ML19276G825

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IE Insp Rept 50-155/79-10 on 790506-10 & 0611-13.No Noncompliance Noted.Major Areas Inspected:Licensee Activities in Response to IE Bulletin 79-08
ML19276G825
Person / Time
Site: Big Rock Point File:Consumers Energy icon.png
Issue date: 06/25/1979
From: Boyd D, Ridgway K
NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:
Shared Package
ML19276G823 List:
References
50-155-79-10-01, 50-155-79-10-1, IEB-79-08, IEB-79-8, NUDOCS 7908280214
Download: ML19276G825 (7)


See also: IR 05000155/1979010

Text

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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT

.

REGION III

Report No. 50-155/79-10

Docket No. 50-155

License No. DPR-6

Licensee:

Consumers Power Company

212 West Michigan Avenue

Jackson, MI 49201

Facility Name:

Big Rock Point Nuclear Generating Plant

Inspection At:

Big Rock Point Site, Charlevoix, MI

Inspection Conducted: March 16 May 6-10 and June 11-13, 1979

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Inspector:

K. R. Ridgwa

6-26-79

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Approved By:

D. C. Boyd Acting Chief

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Reactor Projects Section 3

Inspection Summary

Management meeting on March 16, 1979 (Report No. 50-155/79-10)

Areas Discussed: Annual review meeting for discussion of licensee

regulatory performance, areas of NRC concern, and current topies of

interest to the licensee. The management meeting was attended by six NRC

personnel and required three hours.

Inspection on May 6-10 and June 11-13, 1979 (Report No. 50-155/79-10)

Areas Inspected: Special, unannounced inspection of licensee activities

in response to IE Bulletin 79-08 including their response to the bulletin

and the operability and availability of engineered safety features (ESF),

administrative control of ESF, verification of ESF status, operating

procedures, surveillance tests an operator training. The inspection

involved 58 inspector-hours onsite by one NRC inspector.

Results:

No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified in any

of the areas inspected.

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DETAILS

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1.

Persons Contacted

a.

Management Meeting, March 16, 1979 (Paragraph 2)

J. D. Selby, President, Consumers Power Company

R. C. Youngdahl, Executive Vice President

C. R. Bilby, Vice President, Production and Transmission

R. B. DeWitt, Manager of Nuclear Plant Operations

J. G. Lewis, Plant Superintendent, Palisades Nuclear Plant

C. J. Hartman, Plant Superintendent, Big Rock Point

Nuclear Plant

D. P. Hoffman, Assistant Nuclear Licensing Administrator

b.

Plant Operations Inspection, May 6-10 and June 11-13, 1979

(Paragraphs 3 throuFh 6)

  • C. J. Hartman, Plant Superintendent
    • D. E. DeMoor, Technical Engineer

R. F. Schrader, Technical Superintendent

    • J. A. Rang, Operations-Maintenance Superintendent
    • A. C. Sevent., Operations Supervisor

J. J. Popa, Maintenance Engineer

C. F. Sonncnberg, Shif t Supervisor

T. K. Pence, Shift Supervisor

F. J. Valade, Shift Supervisor

W. F. Blisset, Shift Supervisor

R. G. May, Shift Supervisor

E. F. Peltier, Shif t Supervisor

D. P. Blanchard, Reactor Engineer

    • J. R. Fisher, QA Engineer
      • J. F. Weed, QA Engineer
  • R. W. Doan, Training Coordinator

J. A. Johnson, I&C Supervisor

D. Herboldsheimer, Maintenance Scheduler

  • K. M. Brun, Senior Secretary

T. M. Brun, Supervisor, Radiation Protection

L. Oostermeyer, Senior Secretary

J. C. Alger, Control Operator

P. M. Donnelly, Control Operator

D. G. Lacroix, Control Operator

C. A. Dougherty, Control Operator

The inspectors contacted several other licensee employees,

including members of the technical, operations, and adminis-

trative grour.s.

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  • Denotes those attending the management interview on May 10,

1979.

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    • Denotes those attending the management exit interview on

May 10 and June 13, 1979.

      • Denotes those attending the management exit interview on

June 13, 1979.

2.

