ML19262C103

Forwards Util Response to Rogovin Rept Recommending Addl NRC Review Before Issuance of Ol.Lists Training Procedures & Background Qualifications.Emergency Procedures Reviewed by Competent Personnel.Ongoing Program to Enhance Info Sys

ML19262C103
Person / Time
Site:	Sequoyah
Issue date:	01/25/1980
From:	Mills L TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
To:	Rubenstein L Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NUDOCS 8001280306
Download: ML19262C103 (7)

Text

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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY CH ATTANOOGA. TENNESSEE 374o1 400 Chestnut Street Tower II January 25, 1980 Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Attention: Mr. L. S. Rubenstein, Acting Chief Light Water Reactors Branch No. 4 Division of Project Management U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555

Dear Mr. Rubenstein:

In the Matter of the Application of ) Docket Nos. 50-327 Tennessee Valley Authority ) 50-328 Enclosed are forty copies of TVA's initial response to the Rogovin report recommendations for additional review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before issuance of an Operating License.

Very truly yours, TENNESSEE VALLEY AUT110RITY l b ( l',

,. Mills, Mana r Nuclear Regulation and Safety Enclosure e

1816 004 An Equal Opportunity Employer

ROCOVIN REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NRC REVIEW OF OPERATIONAL READINESS

1. The management and technical qualifications of its site crews and site management and their familiarity with the new plant.

Response

The educational background and previous experience of all key management and technical personnel are described in chapter 13 of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Final Safety Analysis Report. The majority of managers and engineers at Sequoyah have been at the site for a number of years and have closely followed or participated in preoperational and hot functional testing. A more detailed resume' for each individual is available at the plant for NRC review during the upcoming management review audit on

, January 25, 26, and 27.

TVA has also committed to providing degreed engineers on shif t to act as the shift technical advisor. These engineers have undergone initial training and are available to begin these duties upon receipt of an operating license. TVA is presently developing an extensive training program for these individuals, including extended time with hands-on simulator work.

By Januarr 1,1981, all shif t technical advisors will have successfully completed this program.

TVA's nuclear plant operator training program requires thct before becoming eligible to take the NRC reactor operator examination, a candidate must have completed the 26-month student operator training program, which covers all aspects of nuclear power plant operation, and have served a minimum of 14 months as an assistant unit operator, which includes having successfully completed a highly technical and comprehensive 13-week program of study consisting of classroom 1cctures, plant unique simulator exercises, obser- ,

vation training, and plant walkthrough exercises. 181() 005

. Sequoyah operations personnel who are candidates for an NRC reactor operator or senior reactor open' license have completed this basic TVA training. In addition, those Sequoyah license candidates who have not been previously licensed at Browns Ferry have been at the Sequoyah site for a minimum of five years participating in procedure preparation and preoperational testing activities in conjunction with

• heir license training activities. Most of the Sequoyah cold license candidates have completed at least six different courses on the simulator in addition to the 8-week cold license training course. These additional training course have averaged about one week in duration and have involved cold license retraining, special refresher pr > grams, and special accident analysis training.

2. Emergency operator procedures which should be examined thoroughly to identify whether they may be conflicting or could in some other fashion mislead the operators.

Response

Sequoyah emergency operating procedures have always been available for review by the NRC and have, in fact, been reviewed by I&E. TVA's program for review of these procedures is intended to ensure that the procedures are reviewed by those most competent to perform the review. For example, TVA's procedures are reviewed by the operating personnel who must use the procedures, are tested on TVA's plant unique simulators, and are reviewed by TVA's design organization to ensure that systems and equipment are operated in accordance with the designer's intent. Additionally, Westinghouse, the Sequoyah NSSS vendor, is also presently reviewing these procedures to further ensure their adequacy.

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3. The control room should be examined to identify outstanding human factors, deficiencies, and instrumentation problems.

Response

The arrangement of the SQN control room (as in other TVA plants) was developed considering input from TVA's plant operating organization and therefore included significant practical input in regard to human factors.

During the detailed design of the plant, additional improvements have been made in the facility particularly in regard to providing additional operator information in the form of CRT displays and computer driven typewriters.

TVA has an ongoing program to further enhance these infornation systems.

The TVA simulator control room is a near duplicate of the SQN facility. The extensive operator training carried on at the facility has demonstrated that the control room arrangement is operable. Thus, TVA feels that the present arrangement is adequate in regard to nuclear safety. Inhotse studies of the arrangement based upon experience of the operators at the facility and others involved with preoperational testing indicated that there are some areas where the control panel arrangements could be improved. TVA has initiated design changes to make these minor improvements. In TVA's response on SQN to the Kemeny Report entitled, "TVA Nuclear Program Review: Sequoyah Nuclear Plant and the Report of the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island," TVA addressed steps we intend to take to improve design including a continued operability review. TVA agreed to address the guidelines and criteria when established by NRC and to make backfits if the review indicated significant improvements in safety can be achieved.

TVA has been pursuing advanced control room designs on subsequent plants.

The experience gained from this effort has been and will continue to be useful on SQN studies. l l

4. The training program for the new operators.

Response

Within TVA, all candidates for nuclear plant licensed operator positions, regardless of prior education and work experienc:, must successfully complete a comprehensive operator training program. This program requires the individual to satisfactorily complete a minimum of 40 months of formal and on-the-job training before becoming eligible for operator positions requiring an NRC license. This consists of a 26-month student operator training program, which covers all aspects of nuclear power plant operation, and then serving a minimum of 14 months as an assistant unit operator, which includes a highly technical and comprehensive 13-week program of study consisting of classroom lectures, plant unique simulator exercises, observation training, and plant walkthrough exercises.

As part of this training, personnel must successfully pass a minimum of 12 examinations before progressing to the level requiring an NRC license.

Each candidate is closely supervised and evaluated. Each candidate's progress is completely documented and this documentation is availatie for revi'ew at any time. Additionally, the on-the-job portion of the training program and the time-in-grade requirements for the assistant unit operator position provide several years in which the on-shif t performance of personnel in these classifications can be evaluated to provide further assurance of suitability before progressing to licensed operator positions.

When selecting candidates for this nuclear operator training program, only those scoring in the top one-third on the General Aptitude Test Battery are selected for further consideration. The selected candidat'es are then screened as follows: they must have a suitable educatio,nal background, ,,

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-S-indicate a high aptitude for power plant operation, pass additional intelligence testing, an-: must successfully clear a thorough physical, physiological, and personal security examination prior to permanent acceptance into the operator training program.

The majority of this training is done at TVA's own Power Operations Training Center, an institution for those employees who operate and supervise the shif t operations of its nuclear power plants. The TVA Power Operations Training Center is an NRC-approved training facility utilizing the most modern equipment and methods availabic, and the center maintains what TVA believes to be the industry's highest standards in the initial training and retraining of all the TVA nucicar plant operators and operations supervisory personnel. This center is presently headed by a highly qualified individual with both operating and university experience.

All operator instructors at the training center are highly qualified persons who are either qualified licensed operators or college faculty members, except for health physics technicians providing unique training in that area.

Training at TVA does not end when an operator receives a license. TVA's requalification program requires that each license holder, including the operation supervisors, attend three weeks of training each year which consists of classroom lectures and simulator exercises conducted on a plant specific simulator. TVA presently has plant specific simulaters for the Browns Ferry and Sequoyah/ Watts Bar Nuclear Plants and has committed to provide plant specific simulators for any future nucicar plants. Each reactor and senior reactor operator's training evaluations are fully documented and are availabic for review at any time. TVA provides weekly operator upgrade training based on plant and applicable experiences. This- -

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training includes a review of reportable occurrences from both within and outside of TVA, vendor information letters, procedure changes, and plant modifications. Training which requires the use of simulators is conducted during the annual retraining at the Power Operations Training Center.

During the simulator exercises, emphasis is placed on diagnosing and controlling transients, including multiple failures, on the specific plant on which the operators have a license. As more complex transients are identified which are not presently modeled on the simulator, TVA vill include tuis information in the training program and associated sioulator exercises.

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