ML17187A500

Informs That NRC Senior Managers Met to Evaluate Nuclear Safety Performance of Operating Reactors,Fuel Facilities & Other Matl Licensees on 960604-05.Meeting Conducted to Determine If Safety Performance Exhibit Weaknesses

ML17187A500
Person / Time
Site:	Dresden
Issue date:	06/21/1996
From:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:	Oconnor J COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO.
References
NUDOCS 9607010336
Download: ML17187A500 (4)

Text

UNITED STATES

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555--0001 June 21, 1996 Mr. James J. O'Connor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Commonwealth Edison Company P.O. Box 767 Chicago, IL 60690

Dear Mr. O'Connor:

On June 4~5, 1996, ~RC senior managers met to evaluate the nuclear safety performance of operating reactors, fuel facilities and other materials licensees.

The NRC conducts this meeting semiannually to determine if the

_ safety performance of various 1 icensees exhibits sufficient weaknesses to warrant increased NRC attention or if it is trending adversely and requires steps to be taken to communicate concerns to the utility's president or board of directors.

At the June 1996 Senior Management Meeting. (SMM), the Dresden Nuclear Power Station was discussed.

_ The Dresden Station wai placed on the NRC watch list for the second time in January 1992 and remains a Category 2 plant. Plants in this category h.ave been identified as having weaknesses that warrant increased NRC atte~tion until the licensee demonstrates a period of improved performance.

A summary of NRC discussions related to Dresden follows:

Unit 2 restarted from an extended refueling outage in late April.

Unit 3 has operated at power for most of the past six months.

Both Units were recently shutdown to address equipment failures in the main feedwater system.

Management of ~ontrol room activities continued to be good and a conservative approach to decision m~king and plant operations has generally been taken.

Major plant evolutinns have been performed in a deliberate, well-controlled manner. *Overall, there has been some progress in reducing the number of personnel errors at the station, but. problems with plant equipment lineups and your "out-of-service" program reflect.some continuing weaknesses in the execution of field activities.

Some of these problems should have been identified during Unit 2 pre-startup readiness reviews indicating continued effort is needed to effectively communicate management standards and expectations to station personnel.

Continued, slow improvement in plant material condition has been observed. *Efforts to address operator workarounds have been positive, for example.

Strong steps were taken to test systems before restart of Unit 2.

However, the potential impact of equipment problem backlogs, ~hich remain large, was revealed by the recent Unit 3 scram and safety system actuation caused by failure of a feedwater control valve.

Steps taken to improve work control processes and worker skill levels have begun to show some results but long term trends are not yet clear. System engineers 9607.010336)960621 PDR i.: ADOCK -05000237

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Mr. James J. O'Connor are more consistently identifying and following up on discrepant conditio~s. However, engineering backlogs are large. Also, some fundamental weaknesses in design control were reflected by a failure to resolve known problems with reactor building structural steel which did not meet seismic design criteria contained in the Dresden licensing pasis.

Continued, significant management attention is needed to assure improvement efforts are sustained and effective at Dresden.

We will continue to closely monitor station performance to determine if lasting change is being made.

This includes observing performance as Units 2 and 3 are operated together for a period of time and the Unit 3 outage is conducted in the fall of this year~

In addition to ongoing Region III inspection and oversight activities, we plan to conduct an e~tensive team inspection to independently assess progress in correcting performance proqlems and $,ample compliance with licensing and design basis requirement~~* we* also.plan to monitqr closely efforts you are making to addres.s *performance issues at your other nuclear facilities. It *is vital that activities at Dresden not detra~t from these other efforts.

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Mr.* Hubert J.. J~1i 11.~r, the Regfon I I I Administrator, has di scusse.d the bases

• for our conclu.si on.s wt~h members of your-* staff.. * :

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• • ** ~i,~;~*:1 An NRC *commission* m~etJng; *open-to th.e p.ubl~ic,'*".has been scheduled to be held in the 'Commissioners~~ ~onferencE(Room.~n. Rockv.i_lle, Maryland, on June.25, 1999,. al.. 10.:00 *a.m~'-' to r*eview *the* results of the latest meeting of NRC senior mariage~rs.'. * **

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See next page DISTRIBUTION:* *See attached page DOCUMENT NAME: DRES696.LTR To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box: "C" = Copy without attachment/enclosure "E" = Copy with attachment/enclosure ~N" = No c.opy OFFICE NAME DATE

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Mr. D. L. Farrar Manager, Nuclear Regulatory Services Commonwealth Edison Company Executive Towers West III 1400 Opus Place, Suite 500 Downers Grove, Illinois. 60515 Michael I. Miller, Esquire Sidley and Austin One First National Plaza Chicago, Illinois 60603 Site Vice President Dresden Nuclear Power Station 6500 North Dresden Road Morris, Illinois 60450-9765 Station Manager Dresden Nuclear Power Station 6500 North Dresden Road Morris, Illinois 60450-9765 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Resident Inspectors Office Dresden Station 6500 North Dresden Road Morris, Illinois 60450-9766 Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety Office of Nuclear Facility Safety 1035 Outer Park Drive Springfield, Illinois. 62704 Chairman Grundy County Board Administration Building 1320 Union Street Morris, Illinois 60450 Document Control Desk-Licensing Commonwealth Edison Company 1400 Opus Place, Suite 400 Downers Grove, Illinois 60515 Dresden Nuclear Power Station Unit Nos. 2 and 3