ML20055F623

Erratta to Transcript of 900627 Briefing on Operating Reactors & Fuel Facilities in Rockville,Md.Pp 1-40. Supporting Info Encl

ML20055F623
Person / Time
Issue date:	06/27/1990
From:	NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
To:
References
REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 9007180193
Download: ML20055F623 (48)

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1 o e t D E SCLAIMER , 1, l* 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 I I White Flint' North, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting ' was t 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 4 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 opinion in this 4 transcript do not necessarily reflect final determination or beliefs. No pleading or other paper may be filed.with 1.. the Commission in any prM seding as the result of, or addressed to, any statement or. argument contained - herein, I except as the Commission may authorize. lt a 1 1., 1 l.' l NEAL R. GROSS COURT RE#oRTERS AND TRANSCRittRS li 1323 rho 06 ISLAND AYtHUE, H.W. (202) 234 4433 WASHtHGfoH, D.C. 20005 (202) 232 6600 ] 1= l;

(0, .] ai q r 'l~ UNITED. STATES OF AMERICA ( 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 4 PERIODIC BRIEFING ON OPERATING REACTORS 5 AND FUEL FACILITIES 6 j 7 PUBLIC MEETING s 9 Nuclear Regulatory Commission l 10 One White Flint North 11 Rockville, Maryland y I i 12 -\\ 13 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27,.L990 1 i 14 15' The-Commission ' met in open session, pursuant to 16

notice, at' 9:00 a.m.,

the ' Honorable KENNETH M.

CARR, i

' 17 Chairman of the Commission, presiding. - 18 19 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: 20-KENNETH M. CARR, Chairman of the Commission [ i 21 THOMAS M. ROBERTS, Member of the Commission-- 22 KENNETH C. ROGERS, Member /of the Commission [ l> . 23 JAMES R. CURTISS,-Member-of the Commission 24 }T 25 I NEAL R. GROSS H COURT REPORTERS ANC TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. -(202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232 8600

-y 2 1 STAFF AND PRESENTERS SEATED AT THE COMMISSION TABLE: 2 JAMES TAYLOR, Deputy Execative Director, Operations. 4 3 ROBERT BERNERO, Director, iffice of NMSS 4 FRANK MIRAGLIA, Deputy Dire: tor, Office of NRR 5 THOMAS MARTIN, Region I 6 STEWART EBNETER, Region II 7 A. BERT DAVIS, Region III 8 ROBERT MARTIN, Region IV l 9 JOHN MARTIN, Region-V 10 DENNIS CRUTCHFIELD, Former Director, Office of 11 Special Programs 12 13 14 15 i 16 17 'l 19 20 21 -22 l 23 ^ 24 i l 25 L NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS l 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINOTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232m i .)

b 3 1 E E E E E E~E 1 H E E 2 (9:06 a.m.) 3 CHAIRMAN CARR: Good morning, ladies and 4 gentlemen. Commissioner Remick will not be with us this 5 morning. 6 Today, the NF.C staff will brief.the Commission 7 on the status of operating reactors,. field facilities, and 8 other materials 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 approximately twice a year, to review the performance of. 12 the various licensees and to determine which, if any, 1 13 continue -to warrant increased NRC attention. Today, the-a 14 staff-will' discuss the results of this review, which was j -15 conducted at the June Senior Management meeting. j 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? l 21 (L response.) l 22 If not, Mr. Taylor, please proceed. -23 MR. TAYLOR: Good morning. With me at the table 1 p 24 are the five Regional Administrators. Frank Miraglia, t 25 Deputy Director of the Office of NRR, and Bob Bernero, the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPoR' ERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHOCf ISLAND AVENUE N W- ) (g) m WASMNGTON. D C 20005 (M) m-e600 g

p 1 Director of NMSS, Denny Crutchfield, f ormer - Director of the office of-Special Projects, is also at the table. 2 3 This was our ninth meeting which we held earlier 4 chis month up at King of Prussia in Region I and, as the 5-Chairman noted, this meeting is dedicated to talking 6 nuclear safety performan, at operating reactors and l 7 materials licensees, and we started these meetings with-a 8 special focus on nuclear saf ety, af ter the Davis-Besse 9 event in 1985. i' 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 the strong 1 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 a i 16 safety activities. 17 We did identify in this meeting, four good 18 performing plants and two what we call worthy of honorable 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. f-25 With that brief overview and to provide to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REl'ORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. 902) 234 M33 WASHINGTON, D.C 20006 (202) 232 6

