ML19224C644
| ML19224C644 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | South Texas  |
| Issue date: | 06/07/1979 |
| From: | Seyfrit K NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV) |
| To: | Eric Turner HOUSTON LIGHTING & POWER CO. |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7907060015 | |
| Download: ML19224C644 (1) | |
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UNITED STATES E \\[g, c.. ( '
g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION a W;{-. y REGION IV 0, * ** /'
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AR LINGToN, T E X AS 76012 June 7, 1979 In Reply Refer To:
RIV Docket Nos. 50-498/IE Information Notice No. 79-15 50-499/IE Information Notice No. 79-15 Houston Lighting & Power Company ATTN:
Mr. E. A. Turner, Vice President Power Plant Construction and Technical Services Post Office Box 1700 Houston, Texas 77001 Centlemen:
This Information Notice is provided as an early notification of a possioly signific2nt matter.
It is expected that recipients will review the information for possible applicability to their facilities. No specific action or response is requested at this time.
If further NRC evaluations so indicate, an IE Circular, Bulletin, or NRR Ceneric Letter will be issued to recommend or request specific licensee actions.
If you have q astions regarding this matter, please contact the Director of the appropriate e.C Regional Office.
Karl V. Sey ri$
Director
Enclosures:
1.
IE Information Notice No. 79-15 2.
List of IE Information Notices Issued in 1979 7 r; f 7
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79070600l[
UNITED STATEC NUCLEAR REGULATORY COT!ISSION 0FFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C.
20555 IE Information Notice No. 79-15 Date:
June 7, 1979 Page 1 of 3 DEFICIENT PROCEDURES Summary On June 2, 1979, at Arkansas Nuclear One - Unit 1, while observing conditions in the control room, an NRC inspector discovered an operational deficiency that could have resulted in the emergency feedwater system remaining isolated during subsequent power operation.
Description of Circumstances On June 2 while Arkansas Nuclear One - Unit I was preparing for startup, an hPC inspector in the control room found that during a surveillance test of the main feedwater check valves, the controls of the emergency feedwater system were positioned so that the system could not automatically respond if needed.
The NRC inspector found that the test procedure being used by the licensed operators did not include, as it should have, instructions either to bypass the emergency feedwater system or to return it to normal. The plant operators, without approved procedures covering this aspect of the test, bypassed the controls that would have started the feedwater system automatically.
Lacking a procedural requirement to return the system to normal, there was no assurance that emergency feedwater would be provided automatically if needed.
Following the Three Mile Island accident, the NRC required that operators be trained to initiate promptly the emergency feedwater system manually if it does not come on automatically. Thus, while no immediate safety hazard existed at the Arkansas Unit 1 plant because of the improper action, the NRC staff is concerned about the potential safety hazard of leaving the emergency feedwater system in the bypassed condition, about the possibility that other procedures at the Arkansas plant may be deficient and about the fact that the operators deviated from procedures in performing the surveillance test.
Arkansas Power and Light Company has returned the plant to cold shutdown.
The June 2, 1979, NRC Order confirmed the requirement for a cold shutdown until the Commission staff is satisfied with the utility's method of con-trolling the development of operating procedures, the adequacy of existing procedures, and until there is assuranco 4,r
-o n rc eill nne deri,tr from those procedures.
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