ML19257C943

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IE Insp Rept 50-312/79-20 on 791001-05.Noncompliance Noted: Failure of Offsite Review Committee to Review Minutes of Onsite Review Committee Meetings
ML19257C943
Person / Time
Site: Rancho Seco
Issue date: 11/15/1979
From: Faulkenberry B, Zwetzig G
NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION V)
To:
Shared Package
ML18044B026 List:
References
50-312-79-20, NUDOCS 8001310115
Download: ML19257C943 (5)


See also: IR 05000312/1979020

Text

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U. S. NUCLEAR REGUL\\ TOP.Y C0!c419SION

OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT

REGION V

Report No.

50-312/79-20

Cocket No.

50-31'.

License Nc.

DPR-54

sarcauards crcup

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Liccusee-

Sacramento Municipal Utility District

P. O. Eox 15830

Sacramento, California 95813

Facility Nare:

Rancho Seco

Inspection at:

Clay Station, California

October 1-5, 1979

Inspection conducted:

Ins pec t o rs ;

b[ 'A

.(I l3 /k79

G. B.

Zkietzig) Reactoh Inspector

Date Sirned

Date Signed

Date Signed

-

Appro"ed !3y :

I)

E

d z,

Adi/

N' /7 79

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2 -.m

B. H. Faulkenberry, ChieV,Te' actor Projects Section 2,

Date Signed

Reactor Operations and N6 clear Support Branch

Summary:

Inspection on October 1-5, 1979 (Report No. 50-312/79-20)

Areas Inspected:

Routine, unannounced inspection of implementation of

changes in the quality assurance program; the content of the quality

assurance / quality control administration program; the operations of the

off-site review committee; the operations an. qualifications of the off-

site support staff; and followup on IE Bulli ' ins and Circulars.

The

inspection involved 26 inspector-hours onsit 2 and 8 inspector-hours at

the utility's main office by one inspector.

Results: Of the six areas inspected, no items of noncompliance or

deviations were foundin five areas; one apparent item of noncompliance

was found in one area (infraction - failure of offsite review committee

to review minutes of the onsite review committee, Paragraph 4).

RV Forn, 719(?)

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DETAILS

1.

Persons Contacted

  • R.

Columbo, Technical Assistant

  • H. Heckert, tiuclear Engineering Technician
  • John Sullivan, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
  • L. fl. Schwieger, Quality Assurance Director

Norman F. Wood, Principal Buyer

Gordon Merrill, Manager, Purchases and Stores Department

Dallas Raasch, Manager, Generation Engineering Department

Roger Powers, Supervising tiuclear Engineer

  • Ron Rodriguez, Manager, riuclear Operations Department
  • Pierre Oubre, Plant Superintendent
  • Willis Ford, Supervisor, riuclear Operation
  • George Coward, Supervisor, Maintenance Division

The inspector also talked with and interviewed several other licensee

employees, including members of purchasing, quality assurance and

the Generation Engineering Department.

  • Denotes those attending the exit interview.

2.

Annual Review of QA Program

The inspector determined that 17 procedures in the Rancho Seco

Quality Assurance Manual (QAM) had been revised since this inspection

was last performed in June 1978.

Implementation of these procedures

was verified by discussions with licensee personnel and by determining

that the revision numbers of the procedures included in the QAM

corresponded, with one exception, to the latest revision designations

given in the Table of Contents of the QAM. This exception, which

involved a revision made one week prior to the inspection, was

brought to the attention of the licensee who indicated corrective

action would be taken.

Examination of three QAM's issued to individuals onsite revealed

that two of the three conformed to the reference QA copy.

The

third manual was deficient only to the extent that the revision

issued one week earlier had not yet been entered in the manual.

The licensee was advised of this condition and agreed to correct

it.

tio items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.

3.

QA/QC Administration Program

The inspector reviewed QA procedures and verified that procedures

and responsibilities had been established for making changes to QA

documents.

He also verified that administrative controls had been

established to assure review and approval of QA/QC procedures prior

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to implementation and to assign responsibility for distribution and

recall of procedures. The inspector also verified that respon-

sibilities had been established to assure review of the effectiveness

of the QA Program, and to determine that the results of a review

are used to modify the QA Program to provide improved effectiveness

in a problem area (see Paragraph 5). The inspector determined that

the licensee had identified structures, systems and components

subject to the QA Program only by broad criteria and by a list of

major components (pumps and vessels). The list did not include

items such as valves and nuclear and process instrumentation.

In

response to the inspector's expressed concern as to means for

assuring proper assignment of QA class for procurement, the licensee

stated that he would review his present procedure (see Paragraph 5).

This matter is considered to be unresolved.

(79-20-01)

4.

Offsite Review Committee

The inspector reviewed the changes made in the charter of the

offsite review committee since the last inspectica (May 1978) and

found that the changes were consistent with the Technical Specifi-

cations and regulatory requirements.

The inspector also reviewed

selected minutes of meetings of the offsite review committee for

meetings held from January to August 1979.

These minutes were

reviewed to determine if the frequency of meetings, the number of

designated attendees and the scope of review were consistent with

the Technical Specifications.