5 1 lead in t o-th'e details of the meeting, I'll start with I 2 Frank Miraglia, with the reactors. 3 MR. MIRAGLIA: Thank you, Jim. Good morning, 4 Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. 5 CHAIRMAll CARR: Good morning. 6 MR. MIRAGLIA: I would just like to briefly 7 summarize the results of our June 12th-13th meeting in 8 Region I, As indicated, we met to discuss the operational 9- _ safety performance of the reactors licensed by the NRC. 10 At that meeting, 14 facilities were discussed. 11 Preparation for 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 15 performance of the facilities-in each of the regions and 16 identify facilities-to be considered within the agenda of 17. the-Senior-Management meeting. As a result -of that 18 screening, the agenda is established. 19 May I have' slide one, please? (Slide) 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 warrante no special t. 25 attention beyond those norma?ly given within the context NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRif,ERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W (202) 2M WASHINGTON. D C. 20005 (202)232 4000

I 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, t 5 May I have the next slide, please? (Slide) Nine Mile 6 Four plants remain in Category 2 7 Point 1 which was subject of a Commission brief in May, 8 and Calvert Cliffs 1 and 2. Weaknesses exist within their 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. 12 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 a're within -- 16 CHAIRMAN CARR: One arl 1 -- 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 have had a number of. plants within 21 TVA has a number 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 i 25 hear more details from Mr. Crutchfield. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20005 (202) 232 6600

7-1. Before I turn-to each of-the Regional 2 Administrators and Mr. Crutchfield, as Mr. Taylor 3. 3 indicated, there was discussion, within the context of the 4 Senior Manag'ement meeting, to identify a list of ~ good 5 performers, plants with sustained performance. As a 6 result of that discussion, four 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, 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. 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 24 and 2, and it's conceivable that 1 -- 25 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON D.C.20005 (202) 232-6600

gr l - g 1. COMMISSIONER ROGERS: might be different from /. 2 2, and.I think it's worthwhile noting that. e 3 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes, sir. 4 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: So that I'd change that to 5 five -- s. 6 MR. MIRAGLIA: Well, four facilities on five 7 plants. 8 COMMISSIO!!ER ROGERS: Four lice.nsee s, but it's i i 9 five plants. I-l 10 MR. MIRAGLIA: Yes, sir. l f 11 I'd like to turn to Stew Ebneter, to talk about i 12 the Category 1 plants, Surry 1 and 2. l 13 MR. EBNETER: On Surry, we decided to move froft i i 14 Category 2. to Category 1. Surry was first discussed at 15-the December, 1988 Senior Management meeting, as a result b 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, s 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 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) N WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232-6600

e 3 i 1 under.the direction of an experienced nuclear Senior Vice L2= President. They.have replaced most of the Senior Managers 3-at both the corporate and the station. Some.of-these have [ 4 been recruited from industry. 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 cperators. 11 They've instituted a Procedures Upgrade ~ Program 12 and - a ' Design Basis Documentation Program, to establish a - i 13 new ' baseline for the station. The material condition of 14 the station has -improved substantially, due to system 15

upgrades, equipment replacements, and much improved 16.

housekeeping, and major emphasis was also placed - on -17 emergency preparedness. 18 The units were shut down for a considerable p 19 period of time. They were restarted last July and l l 1. L 20 September at Units 1 and 2, respectively, and these units 2'1 have been operating very well since then. ~ 22 The operctions are_now ' conducted with fewer 23 personnel errors, more attention to detail, and greater 24 adherence to procedures. The station has achieved black i i 25 board on a few occasions, and it is generally performing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REFoRTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W.

i 10-1 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 j 7 some improvements noted in the other three. 3 8 Most significantly, the-SALP noted a turnaround 1 i 9 in the attitude, the safety attitude, of the station 1 l-10

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

12 Significant improvements have been made, but l 12 there are a few areas that require additional improvement.. 14 The most significant of these are the maintenance area: and l ? 15 procedures. Both are included in long-term corrective l 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 l-20 level of regional inspection-is sufficient. 1 u 21 I should note that in the letter to Dr. Rhodes, l \\ 22 the-CEO, we have cautioned that they need to pay attention f l 23 to the cyclical history of Surry. To the Senior Managers 24 of the NRC, the corporate history indicates cyclical [. T 25 performance around an average level, a little bit above, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS ANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. l -(202) 234 4 33 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232M

~ ~ t -a 11 .{ m .1~ and then it-goes down below, and we have cautioned them in j 2-that11etter to make sure their - self-assessment program 3 addresses that cyclical nature. 4 Beyond that, we will continue our three resident level of staffing, and we still have planned-5 inspector 6 almost monthly a team inspection at Surry, to follow up on 7 the long-term corrective actions. Are there any questions S on Surry? [ l 4 9 (No' response.) 't 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 regard to Nine Mile Point 1 and '15 2,.you know 1'has been shut down since December of 1987, l. l 16-and was placed on-the NRC's Problem List in June of'1988. 1 1 .17' Unit 2 was added to the Problem List..in December of that l 18 year. i 19 A confirmatory action. letter was. issued in July,- I i 20 1988, documenting the licensee's commitment not to restart 21 prior to NRC approval. .22 Since our last periodic briefing of operating 23 reactors, we provided the Commission a status briefing in 24 May, on the licensee's performance and the readiness of .I 25 Unit 1 to restart. I'11 try to minimize repeating myself. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE N W. (202) N WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 232 6 b.

12 1 Progress in making Unit i ready for restart has 2 been slow, as ' a result of the conservative approach to 3 ensuring system readiness and underestimating the time 4 needed t'o implement needed modifications, repairs, and 5 tests. 6 As a result of last July's Unit 2 7 requalification examination failures, several programmatic 8 changea-and extensive retraining have been implemented._ A 9 recent NRC re-evaluation of their Unit 2 requalification 10 program demonstrated the effectiveness of these corrective 11 actions. 12 A recent Restart Assessment Team inspection 13 determined that the licensee had made substantial progress .r_ 14 in resolving the five identified underlying root causes 15 for the past performance problems. LParticular success was 16 noted in improving safety,

teamwork, communications, 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 21 performance ' supported permitting restart. Recent- ~4 -22 difficulties encountered during tes' ting of the feedwater 23 high-pressure coolant injection system have raised 24 concerns regarding procedural

adequacy, control of 25 systems, and attention to detail.

These problems are not NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) m WASHINGTON, O C. 20005 (202) 232 6000

p-i> i a; 13 a;: l' characteristic of recent performance, and additional t 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 ..r 5 these problems appears to have borne fruit, and they have .6 now determined that the manufacturer, when he provided the ,w 7 pumps in 1988, put the impeller on backwards on the shaft, -8 and that was causing a large number of the flow 9 oscillations. c 10 Currently, Unit 2 is operating and Unit 1 is 11 preparing f or restart. I anticipate receiving a letter 12 from the licensee this week affirming the plant and staff 13 readiness for operation, and requesting approval to 14 res tar t. Following receipt of that request and our-independe nt; L ll 15 assessment of facility readiness, we will document our 16 proposed response and consult - with the Commission before 17 taking further action. N' ' 18 The' anticipated restart of Unit 1'will place new .19 demands on the licensee in managing-the operation ~. of two E 20 diverse plants, and the pending Senior Management changes l 21 represent a challenge to the continued progress and lt 1 [' 22 performance improvements observed to-date, li l-, 23 For these reasons and because we have not l. 24 observed a sustained period of good performance at-power l 25 on two units, it was decided that continued close NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTEFIS AND TRANSCRIBERS ( 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234-4433 ' WASHINGTON, D C. 20005 (202) 232 6000

14- <1 monitoring by the NRC is warranted. 2 If there are no questions on Nine Mile Point,'I 4 3 will go on to-Calvert Cliffs. i 4-COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Just coming back to this. I 5 Nine Mile Point I 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 i 1: 10 there occurred while I-was there on May 23rd. 11 MR. EBHETER: Yes, sir. 12-COMMISSIONER ROGERS: And I was-somewhat 13 concerned to hear about the nature of that, although I i 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 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, cl er,ing, 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 -- i 25 MR. EBNETER: Understood. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE iSt.AND AVENUE, N W. - (202) N WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 232-6000

1 e 15 .I 1; COMMISSIONER ROGERS: -- that system ran for six 2 or eight seconds and shutdown, and that really troubled i l, 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 i 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 t 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 14 to be operated, to be able to perform the test. 15 As a result 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 l 18 that-they could work within theseLblue tags. Now, that's: 19 a violation of procedure right there because. this was 20 another set of work, should have been another set of tags-21 -- should have been red tags, to be quite frank. 0 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, y NEAL R. GROSS f. COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS ($ 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. 902) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232 6

j j '16 ' 1 1 So, they then went-back to the shift supervisor, 2 and the shift supervisor extended the blue tag and said to 1 3

himself, "I'm going to notify the blue tag ow.ner that'I i

4 did that", but he got caught up in other things a9 didn't 5

inforr, 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 l-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 j. 14 the control room, but it finally came up to pressure-l- 15 showing that there is some leakage by that valve. The 16 shift supervisor, without resolving why that anomaly, gave-l' 17 permission'to go ahead and run the test. I 18 They have concluded that, one, the test should l-19 not~ have been run without a special test procedure and l 20 that result. They have reaffirmed the requirements of. 21 their use of. tags and how they are to be used, and that a 22 blue tag owner is to personally verify that all the 23 components are in the position that he wanted them in f ar 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 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W, (202) N WASHINGTON. 0.C. 20005 (202) 232 4 00

u k 17 l' before, and he did not reconfirm that. That information 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 t 8 be there, so it was now something associated with the 9 pump. They did borescopic examination of the. pump, and i l 10 that's when they discovered that it was in there l-11 backwards, i 12 It was their thoroughness in reviewing the whole. 4 13' sequence of events which led up to the event which 14 occurred while you were on-site, that allowed-them to l 1 15 identify those problems. 1 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 19 list as a Ca tEw ory 2 facility, in December, 1988. The 20 1;censee 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 i 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 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20005 (202) 232 6600

18. 1 unit until. corrective action for the pressurizer heater 2 sleeve cracks and problems with word control, control of= 1 3 system status, and procedural-- quality and~ use had - been 4

taken, 5

Supplement 1 to the confirmatory action letter J 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 t 9 to adequately address commitments to the NRC were assessed' 10 during a March, 1990 inspection, and it was concluded that 11 safety significant commitments were now being adequately 12 implemented. [ 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 I 17 good progress,in communicating its expectations of. staf f 18 performance regarding procedural a d h e r e n c e,. p r o b l e m 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 qr 22-portion of the plan has not been timely. -23 The overall results for inspections conducted 24 since the last briefing identified improvements in most 25 functional areas, with clear licensee management emphasis j.. i NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE N W. 1 (202) N1 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20006 (202) 232-6600

1 ,l 19-1 on safety and' quality. l ~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 L 7-licensee resolved the material concerns on the Unit 1 l 8 pressurizer, and made sufficient improvement in the 1 l 9 control of work activities, control of system status, and i 1 p 10 procedural use and control, to permit Unit 1 restart. l 11 Supplement 2 to the confirmatory action letter p L 12 was issued in April to permit restart of Unit 1. The l 13 resulting short-power ascension program and shutdown for Ld ) i 14' required steam generator inspection outage. demonstrated 15 good overall licensee perf or nance. L i 16 Strengths were noted in control: room operator L 17 performance, line manager.ent control of evolutions,.and-l 18 independent assessr.ent of activities,

however, 3

19 difficulties were experienced in interdisciplinary l 20 communications, safety tagging, and accuracy of non-safety-21 related drawings'to support operations. ( l 22. Continued management attention and staff effort 23 are warranted to resolve these difficulties, sustain 24 recent gains of performance, reduce the substantial iL '25 maintenance backlog,- and complete implementation of the NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoOE ISt.AND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 232-6600

20 l 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 i p 9 of licensee performance by the Agency is warranted, l l. .10 The licensee expects to be ready to restart Unit i-l'1

1. in late July, and Unit 2 by December.

Readiness for 12-restart from the current outage, preparations for Unit 2 l 13

restart, and the results of a longer-term Performance

.{ 14-Improvement Plan will continue to receive close 1 i 15 monitoring. I 16 If you have no questions,. I'll pass the baton to l i 17 Denny Crutchfield. 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 since October of '86. 22 TVA continues to make progress toward their 23 restart schedule. The current restart schedule has them 24 reloading fuel about October, and restarting the plant, 25 being ready to pull rods in December. This is about a NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoOE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON,D.C 20006 (202) 232 6

1 21 l l' six-month. slip from the beginning of the year. 2' Overall, we found that their corrective Action a .3 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 delays 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 10 originally estimated they would have about 6 percent of r 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 1 l 14 scheduling activities. i ' 1 l 15 A cable damage issue that carried cver from L 16 Watts Bar -- they've been asked to look into that and 4 i 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 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 1 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. 20005 (202) 232 6

22 -t 11 individuals principally - f rom. 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. .t 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. .i 9 Maint'enance Team Inspection was there earlier in the year. 1 i h 10 The program was rated satisfactory,. implementation of the 1 l 11 program was rated satisfactory. There were no elements l l-12 rated - as inadequate. There were a couple of elements-, L 13 however, that the staff could not assess ' because - of ' the 14 status -of the. plant. The plant was not operational, so 15. they couldn't examine those particular areas, j 16 Requalification Program, which had been found i 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 1 20 requalification program.

