ML17177A243

Notification of NRC Design Bases Assurance Inspection (Programs) (05000298/2017007) and Initial Request for Information

ML17177A243
Person / Time
Site:	Cooper
Issue date:	06/26/2017
From:	Thomas Farnholtz Region 4 Engineering Branch 1
To:	Higginbotham K Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD)
References
IR 2017007
Download: ML17177A243 (7)

See also: IR 05000298/2017007

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION IV

1600 E. LAMAR BLVD

ARLINGTON, TX 76011-4511

June 26, 2017

Mr. Ken Higginbotham, Vice President-Nuclear

and Chief Nuclear Officer

Nebraska Public Power District

Cooper Nuclear Station

72676 648A Avenue

P.O. Box 98

Brownville, NE 68321

SUBJECT: COOPER NUCLEAR STATION - NOTIFICATION OF NRC DESIGN BASES

ASSURANCE INSPECTION (PROGRAMS) (05000298/2017007) AND INITIAL

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Dear Mr. Higginbotham:

On August 2, 2017, the NRC will begin an inspection at the Cooper Nuclear Station. A

three-person team will perform this inspection using NRC Inspection Procedure 71111.21N,

Design Bases Inspection (Programs), Attachment 1, Environmental Qualification Under

10 CFR 50.49 Programs, Processes, and Procedures.

This inspection will evaluate the implementation of the environmental qualification of electrical

equipment program, as implemented by the Cooper Nuclear Station Operating License.

Additionally, the team will perform an inspection of the environmental qualification

documentation files to verify that electrical equipment important to safety meets the

requirements of 10 CFR 50.49. The team will select components that will be subjected to harsh

environments and required mitigate the consequences of a design basis accident.

The inspection will include an information gathering site visit by the team leader and two weeks

of on-site inspection by the team. The inspection team will consist of three NRC inspectors.

The current inspection schedule is as follows:

On-site Information Gathering Visit: August 2, 2017

Preparation Week: August 7, 2017

On-site Weeks: August 14-18, 2017, and August 28-August 31, 2017

The purpose of the information gathering visit is to meet with members of your staff to become

familiar with the Cooper Nuclear Station environmental qualification program. The lead

inspector will request a meeting with your personnel to discuss the site environmental

qualification program and procedures. Additionally, the lead inspector will request a discussion

with your staff to become familiar with the environmental qualification regulations and standards

to which the site is committed. Additional information and documentation needed to support the

K. Higginbotham 2

inspection will be identified during the inspection, including interviews with engineering

managers and engineers.

Our experience with these inspections has shown that they are resource intensive, both for the

NRC inspectors and the licensee staff. In order to minimize the inspection impact on the site

and to ensure a productive inspection, we have enclosed a request for information needed for

the inspection. This information should be made available to the lead inspector by July 31,

2017. Since the inspection will be concentrated on the environmental qualification of the

equipment, the equipment qualification master list should be available to review prior to the

information gathering visit to assist in our selection of components.

It is requested that this information be provided to the team leader as the information is

generated during the inspection. Additional requests by inspectors will be made during the

on-site weeks for specific documents needed to complete the review of that

component/selection. It is important that all of these documents are up to date and complete in

order to minimize the number of additional documents requested during the preparation and/or

the on-site portions of the inspection. In order to facilitate the inspection, we request that a

contact individual be assigned to each inspector to ensure information requests, questions, and

concerns are addressed in a timely manner.

The team leader for this inspection is Gerond A. George, Senior Reactor Inspector. We

understand that our licensing engineer contact for this inspection is D. W. Van Der Kamp.

If there are any questions about the inspection or the requested materials, please contact the

team leader by telephone at 817-200-1562 or by e-mail at Gerond.George@nrc.gov.

This letter does not contain new or amended information collection requirements subject

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing information

collection requirements were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, control

number 3150-0011. The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to

respond to, a request for information or an information collection requirement unless the

requesting document displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control

number.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter will be

made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from

the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRCs document system (ADAMS).

K. Higginbotham 3

ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the

Public Electronic Reading Room).

Sincerely,

/RA/

Thomas R. Farnholtz, Chief

Engineering Branch 1

Division of Reactor Safety

Docket No. 50-298

License No. DPR-46

Enclosure:

Design Bases Inspection (Programs)

Environmental Qualification

Request for Information

cc: Electronic Distribution

ML17177A243

SUNSI Review ADAMS: Non-Publicly Available Non-Sensitive Keyword:

By: TFarnholtz Yes No Publicly Available Sensitive NRC-002

OFFICE RI:EB1 C:EB1 C:PBC

NAME GGeorge TFarnholtz JKozal

SIGNATURE /RA/ /RA/ /RA/

DATE 6/15/17 6/26/17 6/15/17

Initial Request for Information

Design Bases Assurance Inspection (Programs), Environmental Qualification

Cooper Nuclear Station

Inspection Report: 05000298/2017007

Information Gathering Dates: August 2, 2017

Inspection Dates: August 14-18, 2017

August 28-31, 2017

Inspection Procedure: IP 71111, Attachment 21N, Design Bases Assurance

Inspection (Programs)