Annual Corporate Management Meeting

A meeting between members of licensee management (as noted in

Paragraph 1.a) and members of management at the NRC Region III

Office of Inspection and Enforcement was conducted on March 16,

1979, at the licensee's corporate office. The following topics were

discussed.

Enforcement - The licensee representatives were informed of the

a.

enforcement findings associated with the Big Rock Point Plant

during 1978.

Comparative statistics were also provided for

1976 and 1977.

b.

Licensee Event Reports - The licensee representatives were

provided with statistics relating to reported events, both on

an historical basis for Big Rock Point and on a comparative

basis between Big Rock Point and other operating facilities in

NRC Region III.

Management Controls - The licensee representatives were informed

c.

of areas of NRC Region III concern based on 1978 performance.

Specifically discussed were: The lack of control on some

aspects of the core spray ring project and some management

decisions during the plant startup in September 1978.

d.

IE Program Activities - The current and expected future IE

inspection program as it may impact on licensees was discussed.

Licensee personnel ind.

ed their objectives for improved plant

operations, reduced ent

ement, and reduction of personnel related

problems.

3.

General

This inspection was conducted to review the response by the licensee

to Inspection and Enforcement Bulletin 79-08 " Event Relevant to

Boiling Water Power Reactors Identified During Three Mile Island

Incident" and to verify that the actions requested in the bulletin

with respect to operator training, NRC telecommunications, and

reviews of engineered safety features (ESP) had been completed.

In

addition, the inspection consisted of an independent examination of

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ESF systems to verify that the systems were operable according to

technical specifications by review of procedures, administrative

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controls, valve / breaker / switch checkoff lists and piping and instrument

diagrams.

The following systems were considered to be Engineered Safety Systems

in this inspection:

Post Incident System (Core Spray and Redundant Core Spray)

Emergency Condenser System

Reactor Poison System

Emergency Diesel Generators

Containment and Containment Sprays

Reactor Depressurization System

The reactor protection actuation circuitry was also reviewed briefly

as were portions of the nuclear steam system.

4.

Engineered Safety Features (ESF) Availability and Operability

The inspection included a review of ESF alignment procedures against

current piping and instrument diagrams to verify that the procedural

alignments do not compromise the availability or operability of

safety related components. Normal startup procedures from both cold

and hot shutdown conditions require the completion of valve checklists

before the startup can progress. This inspection also included a

review of any surveillance, special, and maintenance procedures to

establish that valves, breakers and/or switches in the ESF systems

are returned to pretest conditions or that normal prestartup check

sheet verification would be completed before the system operability

is required.

The licensee used alignment checklists following extended outages or

extensive maintenance work to assure proper lineup of valves and

valve switches. All breaker alignments can be verified by indicator

lights in the control room or by proper functioning of instruments

or equipment that are also carried on startup checklists.

In addition,

any open breakers or out of normal position valves and switches are

controlled by switching ,ad logging orders and workman's protective

tags or caution tag procedures which are under the control of the

Shift Supervisor. The checklists along with operating procedures,

surveillance test procedures, special procedures and maintenance

procedures were compared with piping and instrument line drawings to

verify correct positioning of valves and switches following tests

and during normal operations.

The review of system lineups ane:. test procedures did not identify

any instances of improper lineup control, such that the operability

or availability of ESF systems would be compromised.

A number of

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it: consistencies between procedures and piping and instrument digrams

and alignment checkoffs were noted.

A list of the inconsistencies

were provided to the licensee for his followup.

No items of noncompliance were identified.

5.

Administrative Control of Engineered Safety Features

Licensee administrative controls to assure proper return to service

of ESF systems and components following maintenance or test activities

and at the conclusion of extended outages are and have been subject

to continuing review by the NFC inspector. These areas were cursorily

reviewed during this inspection to determine if any changes had been

made th.,t might reduce the effectiveness of the Administrative

Procedure, A.4, General Operations Administrative Control, which

includes:

.. 4. 3

Key Control

A.4.6

Switching and Tagging Orders

A.4.6.1

Workmens Protective Tags

A.4.6.2

Caution Tags

A.4.7

Jumper, Link and Bypass Control

and Maintenance Department Administrative Procedures:

1.5.1

Maintenance Orders

1.5.11

Maintenance Suprevisors Review

1.5.12

Equipment Outage Request (EOR)

1.5.12.7

Returning Equipnent to Operable Status via

Use of the ECR

1.5.14

Notification ot Repair Completed

Based on this review, administrative controls are considered adequate

to assure proper return to service.

