ML20005D705
| ML20005D705 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Pilgrim |
| Issue date: | 12/07/1989 |
| From: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Glenn J SENATE |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20005D706 | List: |
| References | |
| CCS, NUDOCS 8912140272 | |
| Download: ML20005D705 (4) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES E'
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-The Honorable John Glenn Uniteo States Senate Washington, D.C.
20510
Dear Senator Glenn:
This 're'sponds to-your letter of October 20, 1989, which forwarded a copy of a letter from Mr. Thomas A. Vetra to the Boston Edison Company regarding the Reactor Building inner and outer access doors at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The NRC also received a copy of Mr. -Yetra's letter, and has discussed related issues with him several times over the past two years. His concerns fall into three broao areas:
1.
Occupational safety issues related to personnel egress, 2.
- Breaches of secondary containment due to simultaneous opening of tk inner and outer doors and 3.
Repetitive problems and poor maintenance of the doors.
The enclosed discussion with attached inspection reports and correspondence
' describes the NRC actions taken in areas related to Mr. Vetra's concerns re-garding the reactor building doors and provides information which should be-helpful in addressing the concerns raised in his letter.
Sincerely,
/
7 J mes M. Ta or xecutive Director for Operations r
Enclosure:
As Stated DFot I
s 8912140272 891207 PDR ADOCK 05000293 H
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' J._. Taylor, EDO.-
3 W Russell; RI-T. Martin, RI W. Kane, RI-
-J. Johnson, RI A. Blough, RI U. Kolonauski,-RI C. Marschall, RI Pilgrim Resident Difice
'Public Document Room Local:Public Document Room CommonwealthofMassachusetts(2)
Docket No. 50-293 E00 Reading Fi_le EDO Control No.- 0004855 J. Scinto 0GC R._.Wessman, NRR i
D. Mcdonald, NRR CRC No. 89-1160
'CA J. Macdonald, SRI - Pilgrim 1
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y ENCLOSURE DISCUSSION OF REACTOR BUILDING 000R ISSUES 1.
Occupational Safety issues Related to Personnel Egress When Mr. Yetra discussed this matter with the NRC resident inspector in
-late Summer 1987, it was evaluated as a personnel safety issue rather than a nuclear or radiological safety issue. The inspector referred the metter to BEco, as the inspector had indicated to Mr. Vetrt. at the time. Also, af ter an NRC public meeting in Duxbury, Massachusetts in early Fall 1987, an NRC Region I manager discussed with Mr. Vetra his option to refer the matter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
2.
. Breaches of Secondary Containment Due to Simultaneous Opening of the Inner 6nd Outer Doors The secondary containment acts as an additional barrier, around the pri-mary containment, to limit radioactive releases in the event of an acci-dent. The Reactor Building doors form part of the secondary containment barrier.
If both doors remained open during an accident, an increase in radioactive releases could occur. However, momentary opening of both dours during routine plant conditions is of minor safety significance due to the low probability that they would remain open during a plant event.
This is particularly true when (1) the doors are not obstructed from closure, and (2) personnel are present to ensure proper closure. Station-ing individuals to monitor the doors is an acceptable (albeit costly, as Mr. Vetra indicates) compensatory measure for failure of the mechanical interlock that prevents simultaneous opening of the doors.
(It should be noted that the NRC staff has also approved a different secondary contain-ment door design that uses only cautionary lights and an alarm rather than the mechanical interlocks.
In this design, momentary inadvertent simul-taneous opening of both doors is a more common occurrence.)
When both doors are opened, the containment is technically inoperable.
Should the condition persist, license conditions would require that the plant be placed in a cold shutdown condition within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />. Thus far, each tine the doors were simultaneously opened, they were shut within a few seconds. This action restored the secondary containment barrier, thereby satisfying the license conditions.
NRC has followed up on these events to ensure that the licensee was re-sponding properly. Results of NRC review are documented in routine in-spection reports, which are publicly available.
Examples are provided in Paragraph 2.3.3 of NRC Region I Inspection Report 50-293/89-05 and in Paragraph 2.3.4 of NRC Region I Inspection Report 50-293/89-10. These reports are enclosed as Attachments I and II, respectively.
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Enclosure 2
3.
Repetitive Problems and Poor Maintenance of the Doors The licensee's maintenance program was weak prior to 1987, and substantial work order backlogs existed.
Improvements and progress were made during 1987 and 1988, with the most notable improvements occurring in mid-1988.
Overall. the work order backlog is now under control and the licensee typically assigns the appropriate priority to maintenance items.
The Reactor Building doors'-failure rate must be viewed in light of the fact that they are heavily used and are. located in a very heavily travelled area of the plant. At many other nuclear plants, corresponding doors suf-fer somewhat similar and frequent problems. Nonetheless, in Paragraph 2.3.3 of Report 89-05 (previously referenced), our inspectors reviewed the door failure history and determined that additional licensee evaluation of the failure rate and the root cases was warranted.