Team Leader: Gerond A. George, Senior Reactor Inspector

I. Information Requested for Information Gathering Visit (July 31, 2017)

The following information should be provided to the lead inspector in hard copy or

electronic format (Certrec IMS preferred), to the attention of Gerond A. George, Senior

Reactor Inspector, by July 31, 2017, to facilitate the reduction in the items to be selected

for a final list of components. The inspection team will finalize the selected list during the

prep week using the documents requested in this enclosure. The specific items selected

from the lists shall be available and ready for review on the day indicated in this request.

• Please provide requested documentation electronically in pdf files, Excel, or other

searchable formats, if possible. The information should contain descriptive names, and

be indexed and hyperlinked to facilitate ease of use. Information in "lists" should contain

enough information to be easily understood by someone who has knowledge of boiling

water reactor technology. If requested documents are large and only hard copy formats

are available, please inform the inspector(s), and provide subject documentation during

the first day of the on-site inspection.

1. List of components that are in equipment qualification master list. If the plant is

approved to categorize structures, systems, and component in accordance with

10 CFR 50.69, please provide the Risk Informed Safety Category of the component.

2. Listing of the equipment qualification master list components sorted by Birnbaum risk

importance.

3. List of all post-accident monitoring instrumentation components and locations.

4. Documents which show the environmental service conditions expected for areas in

which the environmentally qualified components are located.

5. Cooper Nuclear Station, word-searchable updated final safety analysis report

(UFSAR), license conditions, and technical specifications. Specifically identify which

UFSAR sections address environmental (including seismic) qualification.

Enclosure

6. NRC Safety Evaluation Report(s) associated with Cooper Nuclear Station

environmental qualification program.

7. Identify the various environmental qualification standards (including year, edition, or

revision) that Cooper Nuclear Station is committed.

8. Identify whether Cooper Nuclear Station has entered its period of extended operation

(i.e., operation past the original 40 year license period).

9. Site (and corporate if applicable) procedures associated with the 10 CFR 50.49

environmental qualification program for electrical components. Additionally, please

provide similar procedures used to verify mechanical components meet their

10 CFR Part 50, Appendix A, Criterion 4, Environmental and Dynamic Effects

Design Bases. Include procedures for procurement of qualified equipment,

maintenance of qualified equipment, and modification to qualified equipment

(including equivalency or commercial grade dedication programs).

10. Site high energy line break analyses, including associated plant area drawings.

11. Procedures for material storage and shelf life controls.

12. List of commercial grade dedication evaluations performed, for which the dedicated

parts have been issued for installation on environmental qualification applications in

the plant, for the previous 5 years. Include description of the component the part

was issued to repair, work order, and date issued or installed.

13. List of condition reports related to the environmental qualification program or

environmental qualification of components (both electrical and mechanical) for the

previous 5 years.

14. Lists of modifications, repairs, or replacement of equipment qualification master list

components completed for the previous 5 years.

15. List of modifications, repairs, or replacements of containment penetrations for the

previous 5 years.

16. List of components removed from the environmental qualification program since

beginning of operation.

17. Any self-assessments and quality assurance assessments of the environmental

qualification program performed in the previous 5 years.

18. List of systems, system numbers/designators, and corresponding names.

II. Discussions Requested during Information Gathering Visit

1. Interview with representative to discuss site environmental qualification service

condition analyses for plant areas, including plant drawings and assumptions. This

includes analysis for areas that are subject to high energy line breaks (HELB).

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2. Interview with representative to discuss environmental qualification mandated

maintenance elements integrated into plant programs and procedures.

3. Interview with representative to discuss maintaining qualification for plant/equipment

that has entered its period of extended operation, if applicable.

III. Information Requested for Inspection Preparation (August 7, 2017)

1. Equipment qualification documentation files, including test reports, for the electrical

components selected by the team leader listed from the equipment qualification

master list.

2. References associated with the electrical components equipment qualification

document files.

3. Vendor manuals and technical sheets associated with the selected electrical

components.

4. Tours of the rooms in which the selected electrical components are installed.

5. Tour of stored selected electrical components in the warehouse.

Inspector Contact Information:

Gerond A. George Robert M. Latta W. Chris Smith

Senior Reactor Inspector Senior Reactor Inspector Reactor Inspector

817-200-1562 817-200-1532 817-200-1095

Gerond.George@nrc.gov Robert.Lattal@nrc.gov Chris.Smith@nrc.gov

Mailing Address:

U.S. NRC, Region IV

Attn: Gerond A. George

1600 East Lamar Blvd.

Arlington, TX 76011-4511

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