ML19211C136
| ML19211C136 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Point Beach  |
| Issue date: | 12/31/1979 |
| From: | James Keppler NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | Burstein S WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER CO. |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8001100229 | |
| Download: ML19211C136 (1) | |
Text
UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION n
E REGION 111 o
799 ROOSEVELT ROAD o
GLEN ELLYN, ILLINOIS 60137 nr - 9. ) 1979
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Docket No. 50-266 Docket No. 50-301 Wisconsin Electric Power Company ATTN:
Mr. Sol Burstein Executive Vice President Power Plants 231 West Michigan Milwaukee, WI 53201 Gentlemen:
The enclosed IE Information Notice No. 79-35 provides information on the control of maintenance and essential equipment.
Sincerely, M O
,ag'y'A'--
// James G. Keppler Director
Enclosure:
IE Information Notice No. 79-35 cc w/ encl:
Mr. G. A. Reed, Plant Manager Central Files Director, NRR/DPM Director, NRR/ DOR C. M. Trammell, ORB /NRR PDR I738 J05 1 PDR TIC Sandra A. Bast, Lakeshore Citizens for Safe Energy 80 011 00 $ d.O O
UNITED STATES SSINS No.:
6870 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Accessions No.:
0FFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT 7910250510 WASHINGTON, D.C.
20555 P
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- ' E December 31, 1979 IE Information Notice No. 79-35 CONTROL OF MAINTENANCE AND ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT Description of Circumstances:
Enclosed is a copy of a recent enforcement action against Duguesne Light Company.
A copy of this action is being forwarded to all utilities with a power reactor operatir license or a construction permit. This is being done to apprise you of a seriou condition which revcaled an apparent weakness in facility control of maintenance and essential equipment.
You should review your existing procedures and control for independent verification of operability of redundant counterpart equipment when an essential component, subsystem, or system is determined inoperable.
Operability is defined as follows:
A system, subsystem, train, component or device shall be OPERABLE or have OPERABILITY when it is capable of performing its specified function (s).
Implicit in this definition shall be the assumption that all necessary attendant instrumentation, controls, normal and energency electrical power sources, cooling or seal water, lubrication or other auxiliary equipment that are required for the system, subsystem, train, component or device to perform its function (s) are also capable of performing their related support function (s).
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact the Director of the NRC Regional Office in whic5 your facilities are located.
No written response to this IE Information Notice is required.
Enclosures:
1.
Letter to Duguesne Light Company from V. Stello, Jr., dtd. 12/5/79 2.
Recently Issued IE Information
}[38 jQ6 Notices
Docket No. 50-334 December 5, 1979 Duquesne Light Company ATTN: Mr. Stanley G. Schaeffer President 435 Sixth Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 Gentlemen:
On November 27, 1979, the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1, was operated for about two (2) hours in a condition which exceeded the Limiting Conditions for Operation.
This matter was brought to the attention of our inspector at your facility in a timely fashion, and your subsequent action to correct the condition was expeditious.
Nevertheless, this condition rendered a part of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) unavailable for automatic start and injection of coolant into the reactor coolant system (RCS) if the need had occurred concur-rent with the loss of offsite power (the design basis).
This unavailability of ECCS constitutes a serious matter which reveals an apparent weakness in your control of maintenance and essential equipment.
Therefore, we propose to impose a civil penalty for the item of noncompliance set forth in Appendix A to this letter in the amount of $5,000.
Appendix B is a Notice of Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalties.
You are required to respond to this letter and in preparing your response, you should follow the instructions in Appendices A and B.
In addition to the civil penalty, we are issuing the enclosed Order (Appendix C) effective immediately.
This Order requires that your administrative control of licensed activities involving operating and maintenance of safety equipment verifies availability of all required equipment when a counterpart is removed from an operable status. This Order further requires that you formally review and report your actions to prevent recurrence.
It also requires that you meet publicly on January 25, 1980, with the Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement, at a location near the Beaver Valley Power Station, to discuss your evaluation of this conditon and your corrective actions to prevent recurrence. We will inform you of the location and time of the meeting.
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Duquesne Light Company,,
In accordance with Section 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice", Part 2, Title 10, Code of federal Regulations, a copy of this letter and its enclosures will be placed in the Commission's Public Document Room.
Sincerely, Victor Stello, Jr.
Director Office of Inspection and Enforcement
Enclosure:
1.
Appendix A, Notice of Violation 2.
Appendix B, Notice of Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalties 3.
Appendix C, Order Modifying License cc:
C. N. Dunn, Vice President, Operations Division F. Bissert, Technical Assistant Nuclear R. Washabaugh, QA Manager J. Werling, Station Superintendent G. Moore, General Superintendent, J. J. Carey, Nuclear Technical Assistant R. Martin, Nuclear Engineer 1738.08
APPENDIX A NOTICE OF VIOLATION Cuquesne Light Company Docket No. 50-334 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 License No. DPR 66 This refers to the inspection conducted by the NRC Resident Inspector at the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1, of activities authorized by NRC License No. DPR 66.
