ML17292B240
| ML17292B240 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Columbia  |
| Issue date: | 02/09/1998 |
| From: | Howell A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV) |
| To: | Parrish J WASHINGTON PUBLIC POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM |
| Shared Package | |
| ML17292B241 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-397-97-13, EA-97-573, EA-97-612, NUDOCS 9802170045 | |
| Download: ML17292B240 (13) | |
See also: IR 05000397/1997013
Text
VPh.J. Za>VA4
Cs
REGULATORY INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
(RIDS).
ACCESSION NBR:9802170045
DOC.DATE: 98/02/09
NOTARIZED: NO
FACIL:50-397 WPPSS Nuclear Project, Unit 2, Washington Public
Powe
AUTH.NAME
AUTHOR AFFILIATION
HOWELL,A.T.
Region
4 (Post
820201)
RECIP.NAME
RECIPIENT AFFILIATION
PARRISH,J.V.
Washington Public Power Supply System
DOCKET
05000397
SUBJECT:
Forwards insp rept 50-397/97-13
on 970715-0802
& notice of
violation.Insp involved follow up of 25 open items including
4 violations
S
8 unresolved
items. Three violations
adequately
addressed.
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TITLE: General
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UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
<EGION IV
--I I RYAIIPi AZA DRIVE, SUITE F00
ARLIIIGTO"ITEXAS- ~ 60II-a06~
EA 97-573
EA 97-612
February 9, 1998
Mr. J. V. Parrish (Mail Drop 1023)
Chief Executive Officer
Washington Public Power Supply System
P.O. Box 968
Richland, Washington
99352-0968
SUBJECT:
NRC INSPECTION REPORT 50-397/97-13, NOTICE OF VIOLATIONAND
EXERCISE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION
Dear Mr. Parrish:
An NRC inspection was conducted July 15 through August 2, 1997, at your Washington Nuclear
Project-2 reactor facility. Additional inspection was conducted in the NRC Region IVoffice. An
additional exit meeting that provided the final results of this inspection were conducted by
telephone on January 12, 1998, with Mr. P. Bemis and other members of your staff.'he
enclosed report presents the scope and results of that inspection.
This inspection involved follow up of 25 open items including 4 violations and 8 unresolved
items. Your staff had taken adequate corrective actions for 3 of the violations. However, we are
concerned with your corrective actions taken with regard to the violation that involved an
inadequate corrective action. Specifically, your staff did not take adequate corrective action with
respect to assuring that all plant operators completed the required reading regarding a fire
protection issue.
This issue was identified in 1995 and was reviewed by the NRC in 1996. At
that time, a violation was cited for inadequate corrective actions when'it was determined that the
required reading was not completed for all the operators.
In this inspection, it was found that this
condition continued when it was again found that the required reading had not been completed
for all operators.
This continuing problem was identified as a violation as discussed
below.
Two of the unresolved items were determined to be violations of NRC requirements.
The
circumstances
surrounding these violations are described in detail in the enclosed report.
The
first violation identified three examples of inadequate corrective actions.
This included the
example where the corrective actions, involving operator-required
reading, was not completed.
The second violation involved seven examples of a failure to update your licensing basis. as
required by.10 CFR,50.71(e).
This violation would be classified at Severity Level IVand
normally would be cited because
it was identified by the NRC. However, the NRC is exercising
discretion in accordance with Section VII.B.3 of the Enforcement Policy and is not taking formal
enforcement action (EA 97-612).
Specifically, the NRC recognizes that you have a
9802170045
980209
ADQCK 05000397
8
iilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Washington Public Power Supply System
-2-
comprehensive
program underway to review and update your Final Safety Analysis Report.
This program was described in Letters G02-97-022 dated February 7, 1997, which provided
information pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(f) and GO2-97-120 dated June 16, 1997, in response to
the open items identified in NRC Inspection Report 50-397/96-201.