On the basis of tnis review, it was

determined that the offsite review committee had not, during this

period, reviewed the minutes of the Plant Review Conmittee (PRC) as

required by Technical Specification 6.5.2.7.1.

It was further

determined that during the period covered by the review (January -

August 1979), approximately 75 PRC meetings had been held. At the

exit meeting, the licensee's representatives stated that minutes of

all PRC meetings were sent to the chairman of the offsite review

committee, but that it had never been their policy for the full

offsite review committee to review the minutes of the PRC meetings.

The inspector stated that this indicated a weakness in the licensee's

audit procedures (Technical Specification 6.5.2.8.a) which require

that conformance with Technical Specifications be audited yearly.

This is an apparent item of noncompliance at the infraction level.

(79-20-02)

5.

Offsite Support Staff

The inspector reviewed selected procedures in the licensee's QA

manual.

Based on this review, the inspector concluded that there

were adequate administrative controls describing the responsibilities,

authority and lines of communication for offsite personnel involved

in design, technical support, QA, construction and procurement.

The inspector also concluded that the above procedures conformed to

the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix B.

The inspector inter-

viewed a manager, a group leader and a staff member in each of the

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areas of Design / Technical Support, Quality Assurance and Procurement.

Based on these interviews the inspector concluded that the individuals

interviewed understood their responsibilities and authorities with

respect to maintaining plant safety and were aware of the applicable

licensee procedures.

Based on review of the licensee's resumes for

the individuals interviewed or direct questioning of the individuals,

the inspector found that the individuals interviewed were qualified

to perform their assigned tasks.

The inspector reviewed audits performed by the liceasee of activities

involving the offsite support staff.

The review dacluded Audit tio.

0-190 and 0-244 dealing with Material Control, ard Audit flo. 0-256

dealing with Design Control. Audit flo. 0-190 (J >ne 15 and 22,

1978) concluded that there were a significant number of instances

where the QA class of components were either improperly specified

or undefined on control documentation.

Internal correspondence

attached to this audit indicated that the licensee had made an

effort to correct these conditions and Audit flo. 0-244 (May 15-16,

1979) concluded that improvement had been made.

Despite this

improvement, Audit flo. 0-256 (August 27-September 14, 1979) con-

cluded that problems remained with regard to obtaining proper

designation of QA class on control documents.

The inspector

informed the licensee that it appeared problems remain in this

area because of the problem (unresolved item described in Para-

graph 3) of clearly specifying the QA classification of components.

fio items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.

6.

Followup on IE Bulletins and Circulars

The inspector discussed the licensee's status with respect to

outstanding IE Bulletins and Circulars.

Significant conclusions or

items of information are summarized below,

a.

IE Bulletin 79-11 (Closed)

The licensee's letter of June 20, 1979 states that circuit

breakers of the type discussed in this bulletin are not

employed in safety-related systems at Rancho Seco.

Accordingly,

this completes the licensee's action on this bulletin.

b.

IE Bulletin 79-15 (Closed)

The licensee's letter of August 30, 1979 states that Rancho Seco

does not have any pumps similar to those described in Bulletin 79-15 in any safety-related system.

Therefore, this completes

the licensee's action on this bulletin.

c.

IE Bulletin 79-21 (Closed)

The licensee's response of September 14, 1979 states that no

reactor protection or safety feature system actions are

initiated by level instrumentation, and therefore, the error

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induced by the increase in the reference leg temperature need

only be considered for post-accident monitoring.

With respect

to revision of procedures to account for this error, the

licensee's letter stated that they did not feel that revisions

to procedures were required, however plant operators would be

informed of the possible level indication errors.

During this

inspection, the inspector questioned the licensee as to why pro-

cedures had not been modified to assist the operators in

assessing the magnitude of the error in level indicati?n.

The

licensee's representative responded that the maximum tempgrature

in the containment predicted by accident analyses was 286

F,

and based on this temperature, the maximum error in level

indications would be less than 8%.

Because of this small

error and the fact that no level signals are used as inputs to

the reactor protection or other safety systems, the licensee

reiterated his belief that operator awareness of potential

level errors was an adequate response to this concern.

Based

on these considerations, this item is considered to be closed.

d.

IE Circulars 79-02 and 79-04 (Closed)

Based on discussions with the licensee, the inspector verified

that Circulars 79-02 and 79-04 had been received by the licensee.

It was also determined that the licensee considered these

circulars applicable to Rancho Seco and had implemented appro-

priate corrective action. Accordingly, this completes the

licensee's actions on these circulars.

No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.

7.

Unresolved Item

Unresolved items are matters about which more information is re-

quired in order to ascertain whether they are acceptable items,

items of noncompliance, or deviations.

An unresolved item dis-

closed during the inspection is discussed in Paragraph 3.

8.

Exit Interview

The inspector met with licensee representatives (denoted in Para-

graph 1) at the conclusion of the inspection on October 5,1979.

The inspector summarized the scope and findings of the inspection.

The licensee representative acknowledged the statement of the

inspector with respect to the item of noncompliance (Paragraph 4),

and stated that they would be looking at possible revisions of the

QA program with respect to the QA classification of components.

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