessment period, the NRC staff determined more time was needed to assess the

effectiveness of your corrective actions. In preparation for the 2011 Mid-Cycle Assessment, the

NRC staff reviewed your corrective actions associated with the cross-cutting theme. Based on

these corrective actions and the fact that only three findings exist in the Work Practices

component of the Human Performance cross-cutting area (H.4(b)) for the twelve (12) month

period considered during the Mid-Cycle Assessment review, we have concluded that a

Substantive Cross-Cutting Issue does not exist.

The NRC staff has expended a large effort toward the WBN Unit 2 project over the last twelve

months. Specifically, the Region II office has spent over 17,200 hours0.00231 days <br />0.0556 hours <br />3.306878e-4 weeks <br />7.61e-5 months <br /> performing inspections,

assessments, public meetings, allegation follow-up, and inspection program support for WBN

Unit 2. The NRC staff anticipates the number of hours to increase as WBN Unit 2 construction

activities continue and pre-operational testing is performed on additional safety-related systems.

In conclusion, project performance for the most recent quarter, as well as for the previous three

quarters of the assessment cycle, was acceptable based on the above inspection conclusions,

the fact that all violations were classified as severity level IV or below, and that no Substantive

Cross-Cutting Issue was identified. Therefore, we do not plan to expand our inspection

activities beyond what is specified by Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 2517.

The enclosed inspection plan contains those major or infrequent projected inspection activities

that we have currently identified, in part, by reviewing your project schedule. It is crucial that

you keep us apprised of any project schedule changes as soon as they are identified, in order to

maintain our inspection plan current. As additional details of your project schedule become

available, we will plan other inspections specified in IMC 2517. Your staff will be informed of

changes/ additions to our inspection plans. Routine inspections performed by the resident

inspectors and regional staff on construction activities, Corrective Active Programs (CAPs),

Special Programs (SPs), Generic Communications, historical open items, and CDRs are not

listed on the inspection plan due to their ongoing and continuous nature. We plan to give your

staff ample notification of specific upcoming inspection activities as their schedule becomes

available in order to allow for the resolution of any scheduling conflicts and personnel availability

issues.

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In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs Rules of Practice, a copy of this letter and its

enclosure will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document

Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRCs 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 me at (404) 997-4446 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or

our planned inspections.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Robert C. Haag, Chief

Construction Projects Branch 3

Division of Construction Projects

Docket No. 50-391

Construction Permit No: CPPR-92

Enclosure

cc: (See next page)

ML112440649 G SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE

OFFICE RII:DCP RII:DCP RII:DCP

SIGNATURE JBB TXN CJE

NAME JBaptist TNazario CEven

DATE 8/31/2011 8/31/2011 8/31/2011

E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO

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cc w/encl:

Mr. Gordon P. Arent Mr. T.J. Neissen

Manager, New Generation Licensing General Manager

Nuclear Generation Development NGDC Governance & Oversight

and Construction Tennessee Valley Authority

WBN Nuclear Plant 3A Blue Ridge Place

P.O. Box 2000 1101 Market Street

Spring City, Tennessee 37381 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

Mr. Dave Stinson Mr. R.M Krich

Vice President Vice President

WBN Unit Two Nuclear Licensing

WBN Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority 3R Lookout Place

P.O. Box 2000 1101 Market Street

Spring City, Tennessee 37381 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

Mr. C.J. Reid Mr. E.J. Vigluicci

Manager, Licensing and Industry Affairs Assistant General Counsel

WBN Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority 6A West Tower

P.O. Box 2000 400 West Summit Hill Drive

Spring City, Tennessee 37381 Knoxville, Tennessee 37402

Mr. Preston D. Swafford Lawrence E. Nanney, Director

Chief Nuclear Officer Tennessee Department of Environmental

and Executive Vice President Health and Conservation

Tennessee Valley Authority Division of Radiological Health

3R Lookout Place 3rd Floor, L&C Annex

1101 Market Place 401 Church Street

Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801 Nashville, TN 37243-1532

County Executive Mr. D. E. Grissette

375 Church Street Site Vice President

Suite 215 WBN Nuclear Plant

Dayton, Tennessee 37321 Tennessee Valley Authority

P.O. Box 2000

W.D. Crouch, Manager Spring City, Tennessee 37381

WBN Unit 2 Licensing

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant County Mayor

Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 156

P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, Tennessee 37322

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

Ms. Ann P. Harris

Mr. Gregory A. Boerschig 341 Swing Loop

Plant Manager, WBN Nuclear Plant Rockwood, TN 37854

Tennessee Valley Authority

P.O. Box 2000

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

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cc email distribution w/encl:

Greg Scott

Tennessee Valley Authority

Electronic Mail Distribution

Watts Bar Unit 2 Licensing

Tennessee Valley Authority

Electronic Mail Distribution

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Letter to Ashok S. Bhatnagar from Robert C. Haag dated September 1, 2010.

SUBJECT: WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT UNIT 2 CONSTRUCTION - NRC INSPECTION

REPORT 05000391/2009601

Distribution w/encl:

S. Campbell, NRR

L. Raghavan, NRR

J. Wiebe, NRR

P. Milano, NRR

C. Evans, RII

S. Lewis, RII EICS

E. Guthrie, RII DRP

R. Monk, RII Watts Bar Unit 1 SRI

PUBLIC

Inspection Plan

Watts Bar Unit 2*

Inspection Activity Calendar Quarter for Inspection

Electrical Distribution System Functional Inspection (EDSFI) Fourth Quarter 2011

Follow-up Team Inspection

Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Audit of Fire Protection Fourth Quarter 2011

Plan Team Inspection

First Quarter 2012

Fire Protection Inspection

Team Inspection

Second Quarter 2012

Problem Identification and Resolution (IP 35007)

Team Inspection

Cyber Security Plan Implementation Inspection Second Quarter 2012

Construction Refurbishment Process (IP 37002) Ongoing

Fourth Quarter 2011

With pre-operational testing inspections on

Pre-operational testing inspection of ERCW system

other safety-related systems starting First

Quarter 2012

Commercial Grade Dedication follow-up inspection Fourth Quarter 2011

• The inspections listed above are limited to major or infrequently performed inspections. They

are in addition to routine inspections performed by the resident inspectors and regional staff

such as inspections of routine construction activities, CAPs, SPs, Generic Communications and

historical open items.

Enclosure