It is the NRC's view, given
the scope and schedule for completing this review, that these Final Safety Analysis Report
discrepancies
likelywould have been identified through your Final Safety Analysis Report review
program.
The first violation is cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice). Please note that you are
required to respond to the violation and should followthe instructions specified in the enclosed
Notice when preparing your response.
The NRC will use your response,
in part, to determine
whether further enforcement action is necessary to insure compliance with regulatory
requirements.
Based on the results of this inspection, two apparent violations were identified (EA 97-573) and
are being considered for escalated enforcement action in accordance with the "General
Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions" (Enforcement Policy),
NUREG-1600. The first apparent violation involved the failure to perform an adequate safety
evaluation in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.59. The violation involved the
downgrading of the reactor core isolation cooling system from a safety-related system to a non
safety-related system without NRC approval.
This downgrading may have increased the
probability of occurrence of a malfunction of equipment important to safety previously evaluated
in the Final Safety Analysis Report and increased the possibility for a malfunction of a different
type than any evaluated previously in the Final Safety Analysis Report.
Therefore, this
downgrade apparently constituted an unreviewed safety question in accordance with the
requirements of 10 CFR 50.59.
The second apparent violation involved the failure to maintain the acceptance
criteria for the
opening stroke-time testing of six reactor core isolation cooling system valves and the failure to
maintain inservice testing of Valve RCIC-V-45 as required by 10 CFR 50.55a(f). These failures
appear to be the result of the reactor core isolation cooling system downgrading activities.
We have reviewed your Letter G02-97-228, dated December 23, 1997, subject; "WNP2,
OPERATING; LICENSE NPF-21, CLARIFICATIONOF RCIC SAFETY SYSTEM
CLASSIFICATION- RESPONSE TO 96-TIA-005 AND AMENDEDRESPONSE TO NRC
INSPECTION REPORT 96-11 STAFF COMMENTON RCIC," and discussed the letter with the
NRC program office. As the result of this review and discussions, we concur with your positions
that the reactor core isolation cooling system was identified as a nonsafety-related
system when
utilized for the loss-of-feedwater event, that the reactor core isolation cooling system was not an
emergency core cooling system, that the automatic depressurization
system is now the single
failure backup to the high pressure core spray system, and that the reactor core isolation cooling
0
Washington Public Power Supply System
-3-
system was not the designated coping system for station'blackout.
However, we also noted that
you concluded that the reactor core isolation cooling system was classified as a safety-related
system to provide a backup to the high pressure core spray system for the control rod drop
design basis event and that approval of the classification downgrade was not docketed by the
NRC. We also acknowledge your actions to restore the reactor core isolation cooling system to
a safety-related classification.
The circumstances surrounding these apparent violations and the significance of the issues
were discussed with members of your staff at the final inspection exit meeting conducted on
January 12, 1998. A Notice of Violation is not presently being issued for these inspection
findings. Before the NRC makes its enforcement decision, we are providing you an opportunity,
within 30 days of the date of this letter, to either (1) respond to the apparent violations addressed
in this inspection report or (2) request a predecisional enforcement conference.
Please contact
Mr. Thomas Stetka at (817) 860-8247 within 7 days of the date of this letter to notify the NRC of
your intended action.
Ifyou decide to respond to the apparent violations, your response should be clearly marked as a
"Response to Apparent Violations in Inspection Report 50-397/97-13," and should include:
(1)
the reason for the apparent violations, or, ifcontested, the basis for disputing the apparent
.
violations, (2) the corrective steps that have been taken and the results achieved, (3) the
corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations, and (4) the date when full
compliance will be achieved.
Your response should be submitted under oath or affirmation and
may reference or include previous docketed correspondence,
ifthe correspondence
adequately
addresses
the required response.
Ifan adequate response
is not received within the time
specified or an extension of time has not been granted by the NRC, the NRC will proceed with
its enforcement decision or schedule a predecisional enforcement conference.
