ML15218A280

Region I Reply - W. Maurer (Citizen) Email White Finding SRVs

ML15218A280
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	08/05/2015
From:	Raymond Mckinley NRC/RGN-I/DRP/PB5
To:	Bill Dean Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
McKinley R
References
Download: ML15218A280 (2)

Text

From: McKinley, Raymond To: wmmaurer@comcast.net Cc: Dean, Bill

Subject:

RE: White Finding SRVs Date: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 3:29:00 PM Attachments: Chronology of LOOP events.pdf Good Afternoon Mr. Maurer, Thank you for your inquiry and for sharing the chronological history of LOOP events at Pilgrim. I appreciate your concerns.

We expect to issue our final significance determination within the next week or two, and this document will be made available to the public.

Our inspectors performed a rigorous 95002 Supplemental Inspection to follow up on Entergys root cause analysis and corrective actions associated with winter storm Nemo and several other unplanned scrams. As you have stated, our inspectors identified the less than adequate corrective action associated with the failed switchyard insulators. Our resident inspectors are also heavily engaged with inspection activities at the site every day including Problem Identification and Resolution Inspection activities. Our residents are highly dedicated nuclear safety professionals, and they aggressively pursue the issues that they identify through their baseline inspection sampling efforts. Currently, we have a full Problem Identification and Resolution Inspection Team on the ground at Pilgrim with several highly experienced region based inspectors as well as our resident inspectors. I can assure you that this inspection effort will be quite thorough. The results of this inspection will be made publically available sometime in late September.

In addition, as a result of our Supplemental and Special Inspection efforts, Entergy has taken corrective action to enhance their storm procedures and Entergy also has plans to make switchyard physical improvements to help improve switchyard reliability during severe winter storms. In the interim, Entergys storm procedures require a plant shutdown prior to severe winter storms such as Nemo and Juno. In fact, this storm procedure was used to preemptively shut down the plant as winter storm Neptune approached even though offsite power was not lost during that storm.

Finally, NRC Performance Indicators continuously monitor Initiating Events such as Unplanned Scrams such as LOOPs. NRC has taken and will continue to take appropriate regulatory action as informed by our Reactor Oversight Process inputs.

Sincerely, Ray McKinley Chief, Division of Reactor Projects, Branch 5 U.S. NRC Region I From: William Maurer [1]

Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 11:07 AM

To: Dean, Bill Cc: McKinley, Raymond

Subject:

[External_Sender] White Finding SRVs Hello Mr. Dean, On July 8, 2015 Pilgrim contested an NRC white finding. When will the NRC issue it's determination?

It's troubling that Entergy left SRVs that malfunctioned during the NEMO Nor'easter February 8, 2013 in service for two years only to malfunction again on January 27, 2015 during the JUNO Nor'easter. Similarly troubling was the NRC's discovery (reported in the Jan 26, 2015 Special Inspection Report) of failed switch yard insulators, also from NEMO, that were discovered by NRC investigators in storage that Entergy forgot (?) to send out for lab testing.

I guess Entergy has to legitimize these with the NRC. How does the NRC legitimize it's resident inspectors also letting these kind of issues fall through the cracks? What happened to determination of Root Cause and Corrective Action Plans?

Had the situation deteriorated at Pilgrim during the JUNO blizzard, evacuation would have been impossible for days. This is a significant deficiency in the generic Nuclear Preparedness Planning as applied to Pilgrim. Is the NRC and Entergy just realizing that Blizzards are common place in the Northeast and that Pilgrim's switch yard has recurrently failed during severe winter conditions (see attachment)? How does the NRC and Entergy justify their recurrent decisions to keep rolling the dice at Pilgrim during Nor'easters and severe winter weather conditions?

You are literally gambling with my skin in the game. How bad is it going to have to hurt before the NRC recognizes the seriousness of Pilgrim's cumulative problems?

Sincerely concerned, William Maurer 140 Gifford St.

Falmouth, MA 02540 508-548-6221