ML14316A184
| ML14316A184 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saint Lucie  |
| Issue date: | 11/12/2014 |
| From: | Robert Fretz, Ghasemian S NRC/OE |
| To: | Florida Power & Light Co |
| Fretz R | |
| References | |
| EA-14-131, EN-14-045 | |
| Download: ML14316A184 (3) | |
Text
November 12, 2014 EN 14-045 OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT NOTIFICATION OF SIGNIFICANT ENFORCEMENT ACTION Licensee: Florida Power and Light Company EA-14-131 St. Lucie Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-335 and 50-389
Subject:
ISSUANCE OF NOTICE OF VIOLATION This is to inform the Commission that a Notice of Violation (NOV) will be issued on or about November 17, 2014, to Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) for two violations associated with a White Significance Determination Process finding and one Severity Level (SL) III violation of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.9, Completeness and accuracy of information.
The White finding, an issue with low to moderate significance to safety, will require additional NRC inspections. The finding involves FPLs failure to implement measures to ensure the watertight integrity of the Unit 1 reactor auxiliary building (RAB).
Specifically, FPL failed to install internal flood barriers in conduits that penetrated the Unit 1 RAB exterior wall at elevations below the design flood height and failed to identify the missing barriers during flooding walkdowns performed in response to the NRCs Request for Information Pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 50.54(f)
Regarding Recommendations 2.1, 2.3, and 9.3, of the Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident, dated March 12, 2012. The missing flood barriers were identified when the St. Lucie site experienced a period of unusually heavy rainfall on January 9, 2014, and approximately 50,000 gallons of water entered the RAB through two of the degraded conduits. The White finding is associated with violations of Appendix B to 10 CFR 50, Criterion III, Design Control and Criterion XVI, Corrective Action.
The NRC issued a preliminary White finding for this issue on September 24, 2014. In its October 20, 2014, response, FPL concurred with the NRCs preliminary characterization and basis for the finding. Therefore, after reviewing the information developed during the inspection and provided in FPLs response, the staff concluded that the inspection finding is appropriately characterized as White.
The staff also determined that a SL III violation of 10 CFR 50.9(a) occurred when FPL failed to provide the NRC with complete and accurate information in a 10 CFR 50.73 report and a 10 CFR 50.54(f) response that described the safety significance of the degraded and missing flood penetration seals. The violation of 10 CFR 50.9(a) was evaluated using the NRCs traditional enforcement process because the failure to CONTACTS: Robert Fretz, OE/EB Shahram Ghasemian, OE 301-415-1980 301-415-3591
provide complete and accurate information regarding missing and degraded flood barriers and its resultant safety significance impeded the NRCs regulatory process. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, a base civil penalty in the amount of
$70,000 was considered for the SL III violation; however, because St. Lucie has not been the subject of escalated enforcement actions within the last two years and because prompt, comprehensive corrective actions were taken by the licensee, the NRC is not proposing a civil penalty in this case. Corrective actions taken to restore compliance included, re-performing site flood protection walkdowns under direct FPL supervision utilizing the lessons learned from the initial walkdowns, an independent review of the new walkdown results by a third party, and the submittal of complete and accurate flood hazard information to the NRC.
It should be noted that the licensee has not been specifically informed of the enforcement action. The schedule of issuance and notification is:
Mailing of Final Significance Determination November 17, 2014 Telephone Notification of Licensee November 17, 2014 The State of Florida will be notified.
DISTRIBUTION: EN-14-045, November 12, 2014 OWFN OWFN TWFN Regional Offices Chairman Macfarlane EDO OCFO RI RII Comm. Svinicki DEDR OIS RIII RIV Comm. Ostendorff DEDMRS RES Comm. Baran OE ACRS Comm. Burns OGC NRO MAIL SECY NRR ADAMS OCA OI 3WFN OE staff OPA OIG NSIR OIP OPS Center NMSS DISTRIBUTION:
PHolahan DGamberoni SSparks JHanna TMorrissey SSandal EN Binder ADAMS Accession Number: ML14316A184 OFFICE OE:ES OE:BC NAME RFretz SGhasemian DATE 11/12/2014 11/12/2014 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY