ML20055E504

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Transcript of 900627 Periodic Briefing in Rockville,Md Re Operating Reactors & Fuel Facilities.Pp 1-40.Supporting Documentation Encl
ML20055E504
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Issue date: 06/27/1990
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NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
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REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 9007120054
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{{#Wiki_filter:... i i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMIS SION i Ii'. PERIODIC BRIEFING ON OPERATING REACTORS AND FUEL FACILITIES i LOCitionl ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND DikO*. JUNE 27, 1990 230$$l 40 PAGES 1 NEALR.GROSSANDC0.,INC. COUR1 REPORTERS AND TRANSCB19ERS 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, Northwest Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 ( x,o m :m:o c. =~ +. a Op

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t 5~ DISCLAIMER This is an unofficial transcript of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission held on June 27. 1990 in the Commission's office at One White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting was L open to public attendance and observation. This transcript has not been reviewed, corrected or edited, and it may contain inaccuracies. ~ The transcript is intended solely for general informational purposes. As provided by 10 CFR 9.103, it is not part of the formal or informal record of decision of, the matters discussed. Expressions of opir. ion in this transcript do not necessarily reflect final determination or beliefs. No pleading or other paper may be. filed with the Commission in any proceeding as the result of, or i addressed to, any statement or argument contained herein, i except as the Commission may authorize. e e g e NEAL R. GROSS CoUtf 999 ORT 988 AND TRANSCRattl 1813 RMoD8 tlLAND AV9Mut, N.W. J (702) 734 4433 W ASHIN eto N D.C, 2e00$ (202) 232-6600

1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR. REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 e e. 4 PERIODIC BRIEFING ON OPERATING REACTORS 5 AND FUEL ~ FACILITIES 6 7 PUBLIC MEETING g 9 Nuclear Regulatory Commission j 10 One White Flint North l 11 Rockville, Maryland .12 13 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1990 14 15' The Commission met in open session, pursuant to 16

notice, at 9:00 a.m.,

the Honorable KENNETH'M. CARR, 17 Chairman of the Commission, presiding. 18 19 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: 20 KENNETH M. CARR, Chairt.ian of the Commission 21 THOMAS M. ROBERTS, Member of the Commission l i 22 KENNETH C. ROGERS, Member'of the Commission 23 JAMES R. CURTISS, Member of the commission 24 l t 25 NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1T3 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. (n)m WASHINGTON, D C. 20006 (g; gg

g. 2 1 STAFF AND PRESENTERS SEATED AT THE COMMISSION TABLE: 2 JAMES TAYLOR, Deputy Executive Director, Operations 3 ROBERT BERNERO, Director, Office of NMSS 4 FRANK MIRAGLIA, Deputy Director, Office of NRR c_- 5 THOMAS MARTIN, Region I 6 STEWART EBNETER, Region II 7 A. BEP.T DAVIS, Region III 8 ROB'ERT MARTIN, Region IV ~ 9 JOHN MARTIN, Region V 10 DENNIS CRUTCHFIELD, Former Director, Office of 11 Special Programs 7 s 13 14 15 16 17 18 = 19 = 20 21 22 s 23 6 24 C 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. O C. RV06 - N)2326

O 3 1 EEEEEEElHER 2 (9:00 a.m.) 3 CHAIRMAN CARR: Good morning, ladies and 4 gentlemen. Commissioner Remick will not be with us this 5 morning 6 7 say, the NRC staff will brief the Commission 7 on the 6-atus of operating reactors, field facilities, and 6 other naterials licensees. This is a periodic briefing. 9 The Commission was last briefed on this subject 10 on February the 15th of 1990 NRC Senior Managers meet 11 approximate 13-twice a year, to review the performance of 7 12 the various licensees and to determine which, if any, 13 continue to warrant increased NRC attention. Today, the 14 staff will discuss the results of this review, which was 15 conducted at the June Senior Management meeting. 16 I welcome each of our Regional Administrators 17 who are here today. I understand that copies of the 18 briefing slides are available at the entrance to the 19 meeting room. Do any of my fellow Commissioners have 20 opening remarks? 21 (No response.) i 22 If not, Mr. Taylor, please proceed. 23 HR. TAYLOR: Good morning. With me at the table 24 are the five Regional Administrators. Frank Mirag3ia, i 25 Deputy Director of the Office of NRR, and Bob Bernero, the NEAL R. GROSS court REPORTERS AND TRAN50RIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. (202) M WASHINGTON.DC 20006 (202) 232 4 000-i

4 1 Director of NMSS, Denny Crutchfield, former Director of 2 the Office of Special Projects, is also at the table. 3 This was our ninth meeting which'wr. seld earlier 4 this month up at King of Prussia in Region I and, as the 5 Chairman noted, this meeting is dedicated to talking 6 nuclear safety performance at operating reactors and 7 materials licensees, and we started these meetings with a 8 special focus on nuclear safety, after the Davis-Besse 9 event in 1985. 10 Briefly, I'll mention that no new power reactors 11 were added to the list'of problem facilities, as a result 12 of this meeting. We attribute this to th' strong 13 corrective action by licensees, and the improved 14 performance that we see generally. We regard this as a 15 very valuable and important tool to NRC, in overseeing its 16 safety activities. 17 We did identify in this meeting, four good 18 performing plants and two what we call worthy of honorable l 19 mention plants. I might pause and tell the Commission 20 that we are in the process of preparing a recommendation, 21 or series of recommendations. to the Commission, on means 22 of more formally recognizing these plants that have done a 23 good job, and we expect to get that to the Commission 24 shortly. We are working on it. j 25 With that brief overview and to provide to NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. ' (202) N WASHtNGToN. D C. 20006 (202) 232 4000 8

5 1 lead into' the datails of the meeting, I'll start with 2 Frank Mirao11a, with the reactors. 3 MR. MIRAGLIA: Thank you, Jim. Good morning, 4 Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. 5 CHAIRMAN CARR: Good morning. 6 MR. MIRAGLIA: I would just'like to briefly 7 summarize the results of our June 12th-13th meeting in B Region I. As indicated, we met to discuss the operational j L 9 safety performance of the reactors licensed by the NRC. 10 At that meeting, 14 facilities were discussed. 11 Preparation f or - the Senior Management meeting 12 begins early in the process, with a series of meetings 13 between the Director of NRR and each of the Regional (~ 14 Administrators and key headquarters staff, to discuss the I 15 performance of the facilities in each of the regions and 16 identify facilities to be considered within the agenda of 17 the Senior Man age.nent meeting. As a result of that 1 18 screening, the agenda is establis;ied. 19 May I have slide one. please? (Slide) i 20 As a result of the discussions this month, Surry 21 1 and 2 have been placed in Category 1. These are plants 22 removed from the Problem Plant List, We believe that.the 23 utility has taken effective action to address the problem 24 areas that have been identified, and warrants no special ( 25 attention beyond those normally given within the context i i NEAL R. GROSS I COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. 902) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D C 20006 002) 232M

6 1 of the inspection program. 2 After my summary, each Regional Administrator 3 will provide a little bit more discussion of the rationale 4 and the progress on each of these facilities. ~ 5 May I have the next slide, please? (Slide) c L 6 Four plants remain in Category 2 -- Nine Mile = 7 Point 1 which was subject of a Commission brief in May, 8 and Calvert Cliffs I and 2. Weaknesses exist within their di 9 programs. They have identified' corrective action 10 programs. They will stay in Category 2 until there is 11 demonstrated performance, before we would consider removal' 12 from this category. 13 CHAIRMAN CARR: Is Nine Mile Point 2 an error on 14 the slide, or is it also -- 15 MR. MIRAGLIA: Nine Mile 1 and 2 are within -- 16 CHAIRMAN CARR: One and 2 -- 1 and 2. 17 MR. MIRAGLIA: -- yes, within the context of the = 18 Category 2 plants, sir. 19 May I have the next slide, please? (Slide) 20 Browns Ferry remains a Category 3 plant. The 21 TVA has a number have had a number of _. plants within 22 this category. They are making progress on Browns Ferry 1 23 and 2. We think that they have programs in place. 24 Restart is projected for fall of this year, and we will 25 hear more details from Mr. Crutchfield. NEAL R. GROSS 7 CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234-4433 ' WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 232 6

7 1 Before I turn to each of the Regional 2 Administrators and Mr. Crutchfield, as'Mr. Taylor 3 indicated, there was discussion, within the context of the 4 Senior Management meeting, to identify a list of good 5 performers, plants with sustained performance. 'As a 6 result of that discussion, f our plants were identified-- 7 Yankee Rowe,

Kewaunee, Prairie Island 1 and 2,

and 8 Calloway. These plants-have management who are actively 9 involved in the day-to-day activities at their facilities, T 10 and have achieved sustained good performance. The NRC is 11 publicly acknowledging that good performance, and will 12

reduce, and has reduced, inspection activities at the 13 facilitiesas a result of that good performance.

+ 14 In addition, two other facilities, just below 15 the four that we just mentioned, worthy of honorable 16 mention, were noted for good performance, and those plants 17 were Grand Gulf and St. Lucie 1 and 2. l i 18 I'd like now to turn the meeting -- 19 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Before you-just leave that 20 21 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: I don't want to quibble, 23 but it's really five plants because it's Prairie Island 1 L-l 24 and 2, and it's conceivable that 1 -- f 25 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes. I NEAL R. GROSS j CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS I 1323 RHoOE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. (202) rMg WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 2324 000

p 8 1 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: -- might be different from 2 2, and I think it's worthwhile noting that. 3 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: So that I'd change that to 5 five -- 6 MR. MIRAGLIA: Well, four facilities on five 7 plants. 8 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Four licensees, but it's 9 five plants. 10 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes, sir. 11 I'd like to turn to Stew Ebneter, to talk about 12 the Category 1 plants, Surry 1 and 2. 13 MR. EBNETER: On Surry, we decided to move frort 14 Category 2 to Category 1. Surry was first discussed at 15 the December, 1988 Senior Management meeting, as a result 16 of several events and a higher than normal number of' 17 enforcement actions. Subsequent equipment failures and 18 operational difficulties demonstrated weaknesses ~ in the 19 management and operations of the Surry station, and the 20 plant was placed on the Problem List in May of 1989. 21 We discussed it at every meeting since December 22 and, in the January meeting, we felt that it needed more 23 observation, and we got that through this next period. 24 Virginia Power restructured its nuclear 25 operations and established a dedicated Nuclear Department NEAL R. GROSS ColRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 rho 0E ISLAND AVENUE., N W. (202) M 33 WASHINGTON, DC. 20006 (m) 232m n

4 9 1 under the direction of an-experienced nuclear Senior Vice J 2 President. They have replaced most of the Senior Managers 7. 3 at both the corporate and the station. Some of these have 4 been recruited from industry. t 5 The additional staff-they have added both at the 6 station and the corporate office. The ones most notable, 7 I think, are the Systems Engineers added to the station. 8 They have added additional crews to the Maintenance 9 Department, and they've recruited additional licensed 10 opera t c,r s. i 11 They've instituted a Procedures Upgrade Program 12 and a Design Basis Documentation ' Program, to establish a 13 new baseline-for the station. The material condition of 4 14 the station has improved substantially, due to system 15

upgrades, equipment replacements, and much improved-I 16 housekeeping, and major emphasis was also placed on 17 emergency preparedness.

18 The units were shut down for a considerable 19 period of time. They were restarted last July and 20 September at Units 1 and 2, respectively, and these' units 21 have been operating very well since then. 22 The operations are now conducted with fewer 23 personnel errors, more attention to detail, and ' greater l 24 adherence to procedures. The station has achieved black ( 25 board on a few occasions, and'it is generally performing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE N W. (202) N WASHINGTON. DA 20006 - (202) 232 6 y

10 l' well. We have had no major equipment failures, and there 2 have been no significant enforcement actions in the past 3 year. 4 The most recent SALP conducted at the station 5 noted that improvements have been made in all SALP 6 categories four of seven substantially improved, and 7 some improver.ents noted in the other three. 8 Most significantly, the SALP noted a turnaround 9 in the attitude, the safety attitudt, of the station 10

staff, and extensive management involvement and an 11 effective self-assessment program.

12 Significant improvements have been made, but 13 there are a-few areas that require additional improvement. 14 The most significant of these are the maintenance area and 15 procedures. Both are included in long-term corrective 16 actions, and both show an improving trend. 17 Considering the changes made, the operational 18 results and improving trends, it is no longer' felt that 19 Surry requires agencywide attention, and that the current 20 level of regional inspection is sufficient. 21 I should note that in the letter to Dr. Rhodes, 22 the CEO, we have cautioned that they need to pay attention 23 to the cyclical histuri of Surry, To the Senior Managers 24 of the NRC, the corporate history indicates cyclical 25 performance around an average level, a little bit above, NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W (202) N WASHINGTON. O C. 20006 ' (202) 232 6

i 11 .1 and then it goes down below, and we have cautioned them in 2 that letter to make sure their self-assessment program 3 addresses that cyclical nature. 1 4 I Beyond that, we will continue our three resident 5 inspector level of staffing, and we still have planned 6 almost monthly a team inspection at Surry, to follow up on 7 the long-term corrective actions. Are there any questions 8 on Surry? 9 (No response.) 10 I'll turn it over to Mr. Martin from Region I. 11 MR. THOMAS MARTIN: Thank you, Stew. 12 Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. 13 As,previously mentioned, we have four Category 2 14 facilities. First, with r(gard to Nine Mile Point 1 and 15 2, you know 1 has been. shut down since December of 1987, 16 and was placed or. the NRC's Problem List in June of 1988. 17 Unit 2 was added to the Problem List in December of that 18 ' year, i 19 A confirmatory'acticn letter was issued in July, 20 1988, documenting the licensee 's commitment not to restart l 21 prior to NRC approval. 22 Since our last per_ odic ' briefing of operating l 23 ' reactors, we provided the Commission a status briefing in l 24 May, on' the licensee's performance and t.he readiness of i 25 Unit 1 to restart. I'll try to minimize-repeating myself. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDC ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) N WASHWGioN D.C.20006 (202) 232-8000

12 1 Progress in making Unit 1 ready for restart has 2 been slow, as a result-of the conservative approach to l, 3 enturing system readiness and underestimating the time 4' needei to implement needed modifications, repairs, and 5 tests. 6 As a result of last July's Unit 2 7 requalification examination failures, several programmatic j 8 changes and extensive retraining have been implemented. A 9 recent NRC re-evaluation of their Unit 2 requalification 10 1,rogram demonstrated the effectiveness of these corrective 11 actions. 12 A recent Restart Assessment Team inspection i 13 determined that the licensee had made substantial progress 14 in resolving the five identified underlying root causes i 15 for the'past performance problems.- Particular success was l 16 noted in improving safety, teamwork,, communications, i 17 procedural quality, procedural compliance, control.of 18 activities, management oversight, problem identification, 19 and self-assessment. 20 The team concluded that the current level of j 21 performance supported permitting - restart. Recent 22 difficulties encountered during testing of 'the feedwater 23 high-pressure coolat.t injection system have raised l 24 concerns regarding procedural adequacy, control of l i 25 systems, and attention ;o detail. These problems are not NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REMTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234 4 433 WASHINGTON.DC 20005 - p02) 2326 I

1 13' 1 characteristic of recent performance, .a n d additional ) 2 licensee effort is being expended to understand and 3 resolve the root causes, to prevent recurrence. 4 The licensee use of a task force to address 5 these problems appears to have borne fruit, and they have i, now determined that the manufacturer, when he provided the 1 pumps in 1988, put the impeller on backwards on the shaft, r and that was causing a large number of the flow 9 oscillations. 10 Currently, Unit 2 is operating and Unit 1 is 11 preparing for restart. I anticipate receiving a' letter

  • 2 from the licensee this week affirming the plant and staff 13 readiness for operation, and requesting approval to i

14 res tar t. Following receipt of that request and our independent l l 15 assessment of facility readiness, we will document our 16 proposed response and consult with the Commission before 17 taking further action. 18 The anticipated restart of Unit 1 will place new 19 demands on the licensee in managing the operation of two 20 diverse plants, and the pending Senior. Management changes 21 represent a challenge to the continued progress and 22 performance improvements observed to-date. 23 For these reasons and 'because we have not. l 24 observed a sustained period of good performance at-power f 25 on two units, it was decided that continued i: lose NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202).m WASHtNGTON. D C. 20005 (202) raN

14' 1 monitoring by the NRC is warranted. 2 If there are no questions on Nine Mile Point, I 3 will go on to Calvert Cliffs. 4 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Just coming back to this 5 Nine Mile Point 1 feedwater high-pressure coolant 6 injection system problem, could you just say a little bit 7 more about not the design concerns, but the actual 8 procedure concerns. 9 I believe that one of the problems that they had l 10 there occurred while I was there on May 23rd. 11 MR. EBNETER: Yes, sir. I 12 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: And I was somewhat 13 concerned to hear about the nature of that, although I i 1 14 didn't get a full explanation of it because it occurred-- 15 I only heard about it at the end of the day, just shortly 16 before I was leaving. And I don't want to tie up the i 17 meeting with this, but it did strike me, from what I heard 18 about it, that it was an elementary error that was 19 committed there, that was of some real concern to me at 20 that stage of their getting ready f or-restart. And I 21 wonder if you could just, say a word about what. the 22 licensee did about procedures, craning, what have you, 23 because it sounded to me as if there was a failure to open-( 24 a discharge line valve of-some sort, that -- ( 25 MR. EBNETER: Understood. NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE,NW (202) N WASHINGTON. D C. 20006 - (202) 232-4000

15 1 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: -- that system ran for six 2 or eight seconds and shutdown, and that rec 11y troubled 3 me. 4 MR. EBNETER: As a result of that event, the 5 licensee established a task force to review what had 6 occurred, why it occurred, and what were the proper ways 7 to resolve it. 8 They have concluded that the sequence basically 9 was that on the night before there had been work on the 10 motor portion of the feedwater_ system -- and they have a 11 process called " blue tagging" where an individual who is 12 conducting tests, controls the boundaries around that 13 particular component and is able to cause the components i 14

o be operated, to be able to perform the test.

15 As a resulc of previous flow oscillations that 16 they had seen, the maintenance mechanical side also 17 wanted to do some work on the pump, and it was concluded 18 that they could work within these blue tags. Now, that's 19 a violation of procedure right there because this was j 20 another set of work, should have been another set of tags 21 -- should have been red tags, to be quite frank. 22 They started their work on the pump, and they 23 noticed that the pump rotated backwards. So, they felt, 24 well, maybe it was a suction valve that was. causing a i ( 25 gravity flow, to cause this thing to rotate. NEAL R. GROSS r court REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS u23 RHoOE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. (202)234 4433 WASHINGTON. D C. 20006 (202) 232-6000 I z

e 16 1 So, they then went back to the shift supervisor, 2 and the shift supervisor extended the blue tag and said.to 3

himself, "I'm going to notify the blue tag owner that I 4

did that", but he got caught up in other things and didn't 5 inform, so that the owner of the blue tags didn' t ' know 6 that another tag had been hung under his name, and he was 7 supposed to have control over it. 8 The next morning when they were ready to start 9 the test, they started the condensate pumps, the booster 10 pumps, and were ready to start the feedwater pump, and it 11 was noted that that there was an anomaly on the pressure 12 rise in the suction portion of the feedwater system. It 13 was noted at the local station and it~was also noted in 14 the control room, but it finally came up to pressure 15 showing that there is some leakage by that valve. The 16 shift supervisor, without resolving why that anomaly, gave 17 permission to go ahead and run the. test. 18 They have concluded that, one, the test should 19 not have been run without a special test procedure and 20 that result. They ~ have reaffirmed the ' requirements of i 21 their use of tags and how they are to be used, and that a 22 blue tag owner 's to personally ' verify that all the 23 components are in the position that he wanted them in for 24 the conduct of the test. He did not reconfirm that. He 25 thought it had been left in a certain way the night NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TMANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. (202) N WASHINGTON,DC 20006 (202) 232-0800 i

17 before,'and he did not reconfirm that. That information l 2 has been communicated throughout the organization. 3 In addition, because of-the series of problems 4 with flow oscillation, the task force said "That is not 5 enough", and they went and did borescopic.-- first, they { 6 disconnected the pump from the motor and ran the motor 7 without them, and the previous high amps was seen to not' 8 be there, so it was now something associated with the 9 pump. They did borescopic examination of the pump, and 10 that's when they discovered that it was in there 11 backwards. 12 It was their thoroughness in reviewing.the whole 13 sequence of events which led up to the event which 14 occurred while you were on-site, that allowed them to 15 identify those problems-. 16 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Thank you. 17 MR. EBNETER: Okay. Moving on to Calvert 18 Cliffs. Calvert Cliffs 1 and 2 was placed on the Problem 1 19 List as a Category 2 facility, in December, 1988. The 20 licensee established a long-term performance improvement 21 plan in April, '89 and both units were shut down in May, 22 due to leaks discovered in the Unit 2 pressurizer heater 23 sleeves. 24 A confirmatory action letter was issued to { 25 document the licensee's commitment not to restart either NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 rho 0E ISLAND AVENUE, N W-- (202) N WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232m

S8 1 unit until corrective action for the pressurizer heater o 2 sleeve cracks and problems with word control, control of 3 system status, and procedural quality and use had been 4 taken. 5 Supplement 1 to the confirmatory action letter 6 was issued in February, 1990 to document the licensee's 7 commitment to correct an inadequate commitment management 8 system. The implications of the licensee's past failure 9 to adequately address commitments-to the NRC were assessed i 10 during a March, 1990 inspection, and it was concluded that i 11 safety significant commitments were now being adequately 12 implemented. l 13 Since our last periodic briefing on operating 14 reactors, licensee performance has continued to improve, 15 with efforts focused on the short-term actions needed for 16 restart of Unit 1. Baltimore-Gas and Electric has made '17 good progress in communicating its expectations of staff 18 performance regarding procedural adherence, problem 19 identification and resolution, and self-assessment. 20 Longer-term activities under the Performance Improvement 21 Plan are proceeding, however, the procedure upgrade proc ram-22 portion of the plan has not been timely. 23 The overall results for inspections conducted 4 24 since the last briefing identified improvements in most 25 functional areas, with clear license 0 management emphasis' l NEAL R. GROSS z CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS I 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. (202) M WASHINGTON,DC 20006 (202) 232 4000

i 19 1 on safety and quality. 2 A February, 1990 Maintenance Team inspection 3 concluded that maintenance activities were satisfactory. I 4 and that a number of changes and improvements had been 5 made. The Requalification Training Program was. evaluated 6 as satisfactory in April, 1990. Also in April,. the 7 licensee resolved the material concerns on the Unit 1 8 pressurizer, and made sufficient improvement in the 9 control of work activities, control of system status, and 10 procedural use and control, to permit Unit i restart. 11 Supplement 2 to the confirmatory action letter 12 was issued in April to permit restart of Unit 1. The 13 resulting short power ascension program and shutdown for 14 required steam generator inspection outage demonstrated 15 good overall licensee performance. 16 Strengths were noted in control room operator 17 performance, line management control of evolutions, and 18 independent assessment of activities,

however, 19 difficulties were experienced in interdisciplinary 20 communications, safety tagging, and accuracy of non-safety 21 related drawings to support operations.

22 continued management attention and staf f effort 23 are warranted to resolve these difficulties, sustain 24 recent gains of performance, reduce the substantial I 25 maintenance. backlog, and complete implementation of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. 9 02)7)6 4433 WASHlNOTON, O C. 20006 g02) 232m

20 1 performance improvement program. 2 We continue to periodically meet with the 3 licensee to review progress on their Performance 4 Improvement Plan, and a meeting is scheduled tonight to 5 receive public comment on it. 6 The sustained success of licensee programmatic 7 changes to resolve past performance deficiencies remains 8 to be demonstrated. Therefore, continued close monitoring 9 of licensee performance by the Agency is warranted. 10 The licensee expects to be ready to restart Unit 11 1 in late July, and Unit 2 by December. Readiness for l 12 restart from the current outage, preparations for Unit 2 13 i restart, and the results of a longer-term Performance 14 Improvement Plan will continue to receive close j i 15 monitoring. 16 If you have no questions, I'll pass the baton to 17 Denny Crutchfield, i 18 MR. CRUTCHFIELD: Good morning. We'll talk 19 about Browns Ferry now. As you' recall, Browns Ferry has 20 been shut down since 1985. They've been discussed at the 21 Senior Management meetings sitice October of '86. 22 TVA continues to make. progress toward their 23 restart schedule. The' current restart schedule has them 4 24 reloading fuel about October, and restarting the plant, 25 being ready to pull rods in December. This is about a a NEAL R. GROSS i CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS j 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE N W. 9 02) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. O C. 20006 (202) 232-8000

21 1 six-month slip from the beginning of the year. 2 Overall, we found that their Corrective Action 3 i Programs that they have put in place are satisfactory. 4 The implementation is where they are having some 5 difficulties. Implementation and modification has been a 6 slow process for them. It seems to be _ the principal 7 causes for the deluys in scheduling the restart and reload 8 activities for example, hangers and support rework 9 activity. In response to I&E Bulletins 7902 and 7914, TVA l 10 originally estimated they would have about 6 percent of 11 these that they would have to rework. Currently, they are-12 running about 70 percent of them that are needing rework, 13 so it's causing some substantial delays in their l 14 scheduling activities. l 15 A cable damage issue that carried over from l 16 Watts Bar they've been asked to look into that and 17 examine that issue, and that is also having some impact on 18 them. 19 They continue to have management changes at both 20 TVA and at the Browns Ferry site,-however, we think those l 21 management changes are decreasing in number. They are 22 stabilizing their resources on-site, and we think they 23 have adequate resources to carry out the job. 24 They've conducted two separate, independent j 25 readiness reviews. These reviews were conducted by NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE.N W (202) N WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232-0000

