IR 05000390/2015614

Notice Of Violation (NRC Inspection Report No. 05000391/2015-614, and Investigation Report No. 2-2013-011, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant)

ML15097A307
Person / Time
Site:	Watts Bar
Issue date:	04/07/2015
From:	McCree V M Region 2 Administrator
To:	Skaggs M D Tennessee Valley Authority
Haag R C, RII/DCP 404-997-4446
References
EA-14-179 2-2013-011, IR 2015614
Download: ML15097A307 (10)

Text

April 7, 2015

EA-14-179 Mr. MichaelSenior Vice President Nuclear Generation Development and Construction Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION (NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000391/2015614, AND INVESTIGATION REPORT NO. 2-2013-011, WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT)

Dear Mr. Skaggs:

This refers to an investigation completed on October 30, 2014, by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Investigations (OI) at Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (Watts Bar), Unit 2, as described in NRC Inspection Report (IR) 05000391/2014616 dated January 12, 2015.

The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether contract employees working at Watts Bar Unit 2 deliberately violated a TVA procedure during anchor bolt installation for overhead base plates on Unit 2 hangers. The inspection report documented the identification of one apparent violation, involving the deliberate failure to follow TVA Procedure MAI-5.1B, for anchor bolt installation for overhead base plates on Unit 2 hangers 86-1541 and 86-1545, which occurred in December of 2011. The apparent violation was considered for escalated enforcement in accordance with the NRC's Enforcement Policy. In the letter transmitting the inspection report, we provided you the opportunity to address the apparent violations identified in the report by either attending a pre-decisional enforcement conference, providing a written response before we made our final enforcement decision, or requesting Alternative Dispute Resolution. At your request, a pre-decisional enforcement conference was held on March 6, 2015, to discuss the apparent violation, it's significance, root causes, and your corrective actions. During the meeting, your staff accepted the facts as described in the inspection report, including the willful aspects, and provided details of your corrective actions to preclude recurrence.

Based on the information developed during the investigation and the information that you provided at the pre-decisional enforcement conference on March 6, 2015, the NRC has determined that a violation of NRC requirements occurred. This violation is cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice) and the circumstances surrounding it are described in detail in the subject inspection report (IR 05000391/2014616). To summarize, the violationinvolved a contract foreman assigned to install anchor bolts for overhead base plates on hangers 86-1541 and 86-1545 in December of 2011. The foreman willfully failed to remove and replace or obtain site engineering approval for newly installed wedge anchor bolts exceeding the 5 degrees of perpendicular as required by TVA Procedure MAI-5.1B.

Based on the NRC's review, the violation did not result in any actual consequences. In this case, the facility remained under construction and the issue was identified and corrected.

The potential consequences of the quality of construction and its resulting effect on the safety of the facility are of concern to the NRC. The potential existed to install Hanger 86-1545 and Hanger 86-1541 with bent (weakened) bolts, diminishing the quality of construction. The hangers are used to support safety-related heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) equipment in containment.

In addition to the importance of the quality of construction, of greater concern to the NRC is the fact that contract personnel, specifically the foreman, conspired and/or engaged in deliberate misconduct such that anchor bolts were not installed to within 5 degrees of perpendicular as required by procedure. The contract foreman requested one of the contract employees to fabricate a non-approved modified tool. At the direction of the contract foreman, the tool was then used to straighten the wedge anchor bolts to within 5 degrees of perpendicular. The contract foreman was also observed by others to use the modified tool to straighten the wedge anchors bolts. All four overhead base plates of hangers 86-1541 and 86-1545 had at least one bent bolt. As discussed in the NRC Enforcement Policy, willful violations are of particular concern because the NRC's regulatory program is based on licensees and their contractors, employees, and agents acting with integrity and communicating with candor. Based on the above, this violation has been categorized in accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy at Severity Level III.

In accordance with the Enforcement Policy, a base civil penalty in the amount of $70,000 is considered for a Severity Level III violation. Because your facility has been the subject of escalated enforcement actions within the last 2 years1 and because the violation was willful, the NRC considered whether credit was warranted for Identification and Corrective Action in accordance with the civil penalty assessment process in Section 2.3.4 of the Enforcement Policy.

Identification credit is warranted because TVA identified the issue and determined that corrective action was needed. Regarding the factor of Corrective Action, TVA initiated Problem Evaluation Report (PER) 675331 to evaluate the issue and determine the extent of condition.

Corrective actions included, but were not limited to: (1) immediate stoppage of anchor bolt work; (2) anchor bolt retraining with emphasis on strict procedure use/adherence; (3) structural repair including the removal of bent anchor bolts, repair of concrete, and installation of new anchor bolts and baseplates; and (4) disciplinary action against the responsible individuals, including the removal of site access for the foreman. Based on the above, credit is warranted for the factor of Corrective Action.

Therefore, to emphasize the importance of prompt identification and comprehensive correction of violations, I have been authorized, after consultation with the Director, Office of Enforcement, not to propose a civil penalty in this case. However, significant violations in the future could 1 On June 18, 2013 (EA-13-019) a SLIII violation was issued associated with the commercial grade dedication program (ADAMS Accession No. ML13169A030)result in a civil penalty. The NRC plans to conduct a followup inspection in accordance with Inspection Procedure 92702, "Followup on Traditional Enforcement Actions Including Violations, Deviations, Confirmatory Action Letters, Confirmatory Orders, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Confirmatory Orders." The followup inspection will verify that adequate corrective actions have been implemented, the root cause has been identified, generic implications have been addressed, and that your programs and practices have been appropriately enhanced to prevent recurrence. The NRC requests that your staff provide notification of your readiness for the NRC to conduct the traditional enforcement followup inspection to review the actions taken to address the Severity Level III violation. You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response. If you have additional information that you believe the NRC should consider, you may provide it in your response to the Notice. The NRC will use your response, in part, to determine whether further enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

For administrative purposes, this letter is issued as NRC Inspection Report 05000391/2015614.

Apparent Violation (AV)05000391/2014616-01, "Failure to Follow Site Procedure for Installation of Anchor Bolts," has been re-designated as Violation 05000391/2015614-01, "Failure to Follow Site Procedure for Installation of Anchor Bolts."

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Agency Rules of Practice and Procedure," a copy of this letter, it's enclosure, and your response will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room and in 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. If personal privacy or proprietary information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of your response that deletes such information. If you request withholding of such information, you must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of information will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information required by 10 CFR 2.390(b) to support a request for withholding confidential commercial or financial information).The NRC also includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/).

Sincerely,/RA/ Victor M. McCree Regional Administrator Docket No. 50-391

Enclosure:

Notice of Violation cc w/encl: (See next page)