ML120760367
| ML120760367 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Robinson  |
| Issue date: | 04/02/2012 |
| From: | Billoch-Colon A Plant Licensing Branch II |
| To: | |
| Billoch-Colon A, NRR/DORL, 301-415-3302 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML120760367 | List: |
| References | |
| TAC ME6618 | |
| Download: ML120760367 (5) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 April 2, 2012 LICENSEE:
Carolina Power & Light Company FACILITY:
H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit No.2
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF JULY 20, 2011, MEETING WITH CAROLINA POWER &LIGHT COMPANY TO DISDUSS THE H. B. ROBINSON ELECTRIC PLANT, UNIT NO.2 PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLANT AND NEW MANAGEMENT (TAC NO. ME6618)
On July 20, 2011, a Category 1 public meeting was held between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff and representatives of Carolina Power and Light Company (the licensee) at NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the H B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit No.2 (HBRSEP) Strategic Improvement Plan. The licensee prepared a presentation for the meeting (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML12083A049) to facilitate the discussion.
During the meeting, the licensee introduced HBRSEP's new Leadership Team and Improvement Support Organization, provided an overview of current plant performance, status of key projects and risk improvements, discussed immediate actions taken as a result of the March 28,2010, event, HBRSEP's path forward and Strategic Improvement Plan.
The licensee described that for many years HBRSEP had leveraged its experienced work force in order to be successful with a high degree of process informality. This led to efficiencies in work completion and allowed staffing levels to be maintained among the lowest in the industry for a single unit pressurized-water reactor. This mode of operation became part of the HBRSEP culture. As the years passed and the overall unit performance remained relatively high, the slow erosion of the experience base and resulting impact on plant performance was not readily apparent and did not prompt the required attention.
As presented by the licensee, the HBRSEP experience base was reduced through attrition and turnover. However, the training strategies and materials for new employees were not strengthened. Additionally, work instructions provided via approved procedures needed to be enhanced to fill the experience void and were not recognized as needing change. The level of self-discipline with procedures should have been raised as well. The licensee's presentation indicated that the site culture had become one of relying on long term personnel knowledge base, acceptance of short term repairs and making the existing designs and methods work. The implementation of improvements learned from industry involvement and benchmarking were not aggressively pursued as the plant had intended and the plant was performing well using the existing practices. An unintended and unnoticed impact was that employees were becoming less engaged in advocating changes due to the feeling that such upgrades would not be implemented. Also, adequate resources were not assigned to address the emerging challenges while also meeting fleet demands.
According to the licensee's findings, a clear and concise vision for success was not communicated to the workforce. Site leadership tolerated the status quo rather than providing
- 2 the vision and a change model for improvements in all facets of the operation. A formal assessment of all site leadership was performed using the Nuclear Generation Group Leadership Behaviors documents as the standard. Improvement areas were identified and development plans were written. In some cases incumbents were considered to be incapable of closing the improvement area, which led to reassignments and terminations. A negative trend in procedure use and adherence began to emerge as less experienced employees tried to accomplish tasks in the same manner as more experienced workers had. The Corrective Action Program (CAP) standards and expectations for initiation and quality were not being met. It became clear that fundamental behavior change in the workforce was needed. To address these areas for improvement, discipline-specific expectations for each functional area were developed and communicated. These were distributed in the form of tri-folds that explain the type of behaviors expected. These fundamentals are reviewed periodically with personnel and form the basis for individual performance monitoring and feedback.
Additional immediate actions included training the operators on knowledge deficiencies identified as a result of the March 28, 2010, event, restructured procedures, filled vacancies, provided supplemental resources and implemented modifications to eliminate some operator work burdens.
A 100-Day Plan was developed with employee focus groups input to provide tactical direction for the overall HBRSEP improvement effort. The intent of the focus groups was to facilitate employee engagement and ownership in the improvement initiative. Weekly leadership alignment meetings were started to ensure establishment of open communication lines. The information provided to the employees is distributed and discussed by site leadership, and then communicated to employees the following workday. The objective is to maintain focus on improvement initiatives, provide updates on status and successes, and to build employee engagement/ownership.