22' 1 individuals - principally from outside, consultants, along 2 with several TVA employees. I believe there were six 3. consultants and two TVA employees doing these IREPs. 4 _'Another one is scheduled for September of this year. This 5 is their own assessment of their readiness to operate the 6 plant. The staff has one planned for later on in the 7 year, prior to restart. 8 There have been some TVA successes, however. 9 Maintenance Team Inspection was there earlier in the year. 10 The progrr. was rated satisfactory, implementation of the 11 program was rated satisfactory. There were no elements 12 rated as inadequate. There were a couple of elements, 13 however, that the staff could not assess because of the 14 status of the plant. The plant was not operational, so j 15 they couldn't examine those particular areas. 16 Requalification Program, which had been found 17 unsatisfactory since 1985: Earlier this year another 18 requal program went in, was found satisfactory, so, for 19 the first time since '85, they now have an acceptable 20 requalification program. So, that's a positive step for 21 them. 22 Fire Protection Program. Appendix R issues have 23 finally been closed out at Browns Ferry site, so we're' 24 complete with all that. So, there is success for TVA. j 25 There are a number of major issues still facing TVA, q NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. _ 902) W WASHINGTON DC.20005 0 02) 232 6

23 I I however equipment qualification is still ~ outstanding. ] 2 We have a team down there today and the rest of this week, 3 looking at the hardware issues and also to documentation, I 4 to make sure the documentation is all in order. 5 Electrical design issues continue to be of 6 concern to us. The cable. damage problem that came over 7 from Watts Bar, cable ampacity questions, et cetera, are 8 still being resolved by TVA. The operational readiness is ) 9 still before us, that we have to do. 10 There is an ACRS subcommittee meeting scheduled 11 later this summer, and a full committee meeting scheduled 12 in September. We plan to brief the Commission also, later 13 on in the summer, on the status of TVA activities, 'and 1 1 14 give a restart briefing.probably toward the latter part of i 15 the fall, October-November time frame. Other than that, 16 the staff's view is that they re.nain a Cahgory 3 plant. 17 Any questions? 18 (No response.) 19 I will turn it over to Bob Bernero then, for the 20 materials facilities. 21 MR. BERNERO: In the materials safety area, we l 22 discussed a number of generic and specific regulatory 1 23 issues. We discussed the Amersham incident-in which,we 24 had an IIT report just recently, and then we discussed the i 25 Site Decontamination Management Plan and reviewed the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE. N W. ~ (202) N WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232 6 i

1 24 q 2 status of the top ten cases in that plan -- those are the 1 i 2 high priority cases, or Priority Class A -- and then the 3 Senior Management discussed specific material licensed 4 f acilities and identified three which merit priority 5 attention by both the region and headquarters. 2 hey are 6 listed on this, the last slide -- Combustion Engineering 7 in Windsor, Connecticut; Process Technology North Jersey, 8 in Rockaway, New Jersey, and American Radiolabeled 9 Chemicals in Missouri. ~I'd like to turn to the cognizant i 10 Regional Administrators to' discuss them. Mr. Martin? c 11 MR. THOMAS MARTIN: Thank you, Bob. 12 Region I has two priority attention facilities. 4 i l 13

First, with regard to Combustion Engineering,

} l i j 14 Incorporated. The CE facility at Windsor, Connecticut 15 fabricates low, enriched uranium fuel assemblies, conducts t 16 research and development activities, possesses byproduct 3 17 material for the purpose of the maintenance,

repair, 18 decontamination, and failure analysis of reactor 19 components.

20 During November, 1989, Combustion Engineering 21 announced. execution of an agreement to be purchased by l 22 ASEA Brown Boveri, which occurred in December. Combustion 23 Engineering was placed on the NRC's Priority Attention 24 List in 1988, due to a breakdown in management control of i 25 . Radiological Protection and Nuclear Criticality Safety NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE N W (g) m WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232 6

] J '25 1 Programs. i 2 The licensee has since focused attention on 3 identifying and correcting the root causes of these 4

problems, including development' of an Integrated 5

Improvement Plan and the performance of a comprehensive 6 self-assessment of all facility programs by a licensee 7. task force. The licensee's-initial self-assessment was 8 completed in January of '89. 9 . Based upon NRC request, the licensee conducted a 10 reassessment in early 1990, after the licensee's 11 Performance Improvement Program actions were completed. 12 Both self-assessments were effective in identifying. major 13 programmatic weaknesses in the - licensee 's

program, and 14 were completed in a' timely manner.

15 Since our.last periodic briefing on operating 16 facilities, the licensee initiated the transfer of all l 17 powdor manufacturing operations to its Hematite, Missouri 18 facility. Once this transfer is

complete, the 19 manufacturing operations at the Windsor facility will be 20 simplified, in that only fuel pellet and fuel rod 21 operations will remain.

22 A recent NRC assessment of licensee performance 23 indicates that' the licensee has improved performance and 4 24 facility operations, equipment maintenance, and fire i 25 protection. .Some improvements were also noted in nuclear NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 rho 0E ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) N WASHINGTON. O C. 20006 (202) 232 4 000

l 26 1 criticality safety, safeguards, emergency preparedness, l + 1 2 and licensing. i 3 Although programmatic improvements were observed l 4 in the area of radiological and management controls, 5 implementation has been hindered by inadequate staffing 6 and an apparent inability of management to assure that 7 identified inadequacies were resolved in a timely manner. 8 Improvements were also observed in the 9 production area ventilation and cleanliness and in i 10 equipment maintenance, the latter due to the establishment 11 of a strong. Preventive Maintenance Program. 12 Although progress ~has been made in performance 13 and facility conditions, the continuing weakness in 14 radiological controls and the need for additional L { 15 management attention to resolve previously identified 16 weaknesses.and sustained observed improvements has led us 17 to conclude that continued close monitoring by the NRC is 18 still warranted. 19 if you have no questions, I'll move on to 20 Process Technology, i 21 Process Technology North Jersey is the licensee 22 for a pool storage irradiator located in Rockaway, New 23 Jersey, and is a subsidiary of RTI,. Incorporated. RTI 24 also operates another irradiator in Haw River, North' I 25 Carolina, and owns a licensed but defueled irradiator NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON. D C. 20006 (202) 232 6

i i 27 1 facility in Salem, New Jersey. The Rockaway facility was i 2 originally licensed in 1970, as Radiation Technology, 3 Incorporated, and is currently authorized to use 3 million 4 curies of cobalt 60 in sealed sources. About 30 i 1 5 individuals are employed at the facility. ) 6 The history of the facility involves multiple 7 examplos of operation with = inoperable or disabled safety 8 inter locks and a false statement to inspectors, for which 9 NRC hr.s taken escalated enf orcement act. ion. 10 HRC ordered the licensee to suspend irradiator 11 operations at Rockaway in March and, ageln, in June, 1986. 12 Three members of the licensee's staff were ordered removed 13 from further involvement in licensed ac.ivities, including 14 the former president, who was jailed for his actions. 15 Subsequent to those orders, the licensee was 16 allowed to resume operation under a new management team, 17 with a short-term license that required the use of an 18 independent auditor. 19 The NRC has since performed-numerous 20 inspections, with decreasing frequency which, until March, 21 1989, had shown improvements in licensee performance. 22 However, during the March NRC inspection and a' subsequent + 23 investigation, the staff identified apparent violations of 24 NRC' requirements, including inappropriate entries into the 4 25 irradiator cell, a' forcing of a defective door lock,.or NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) N WASHINGTON. D.C 20006 ) (202) 2324200 i

28. l 1 .' climbing-over the cell entry-barrier, continued operations 2-with a known defective door lock and use of unapproved 3 startup switches. Further, OI found that statements by 4 some licensee personnel had been inaccurate or incomplete, j m 5 The. facility has been allowed to continue 6 operations while ~ the stef f, conducted its investigation 7 because the cell entries were apparently made with the 1 '8 sources in their shielded position.. when the keys needed 9 to: start the.irradiator or open the cell door were-1 10 inadvertently left in the cell. j q 4 Li 11 The cell door. lcek problems'were documented in .I k 12 licensee records.available to-the NRC, and appear to have-I 13 been repaired repeatedly each time management became aware 14 of the problems. The licensee did not recognize they 15 needed NRC approval to modify'the startup switches.= 'I i 16 The individuals of primary concern.have 17 resigned. The involvement of the remaining personnel was 18 less direct. The licensee's performance prior to the 19

March,

'89 inspection was generally in a c c ord,' with j, 20 regulatory requirements, and three subsequent inspections 21 have been performed, in which no significant safety issues j ) 22 have been identified. R a 4 23 Process Technology North Jersey's license is in J= + 24 timely renewal. We are scheduling an enf orcement i 25 conference to discuss the results of our investigation. 'A NEAL R. GROSS '4 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND A' VENUE, N W. (202) W .' WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 M202) 232-8800

29-1 final decision about. license renewal and appropriate 2 enforcement action will be deferred until after the 3 enforcement conference. 4 If you have no, questions, I'll turn it over to i 5 Bert. 6 MR. DAVIS: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, I,will

  • 7 discuss American Radiolabeled Chemicals, Incorporated 8

whichi from now on, I will refer to'as' ARC. 9. As a result of inspections following I 10 allegations, we found.many problems at ARC.- These ~ i 11 included willful violations-of.;' shipping regulations, 12 failure to adequately evaluate personne1' exposures and j 13

doses, failure to adequately evaluate airborne

/ 14 concentrations released to unrestricted areas, inadequate 15 laboratory practices, procedures c n d t r a i n i'n g of the 16 personnel. 17 Through confirmatory action letters, an order, 18 and other correspondence, we suspended all activities-19 under the license and removed th'e president and owner of 20 the company from all activities, i -21 As a result of this order and. confirmatory 22 action letters, and meetings and working ~ with the 23 licensee, the following improvements have been made at 24 ARC: Contamination controls have been established, the 25 staff has been retrained, they have hired a well qualified NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS ANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.

g. m WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 ?

(202) 232-6000

m _ur 30 1 radiation saf ety; of ficer, they have modified-their ~ air 2 handling system, and they have modified their bioassay-3 program. 4 As a result, we have relaxed the order several 5 times. to permit some operations to.be.reinstituted. They 6' have been permitted to repackage and distribute material. 7 They have been permitted to subdivide material that they' l 8 had on hand that was already synthesized with labeled-9 radioactive material, and they've been permitted to .l 10 perf orm. laboratory decontamination. They've also. been 3 i 11 permitted to run purity checks on the materials that'they 12 had in' stock, before they sent it to their customers, and 13 to reperify any material that needed it. 14-We have-denied,

however, their request to 15 purchase la ger quantities of material, and. have - denied 16 their request to synthesize additional' material.

1 1*7 Some other comments: The company has done well 18 since NRC got into this problem. They have requested a 19 hearing. It has been on; hold. at the request of both 20

parties, pending potential settlement.

A prehearing 21 conference has been schedulaa. 22 We are currently evaluating approgslate -6 23 enforcement action, and are in discussions with the: 24 licensee, on future operation of the facility which, if '.t 25 occurs, would be controlled under a license renewal. That i NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS U23 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D C. 20006 - ' (202) 232-4000 { _j

31 -- l' concludes my remarks on ARC! g 2 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: What purposes..are their ~3, products used for? What -- 4 MR. DAVIS: Generally, research. They label-- F they 1 synthesize a chemical ' compound with a radioactive 6 label'on'it, and it's used-in research. We've received a 7 number of letters-f rom-universities-and' industrial nrganizations concerned; about the~1oss of this source of a 9 tabeled radioactive material. 10 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Is this a-somewhat unique .11 source for that purpose? Do they -- or are there others? 12 MR. DAVIS: No, this ---the-owner and president 13 previously worked for another company,'and he started his. 14 own business. Now, my understanding is that he supplied 15 chemicals at'a-reasonable price. 16 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Thank.you. 17 MR. TAYLOR: That concludes the staff's-18 presentation, sir. 19 CHAIRMAN CARR: Any questions? Commissioner 20 Roberts? 21 COMMISSIONER ROBERTS: No. 22 CHAIRMAN CARR: Commissioner Rogers? 23 COMMISSIONER ROGERS:' Oh, just a couple of 24 -things. Just while we are on this materials area,- the ..( 25 term " requiring priority attention", does that. convey NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE N.W.. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 232 6

-32 1 essentially the.. same meaning as the " problem facilities" 2 term.that we apply to power reactors? 3 MR. BERNERO: Yes, it'does. .That's not to.say 4 that there aren't other instances,where priority attention 5 is needed, without.any pejorative meaning associated with 6 it, and we do discuss cases that are'just complex, that i 7l will come up, h l i 8 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Would there be any virtue ] 9 in making nore 'public - the - or Janize cion.1 that are on.that l ~ \\ 10 list?- 'i 11 MR '. TAYLOR: No. 4 i 1 12 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: No? 1 13 MR. TAYLOR: No. We just recognized we needed 14 to cover material facilities some years ago, and that's .15 how -- since there's a-variation: in. inspection programs, 16 it's quite wide over material f acilities, depending.upon 17 the amount of material and, you know, the hazard. 18 We came'up with the word " priority" to exemplify i Y 19 that it's certainly more than the' norm at some of these 'i 20 material licensees. An irradiator. .has a certain 21 program, - and this particular irradiator has had priority = l 22 attention, as.we've mentioned, whereas this chemical 23 outfit is a rather small-operation, and wouldn't normally 24 be inspected at the frequency of some of the larger 25 -licensees, but there's no, certainly, publicly known issue NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRieERS. 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE N.W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D C. 20005 ' (202) 232 6

I

34 l' I n ' f a c t', , when. I first came to the< agency a. 2 number ~ of years ago, there was a differing professional ~ 3 . opinion..Somebody felt like the way to solve some of this 4 industry's problems was~ to ge to verbatim. compliance 5 procedures.- That was not -- that's an old VPO, but it wts 6 handled and it's.in the files'. 7-Some of that_ terminology has crept into practice 8 in our own' staf f s' across the country, and it was a 9' discussion of the use of that term that;we f elt-was: 10 important enough to bring up with the Senior Management, 11 and we had a very active discussion on the subject. I 12 think we expect people to follow procedures, but one has 13 to be wary'of " verbatim-compliance". We: want people t'o. be 14 mindful of all the -conditions =. that may affect what they 15 are doing. I hope that explains it. 16 COMMISSIONER ROGERS:- Well, r.o, I think it does, 17 and I think that's very helpful. It does occur to me, 18 though, that it istvery important when you pull that out 19 of'the manual, that then how compliance with procedures is 20 evaluated in the different regions and by different 21 inspectors -- 22 MR. TAYLOR: We're trying that wording. 23 COMMISSIONER' ROGERS: 'that you bring that. 24 together because it does ' open the door for considerable 25 variability in interpretation. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W (?O2) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 i (202) 232-4600

s 35 j 1 'MR. TAYLOR: This will.be followed up with some j 2 special training across the inspection, for us to be sure 1 3 people under' stand it. '4 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: All expecting the same 5 kind of. thing. a 6 MR. TAYLOR: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Just one other point.- In 8 the report.- I' onotic e t h e. r e f 'e r e n c e to licensees' 9 Engineering Managers Forum that has.been started in Region -10 V, and it seemed to.me that that was a very fine l a 11 initiative, and I know.thatMr. Martin, in Region.V,- has 12 always been very concerned with engineering and' quality of 13 engineering, and I would attribute that somewhat to'your-14 efforts and emphasis, but it seems 'to me as if'it's 15 something that the other regions could weal-encourage. 16 M R-. .EBNETER: Utilities. in Region II, 17 Commissioner Rogers, are also pursuing that initiative. 18 MR. DAVIS: -And in Region III, we' talked to Mike 19 Wallace, who is in charge of Commonwealth's engineering, 20 and he indicated =to us, in fact,-just yesterday, that he 21 was planning to try to enlist'the-Region'III facilities' 22 engineering managers into that kind of 'an effort. 23 MR. MIRAGLIA: I think we should also note that 24 these engineering forums have been. providing input into '{ 25 the NUMARC initiatives dealing with design basis NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRlBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE. N.W. 0 02) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232 6

p-36 1. documentation and engineering issues in the broader -l 4 2 context. So,- I think ' we're. seeing a.' collective - use of ' 3 . engineering through'the;NUMARC activities.as well. 4 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: How about' Region I, Mr. [* 5 Martin, do you see something starting there? 6 ~MR.-THOMAS MARTIN: There have been some. spotty l j; .7 starts on design. basis reconstitution where -- a number of' 1 L 8 licensees' have worked together, but IL have not seen ~ 9 something as broad as Jack is experiencing out in Region 10 V, and we need to talk to our-licensees about it'. 11 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Good. Thank you. That's 12 all I have. 13 CHAIRMAN CARR: Commissioner Curtiss? 14 COMMISSIONER CURTISS:. I just have one 15 observation and one q u e s t i o n - - ' f i r's t, the observation. 16 Since I've been on the Commission, if my memory serves me, 17 this is the fewest number.of problem plants.that we've had 18 during the past four or five Jbriefings - on that subject. 19 I'd like to publicly commend the staff for that because I 20 know a considerable amount of effort goes into problem 21 plants,. both in-terms of increased inspection and the 7 22 effort that we devote. The f act ' that we've got fewer 23 problem plants, I think, is in large measure. attributable 24 to the licensees. improving their activities and their 25 operations, but I do see a positive trend here, and I'd NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, NW,- (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON D.C.20005 - (202) 232-6000

37 1 like to commend the. staf f for the work that goes in, 2 particularly in the region. and-on-site, in working ' with and b'inging it to, as I say, the. fewest 3 these licensees r 4 number that we've'had on the list. 5 The question that I have really is related to 6 that. When a plant comes off of the Problem Plant List, 7 and recognizing-that-many. of-these licensees: have 8 Performance Improvement _ Programs that involve some near-9- term actions and some longer-term activities,,do we.have a 10 process in place or do we discuss at'the Senior. Managers 11 meeting, followup on the schedules and : commitments that-12 are made by-licensees to ensure'that as they come'off of 13 the list and perhaps get less visible attention in the 14 public eye, that we're actually tracking conformance to-i 15 the Perf'ormance Improvement Program?- 16 MR. TAYLOR: Yes. The region,'really -- I think i 17 Mr. Ebneter' alluded to it in his discussion of Surry - we 18 will use largely regional efforts to follow and track 19 that. Most commitments are tracked and followed up on by 20 the regic,n staff who' oversee it. Perhaps you'd like to 21 add to that. -22 MR. MIRAGLIA: In addftion, Commissioner 23

Curtiss, as part of the Senior Management meeting 24 preparation, any plant that has been on the list and has 25 been removed, we trend the performance and have a short NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE N.W.