(A courtesy copy of
.the report was sent to Mr. Vetra.
See Attachment III). The licensee con-cluded that the doors should be replaced and has recently done so.
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UNITED STATES
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KING OF PRUSSIA. PENNSYLVANIA 16406 i
A JUN 091989
' Docket No. 50-293 L
Boston Edison Company ATTN: Mr. Ralph G. Bird Senior Vice President-Nuclear RFD'#I Rocky Hill Road
-Plymouth, Massachusetts 02360 Gentlemen:
Subject:
NRC Region 1 Inspection Report No. 50-293/89-05 This refers.to the inspection conducted by the NRC Restart Staff on March 11 through April 10, 1989, at the Pilgrim Nuclear-Power Station, Plymouth,
' Massachusetts. Areas examined during this inspection are described in the NRC
- Region I Inspection Report which is enclosed with this-letter.
The Restart Staff, through selected around-the-clock shift inspections and.rou-itine program inspections, observed management controls, conduct of operations, and startup testing activities during the 5 to 25% power plateau of'the licen-see's Power Ascension Test Program. Based on these reviews conducted per the NRC inspection plan specifically developed to cover this period, the Restart L
Staff _ determined that licensee management provided ' active and effective over-
_ sight and was directly involved in assuring safe operation.
Results of the NRC Restart-Staff inspections and assessments are taken into consideration by the NRC Restart Assessment Panel during ongoing' licensee performance' reviews and deliberations at each Power Ascension Test Program approval point.
c Sincerely, f
ns, leputy Director Division of Reactor Projects
Enclosure:
NRC Region I Inspection Report No. 50-293/89-05
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IGNO OF PRUSSIA. PENNSYLVANLA te4ot Docket No. 50-293-gggg Boston' Edison Company-ATTN: Mr. Ralph G. Bird Senior Vice President-Nuclear Rocky Hill Road Plymouth, Massachusetts 02360 Gentlemen:
Subject:
NRC Region ! Inspection Report No. 50-293/89-10
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This refers to the inspection conducted by the NRC Restart Staff on August 22 through October 1,1989 at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, Plymouth.
Massachusetts. Areas examined during _this inspection are described in the NRC
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Region I' Inspection Report which is enclosed with this letter.
The _ Restart Staff, through selected around-the-clock shift inspections and routine program inspections, observed management controls, conduct of opera-tions.and startup testing activities of the licensee's Power Ascension Test Program.. Results of.the NRC Restart Staff inspections and assessments are taken into consideration by the NRC Restart Assessment Panel during ongoing licensee performance reviews and deliberations at each Power Ascension Test Program approval point.
Based on the results of this inspection, it appears that one of your activities related to locked high radiation area access control was not conducted in accordance with NRC requirements,-as set forth in the Notice of Violation, c
Appendix A, enclosed herein. This violation has been categorized by severity l-level in accordance with the revised NRC Enforcement Policy (10 CFR 2, Appendix E
C) published in the Federal Register Notice (Enforcement Policy 1988). You are L
required to respond to this letter and in preparing your response, you should follow-the instructions in Appendix A.
Also, lapses in strict procedural adherence continue to be noted by both your l
staff and the NRC Restart Staff. While the NRC Restart Staff and you have pre-viously identified a weakness in this area, increased management attention is warranted to improve performance in this area.
The response directed by this letter and the accompanying notice are not sub-ject to the clearance procedures of the Office of Management and Budget as re-quired by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, PL 96-511.
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-Your cooperation with us in this matter is appreciated, d
Sincerely, J
j William F. Kane, Director l
Division of Reactor Projects
Enclosures:
1.
Appendix A, Notice of Violation 2.
NRC Region I Inspection Report No. 50-293/89-10 w/ attachments i
cc w/encls K. Hightill, Vice President,_ Nuclear Operations and Station Director R. Anderson, Plant Manager l
J. Dietrich, Licensing Division Manager E. Robinson, Nuclear Information Manager R. Fairbanks, Nuclear Engineering Department Manager The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy The Honorable John F. Kerry The Honorable Edward J. Markey The Honorable Edward P. Kirby The Honorable Peter V. Forman The Honorable Nicholas J. Costello i
The Honorable Lawrence R. Alexander B. McIntyre, Chairman, Department of Public Utilities Chairman, Plymouth Board of Selectmen Chairman, Duxbury Board of Selectmen Plymouth Civil Defense Director l
P. Agnes, Assistant Secretary of Public Safety, Commonwealth of Massachusetts S. Pollard, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy Resources R. Shimshak, MASSPIRG Public Document Room (PDR)
Local Public Document Room (LPDR)
Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)
NRC Resident Inspector Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2) l l
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