The 100-Day Plan was completed on April 8, 2011, giving way to the Strategic Improvement Plan. The Strategic Improvement Plan provides the primary controls for HBRSEP improvement effort. The objective of the Strategic Improvement Plan is to address performance and historical issues, address and change behaviors, correct programmatic deficiencies, ensure a culture of sustainability, establish a continuous learning organization, maintain a strong nuclear safety culture and to serve as a station communications alignment tool. The Strategic Improvement Plan was developed by benchmarking the industry and conducting a performance gap analysis.
The plan is a living plan with actions tracked by the CAP. Metrics have been established to monitor effectiveness and a resource loaded schedule has been developed to ensure appropriate resources are allocated to complete the identified actions. A comprehensive closure review process has been established through the use of a Closure Review Board, Closure Validation process and a Quarterly Focus Area Effectiveness Review.
The four focus areas that have been identified in the Strategic Improvement Plan include:
- Leadership Alignment and Workforce Engagement
- Operational Focus
- Work Management and Maintenance
- Human Performance and Performance Improvement
- 3 HBRSEP has top management commitment and active participation in improving the site's performance. Performance improvement is being institutionalized through resource commitment to upgrade the CAP process, improving Casual Analyses and closeout documentation quality, communicating CAP success and reinforcing value of CAP problem identification and resolution.
HBRSEP has a comprehensive Strategic Improvement Plan, has implemented significant corrective actions, placed interim actions in place where necessary and established metrics to demonstrate actions taken are improving performance. Course adjustments will be made as needed to address any gaps in performance. For sustainability, HBRSEP's key focus is on leadership, behaviors, and key process changes.
The meeting notice and agenda are available under the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML11180A016. Proprietary information was not discussed during the meeting. The public was invited to observe the meeting and one member of the public was in attendance. Public Meeting Feedback forms were not received.
Please direct any inquiries to me at 301-415-3302.
Sincerely, Araceli T. Billoch Col6n, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 11-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-261
Enclosure:
List of Attendees cc w/enclosure: Distribution via ListServ
LIST OF ATTENDEES JULY 20, 2011, MEETING WITH CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY H.B. ROBINSON STEAM ELECTRIC PLANT, UNIT NO.2 PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLANT AND NEW MANAGEMENT MEETING NAME ORGANIZATION Jim Scarola Carolina Power & Light Company Bob Duncan Carolina Power & Light Company I
Randy Gideon Carolina Power & Light Company Greg Kilpatrick Carolina Power & Light Company Henry Curry Carolina Power & Light Company Chuck Morris Carolina Power & Light Company Leo Martin Carolina Power & Light Company Chris Kamilaris Carolina Power & Light Company Annette Pope Carolina Power & Light Company Eric Leeds U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Joe Giitter U.S. Nuclear Regulato~Commission Allen Howe U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Doug Broaddus Brenda Mozafari William Freebairn U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Platts Nuclear Publications Thomas Saporito Saprodani Associates ENCLOSURE
- 3 HBRSEP has top management commitment and active participation in improving the site's performance. Performance improvement is being institutionalized through resource commitment to upgrade the CAP process, improving Casual Analyses and closeout documentation quality, communicating CAP success and reinforcing value of CAP problem identification and resolution.
HBRSEP has a comprehensive Strategic Improvement Plan, has implemented significant corrective actions, placed interim actions in place where necessary and established metrics to demonstrate actions taken are improving performance. Course adjustments will be made as needed to address any gaps in performance. For sustainability, HBRSEP's key focus is on leadership, behaviors, and key process changes.
The meeting notice and agenda are available under the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML11180A016. Proprietary information was not discussed during the meeting. The public was invited to observe the meeting and one member of the public was in attendance. Public Meeting Feedback forms were not received.
Please direct any inquiries to me at 301-415-3302.
Sincerely, IRA!
Araceli T. Billoch Colon, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 11-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
Docket No. 50-261
Enclosure:
List of Attendees cc w/enclosure: Distribution via ListServ DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC LPL 2-2 Branch Reading RidsNrrDorl RidsNrrDorlLpl2-2 RidsNrrLABClayton RidsAcrsAcnw_MailCTR RidsRgn2MailCenter RidsOgcRp RidsNrrOd RidsNrrDra BMozafari, NRR MKotzalas, EDO CSteger, NRR RidsNrrPMRobinson ADAMS A ccesslon N 0.: Pac age ML12094A176 N f I es ML12083A049 S ummary ML120760367 k
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ABiliochCol6n II DATE 03/26/12 03/27/12 03/22/12 04/02/12 04/02/12 II OFFICIAL RECORD COpy