Discussions with licensee personnel concerning independent verification

of system lineups indicates that the lineup checks are made by

qualified operators (licensed or unlicensed); the lineups and test

data sheets are not reverified, but the sheets are approved by the

Shift Supervisor and reviewed by the Operations Supervisor to verify

completeness and accuracy of data.

Licensee tagging practice and procedures to provide control of

equipment, was reviewed during this insepetion.

The purpose of the

review was to determine the potential for tags to obscure position

indicators, meters or alarm lights.

It was noted that tags were

either bent or held in place by rubber bands so that significant

indicators would not be obscured.

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The inspector also reviewed the recent surveillance tests of ESF

systems to verify completeness and conformance to Technical

Specifications.

No items of noncompliance were identified.

6.

Current Status of Engineered Safety Features

Since the reactor will be shutdown until about September 1979, and

the fuel has been unloaded, it was decided that the independent

review of valve, breaker and switch alignments by the NRC inspector

would better be made just before startup follcwing this outage.

This will be cerried as an open inspection item.

7.

Staff Training

The inspector reviewed the training actions taken by the licensee in

response to IE Bulletin 79-08 and attended the first formal training

session concerning TMI conducted on May 9, 1979.

The licensee is

conducting this training in conjunction with operator retraining

sessions and will be concluded before the reactor is restarted. The

training covered the only procedural char.ge made as a result of the

licensee's review of the bulletin which concerned the manual isolation

of containment following an automatic isolation.

Manual isolation

is required to prevent the automatice reopening of containment if

and when the automatic trip clears.

Completion of the training is considered an open inspection item and

will be reviewed during a subsequent inspection.

No items of noncompliance were identified.

8.

Operations Review

The inspector observed plant outage conditions which included the

removal of the new and old diffusers, control room manning, lock and

tag status of equipment and shift turn overs. Additionally, the

following records for the month of April 1979 were reviewed to

determine compliance with Technical Specifications and regulations

and to determine if Daily Orders and Operational Memos conflicted in

any way with operational requirements:

a.

Shift Supervisors Log, No. 101

b.

Reactor Log, No. 114

c.

Control Room Log, No. 210

d.

Daily Orders, No. 15

e.

Control Room Log Sheets

f.

Operations Memos

No items of noncompliance were identified.

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9.

Plant Status

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In late April, as the plant was being restarted following refueling,

a small primary water leak at the F-2 Control Rod Thimble - Pressure

Vessel wall was discovered.

In addition, a vibration was noted in

the internal bottom vessel when the No. 1 Recirculation Pump was

operation. The fuel and other vessel internals had been removed

down to the lower core support plate.

By pressurizing the F-2

thiable vessel wall shrink fit junction with nitrogen, bubbles of

gas could be observed, via TV, coming out of the F-2 stub tube to

vessel wall weld inside the vessel.

Possible corrective measures

are still being evaluated. The skirt diffuser was removed and the

No. 1 Recirculation Inlet Diffuser was found to have come loore from

the vessel wall causing the vibrational noises.

Corrective measures

are being evaluated by the licensee and their contractor.

10.

Management Interviews

Management interviews (as shown in Paragraph 1) were conducted on

May 10, 1979, and at the conclusion of the inspection on June 13,

1979. The inspector discussed the scope and findings of the inspection.

The following items were discussed:

The inspector adivsed the licensee that the independent review

a.

of the ESF systems procedures and administrative controls had

not identified any condition that would jeopardize ESF availa-

bility or operability.

b.

Notes made by tne inspector relating to inconsistencies and

apparent inaccuracies in procedures, piping and instrument

diagrams and lineup checksheets were provided to the licensee.

The inspector stated that the resolution of the list would be

reviewed during a subsequent inspection.

The inspector stated that verification of certain valve, breaker and

switches of ESF systems would be made prior to plant startup.

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