During the inspection conducted on November 27, 1979, the following item of noncompliance was identified.
Technical Specification 3.5.2 states that with the plant in Mode 1 (Power Operation), two separate and independent ECCS subsystems shall be operable, and further states in section 3.5.2.c that each subsystem shall include an operable flow path capable of taking suction from the refueling water storage tank upon initiation of a safety injection signal.
Technical Specification 1.6 defines " operable' to include the assumption that all necessary attendant instrumentation, controls, electric power, cooling or seal water, lubrication or other auxiliary equipment that are required for the system, subsystem, train, component or oevice to perform its function (s) are also capable of performing their related safety function (s).
Contrary to the above, on November 27, 1979-from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., maintenance activities render 2d boo ERCS subsystems inoperable in that a) refueling water storage tank istilation valve MOV-CH-115D was closed and incapable of automatic opening in resporse to a safety injection signal, and b) refueling water storage tank isolation valve MOV-CH-115B, in the redundant subsystem, was clos e had no emergency power available, and thus was incapable of automatic opening in response to a safety injection signal if there had been a condition of loss of offsite power.
This violation h6d the potential for ciusing or cct.tributing to an occurrence related to health a-d safety (Civil Peralty $5,000?.
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APPENDIX B NOTICE OF PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTIES Duquesne Light Company Docket No.
50-334 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 License No. DPR-66 This office has considered the enforcement options available to the NRC including administrative actions in the form of written notices of violation, civil monetary penalties, and orders pertaining to the modification, suspension or revocation of a license.
Based on these considerations, we propose to impose civil penalties pursuant to Section 234 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, (42 USC 2282), and to 10 CFR 2.205 in the cumulative amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) for the specific items of noncompliance set forth in Appendix A to the cover letter.
In proposing to impose civil penal-ties pursuant to this section of the Act and in fixing the proposed amount of the penalties, the factors identified in the Statements of Consideration published in the Federal Register with the rule-making action which adopted 10 CFR 2.205 (36 FR 16894) August 26, 1971, and the " Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action," which was sent to NRC licensees on December 31, 1974, have been taken into account.
Duquesne Light Company may, within twenty (20) days of the receipt of this notice pay the civil penalties in the cumulative amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) or may protest the imposition of the civil penalties in whole or in part by a written answer.
Should Duquesne Light Company fail to answer within the time specified, this office will issue an order imposing the civil penalties in the amount proposed above.
Should Duquesne Light Company elect to file an answer protesting the civil penalties, such an answer may (a) deny the items of noncompliance listed in the Notice of Violation in whole or in part, (b) demonstrate extenuating circurrstances, (c) show error in the Notice of Violation, (d) show other reasons why the penalties should not be imposed.
In addition, to protesting the civil penalties in whole or in part, such answer may request remission or mitigation of the penalties.
Any written answer in accordance with 10 CFR 2.205 should be set forth separately from the statement or explanation in reply pursuant to 2.201, but may incorporate by specific reference (e.g., giving page and paragraph numbers) to avoid repetition.
Duquesne Light Company's attention is directed to the other provisions of 10 CFR 2.205 regarding, in particular, failure to answer and ensuing orders; answer, consideration by this office, and ensuing orders; requests for hearings, hearings and ensuing orders; compromise, ar.d collection.
Upon failure to pay any civil penalty due which has been subsequently determined in accordance with the applicable provisions of 10 CFR 2.205, the matter may be referred to the Attorney General, and the penalty, unless compromised, remitted, or mitigated, may be collected by civil action pursuant to Section 234.c of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 USC 2282).
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APPENDIX C UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of
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DUQUESNE LIGHT COMPANY
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Docket No. 50-334 (Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1) )
ORDER MODIFYING LICENSE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY I
The Duquesne Light Company (the " licensee") is the holder of Operating License DPR-66 (the " license") which authorizes operation of the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1, at steady state reactor core power levels not in excess of 2652 megawatts thermal (rated power).
The license was issued on January 30, 1976.
The facility consists of a pressurized light water moderated and cooled reactor (PWR), located at the licensee's site in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, on the southern shore of the Ohio River.
II On November 27, 1979, from about 6:30 AM to 1:20 PM while the reactor was operating at about 30% of rated power, Emergency Diesel Generator (EDG) 1 was out of service for routine maintenance.
This EDG supplies emergency power to suction valve, M0V-CH-115B, in the line from the refueling water storage tank (RWST) to the High Pressure Safety Injection System (HPSIS) pumps.
In addition to the EDG being out of service, resulting in loss of one Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) flow path, as described above, the redundant suction valve, MOV-CH-115D, was removed from service for maintenance which resulted in loss of the redundant ECCS flow path from the RWST from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
During this time the facility was opera Condition for Operation specified in Te DUPLICATE DOCUMENT condition resulted from inadequate cont Entire document previously entered into system under:
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