gy g WASHINGTON. D C. 20005 ' (202) 232-6000

38 1 summary of the status of how that-facil'ity is doing for a l 2 two-year period. 3-COMMISSIONER CURTISS: Okay,l good, I'm pleased 4 to hear that. .) 5. M R.. MIRAGLIA: So, it doesn't lose its 6 visibility to the: Senior Managers or the agency. 7' COMMISSIONER CURTISS: That 's all : I have _.- 8 'CHAI# MAN CARR: It' appears to me that the amount 4 9 of escalated enforcement action seems to_. be increasing, ~10 especially in_the materials licensing area. Can.you_gire- ~ i 11 me a reason - f or that? Is that ' increased inspection? I 12 What's the rcory?- j i 13 MR. BERNERO: Well, we discussed that issue at 4. 4 l 14 the meeting, and one~ of the reasons is we have -improved l 15 the inspection program. in.the; materials area, over the 16 last several years, and we're findings more but, _in 17 addition, the vigor of the enforcement. policy is strong,- 18 so that not only are we finding.more, but.we are pressing i 19 it hard. i-20. And we did discuss at the Senior Management-21 meeting, how to cope with the resource demands that come-J l-22 with that, which are very large in the materials area. We l l 23 have been allocating increasing numbers of resources in 24-the region and at headquarters, to cope with this. I 25 CHAIRMAN CARR: -So, how are we -- that's NEAL R. GROSS COUHT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, DA 20005 - (202) 232M

r 39 1 diverting resources away - f rom other l'icensing inspection-2 activities in the regions?- MR. BERNERO: It's demanding resources. It is di important to safety. It's significant work. It's.just a 5 need'that has increased in ' the last several years, with j 61 the increased attention -to material safety inspection., i 7 And we think.it's;necessary, and we expect'that this will 8-pay of f. in the long run, as we get these resources; I 9~ think we've got to manage these resources very carefully. -{ 9 '1 10 - M R '. TAYLOR: 'We're keeping an eye on that. 11 balance. l 1 12 CHAIRMAN CARR: Well, I know OE'.s got a program- -13 to review the methods and improve the efficiency. I don't 14 know how that's. going. 15 -MR. TAYLOR: 'We. don't-have -- 16 CHAIRMAN CARR: Does anybody-want to report-on 17 that? 18 M't. TAYLOR: No, I'm not prepared to give you 19 that this morning, but we are doing it, and we may come up 20 with s or.ie innovative recommendations, but. we don't have 21 that today. . We're looking at it because we're conscious: e 22 of the staff involvement. 23-CHAIRMAN CARR: Well, it's not only important to 24 make sure we've got enough resources in that area, but I 25 would like to see, as you all would 'I'm

sure, s,e e the

' NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHOOE ISLANO AVENUE, N W, (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232 4000 ________._____._______._.____-_-___a

40 -I ti nes' come down so that-we-can meet their_ requirements. + a 2. MR. TAYLOR: ' Absolutely. 3 CHAIRMAN CARR: ' Thel time between ' finding the 4 fault and the enforcement action is entirely,too long. ~I S-Any other questions? -6 (No response..) 7

Well, I'd like to

't h a n k_ t h e =s t a f f f or-this 8 briefing. Your insights into ' the regulatory : perf ormance - i ~ 9 of our licensees = are valuable _ to: the Commission, as-are 10 .your continuing e fi'or ts to improve.the - NRC 's ability to 11 carry out our mission through the most' ef ficient and 12 effective use of limited' resources, t \\ 13 I continue to be encouraged. by the removal' of n 14 yet another .t acilityi f rom the Category f 2 list. I 15' encourage you t o. c o n tinu e, : u sing ~ this sys t em _- o f - 16 categorization as one of the tools through which the 17 ' agency can. f ocils on those,1icensees who are having 18 performance problems. 19 Do any of my fellow Commissioners 'have any s 20 additional comments? 21 -(No response.) L 22 If not, we stand adjourned. 23 (Whereupon, ~t 9 : 58. a.m.. the meeting of the a t 24 Nuclear Regulatory Commission was adjourned.) 25 NEAL R. GRO'SS CoVRT REPORTER 3 AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUF, N.W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232-4000

i i CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER This is to certify that_the attached' events of'a meeting i of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Consnission entitled: ' TITLE OF MEETING: PERI'0DIC BRIEFING ON 0PERATING REACTORS AND. FUEL FACILITIES PLACE OF MEETING:. ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND' DATE OF MEETING: ' JUNE 27,1990 4 were transcribed'by me. 1-fuither. certify that's41d transcription is accurate.and complete, to the best of_my ability, and that the . transcript is a true and accurate record of the-foregoing' events. t bi_ h At y y r - l f _ Reporter's name: Phyllis Young-i s i a 0 b e l e NEAL R. GROSS count nepoetses AMO TRAN$CattER$ 1333 RHODE ISLAND AVENUf. H.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 2000$, (202) 232 4600

!~ s_ PERIODIC BRIEFING ON STATUS OF-OPERATING : REACTORS: -AND NMSS FACIL.lTIES COMMISSION BRIEFING i JUNE 27, 1990 J. TAYLOR . SENIOR STAFT. ~ ~ _1_ T + 'N 4-

L i i i CATEGORY 1 PLANTS REMOVED FROM THE LIST OF PROBLEM FACILITIES Plants in this category have -taken effective action to correct identified problems and to implement ~ programs for improved performance. ) No further NRC1special attention -is necessary l beyond the regional office's current level of monitoring to ensure improvement ~ continues. l SURRY' 1 &2 l l ~ 2_ ..__m...- s - -.

[ 't CATEGORY 2 PLANTS AUTHORIZED TO OPERATE THAT THE NRC WILL MONITOR CLOSELY Plants in this category are having. or .have had weaknesses that warrant increased NRC attention from both headquarters,and the regional office. A plant will'. remain in this category until the licensee demonstrates a period of improved performance. CALVERT CLIFFS ~1- & 2 NINE MILE POINT 1 &2 _ _ _ _ _ - - _. _ _ = - .-_=____c.__._

1 CATEGORY 3 SHUTDOWN. PLANTS REQUIRING NRC AUTHORIZATION-TO OPERATE AND WHICH THE NRC WILL MONITOR CLOSELY Plants in this category are having or have had significant weaknesses that warrant maintaining-the plant in a shutdown. condition until the licensee: can demonstrate to the NRC that adequate programs have both been ~ established and ~ implemented to ensure substantial improvement. BROWNS FERRY 1, 2, & 3. _ _ _

PRIORITY MATERIAL FACILITIES COMBUSTION ENGINEERING -WINDSOR, CT PROCESS TECHNOLOGY -ROCKAWAY, NJ AMERICAN RADIOLABELED CHEMICALS, MO i i . i-I N,. e 2 """w 'c-7 --r+ '~ - -r's+ i"' * * - '~'4-' "w a

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  • POR is advanced one copy of each document, two of each SECY paper.

31 C&R Branch files the original transcript, with attachments, without SECY I /[p[

j ;j 107 papers.

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