In addition, please be advised that the number and characterization of apparent violations
described in the enclosed inspection report may change as a result of further NRC review. You
willbe advised by separate correspondence
of the results of our deliberations on this matter.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter, its
enclosure(s), and your response (ifyou choose to provide one) willbe placed in the NRC Public
Document Room (PDR). To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal
privacy, proprietary, or safeguards
information so that it can be placed in the PDR without
redaction.
Washington Public Power Supply System
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Should you have any questions concerning this inspection, we will be pleased to discuss them
with you.
Sincerely,
Docket No.: 50-397
License No.: NPF-21
Arthur T. Howell III, Director
Division of Reactor Safety
Enclosures:
2. NRC Inspection Report
50-397/97-13
3. Letter G02-97-228, dated December 23, 1997
cc w/enclosures:
Chairman
Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council
P.O. Box 43172
Olympia, Washington
98504-3172
Mr. Rodney L. Webring (Mail Drop PE08)
Vice President, Operations Support/PIO
Washington Public Power Supply System
P.O. Box 968
Richland, Washington
99352-0968
, Mr. Greg O. Smith (Mail Drop 927M)
WNP-2 Plant General Manager
Washington Public Power Supply System
P.O. Box 968
Richland, Washington
99352-0968
Mr. David A. Swank (Mail Drop PE20)
Manager, Regulatory Affairs
Washington Public Power Supply System
P.O. Box 968
Richland, Washington
99352-0968
l
Washington Public Power Supply System
-5-
Mr. Albert E. Mouncer (Mail Drop 396)
Chief Counsel
Washington Public Power Supply System
P.O. Box
968'ichland,Washington
99352-0968
Mr. Paul Inserra (Mail Drop PE20)
Manager, Licensing
Washington Public Power Supply System
P.O. Box 968
Richland, Washington
99352-0968
Perry D. Robinson, Esq.
Winston 8 Strawn
1400 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005-3502
I
1
Washington Public Power Supply System
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E-Mail report to T. Frye (TJF)
E-Mail report to D. Lange (DJL)
E-Mail report to NRR Event Tracking System (IPAS)
E-Mail report to Document Control Desk (DOCDESK)
bcc to DCD (IE01)
bcc distrib. by RIV:
Regional Administrator
DRP Director
Branch Chief (DRP/E, WCFO)
Senior Project Inspector (DRP/E, WCFO)
Branch Chief (DRP/TSS)
WCFO File
G.
F. Sanborn,
J.
Lieberman,
(NS:
7-H5)
II. L. Brown,
RC
OE:EA Fi1e
(NS 7-H5)
Resident Inspector
DRS-PSB
MIS System
RIV File
M. Hammond (PAO, WCFO)
DOCUMENT NAME: R:l WN<WN713RP.TFS
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ut'enciosures
" " = Copy
'th
nclosures "N"= No copy
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Washington Public Power Supply System
-6-
E-Mail report to T. Frye (TJF)
E-Mail report to D. Lange (DJL)
E-Mail report to NRR Event Tracking System (IPAS)
E-Mail report to Document Control Desk (DOCDESK)
bcc to DCD (IE01)
bcc distrib. by RIV:
Regional Administrator
DRP Director
Branch Chief (DRP/E, WCFO)
Senior Project Inspector (DRP/E, WCFO)
Branch Chief (DRP/TSS)
WCFO File
G.
F. Sanborn,
J.
Lieberman,
(MS:
7-H5)
W. L. Brown,
RC
OE:EA File
(MS 7-H5)
Resident Inspector
DRS-PSB
MIS System
RIV File
M. Hammond (PAO, WCFO)
DOCUMENTNAME'R:i WN<WN713RP.TFS
To receive copy of document, indicate in box: "C" = Copy wit
utendosures"
"=Copy
'th
ndosures
"N"=Nocopy
02/ /98
02/ /98
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