So, that's a positive step for 21

them, 22 Fire Protection Program.

Appendix R issues have m-23 finally been closed out at Browns Fer ry. site, so.we're 24 complete with all that. So, there is success for TVA. t. 25 There are a number of major issues still facing TVA, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 2M WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 232-6000 i

p 23 1

equipment qualification is still outstanding. 1 however I 2 We have a team down there today'and the rest of this week, 3 looking at the hardware issues and also to documentation, 4 to make sure the documentation is all in order. ( 5 Electrical design issues continue to be of i 6 concern to us. The cable damage problem that came over 1, 7 from Watts Bar, cable ampacity questions, et cetera, are l \\ 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 14 give a restart briefing probably toward the latter part of 15 the ' f all, October-November time frame. Other than that, 16 the staff's view is that they remain a Category 3 plant, j l 17 Any questions? -18 (No response.) 19 I will turn it over to Bob Bernero then, for the 1 20 materials facilities. 21 MR. BERNERO: In-the materials safety ~ area, we [ 22 discussed a number of generic and specific regulatory 23 issues. We discussed the Amersham incident in which we 24 had an IIT report just recently, and then we discussed the

[

25 Site Decontamination Manag1 ment Plan and reviewed the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W (202) FM WASHINGTON D C. 20005 (202) 232-6000

4 ' t l 24-1 Lstatus of the top ten cases in that plan -- those Sre the i .2 highLpriority cases, or' Priority Class A - 'and then the 3 Senior Management discus' sed specific material licensed 4 facilities and identified three which merit priority f 5 attention by both the region and headquarters. They_are Combustion Engineering 6 listed on this, the last slide 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 l 10 Regione,1 Administrators ta discuss them.. Mr. Martin? l - 11 MR. THOMAS MARTIN: Thank you, Bob. ~ 12 Region I has two priority attention facilities. l 13

First, with regard to combustion Engineering, 14 Incorporated.

The CE f acility at Windsor, Connecticut 15 fabricates low, enriched uranium fuel assemblies, conducts l 16 research and development activities, possesses byproduct 17 material for the purpose of the maintenance, repair-, 18 decontamination, and tailure analysis of reactor 19 components. 20 During November, 1989, Combustion Engineering 21 announced execution of an agreement to be purchased by 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

1. -

- 25 Rcdiological Protection and Nuclear Criticality Safety NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCAIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE. N W (202) m WASHINGTON, D C. 20005 (202) 232 4000

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

problems, including development of an Integrated J

5 Improvernent Plan and the performance of a comprehensive 6 self-assessment of all facility programs by a licensee 7 task force. The licensee's initici self-essessment 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 en operating 16 facilities, the licensee initiated the transfer of all l 17 powder manufacturing operations to its Hnatite,.tissouri 18 facility. Once this transfer is

complete, the 19 maNf acturing operations at the Windsor facility will be 20 simplified, in that only fuel pellet and fuel rod j

21 operations will remain. 22 A recenc NRC assessment of licensee performance l 23 indicates that the licensee has improved performance and e ( 24 facility operations, equipment maintenance, and fire 25 protection. Some improvements wert also noted in nuclear NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 StHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W 302)234 4433 WASHINGioN.D.C 2000$ p02) 232-0600

h t b, 0 86 E I criticality safety, safeguards, emergency preparedness, a. } 2 and licensing. ( 3 Although programmatic improvements were observed 4 in the area of radiological and management controls, 5 implementation has ueen hindered by inadequate staffing p 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 P ~ 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 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. 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 ( 25 Carolina, and owns - a licensed but defueled irradiator NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS Af D TRANSORIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. p02) 2m WASHINGTON,DC 20006 p02) 232 4000 1

87 1 facility in Salem, New Jersey. The Rockaway facility was l 2 originally - licensed in 197n, as Radiation Technology, 3-In:orporated, and is currently authorized to use 3 million 4 curies of cobalt 60 in sealed sources. About 30 t 5 individuals are employed at the facility. 6 Te hi: tory of the facility involycs multiple 7 examples of operation with inoperable or disabled safety l 8 interlocks and a false statement to inspectors, for which 9 NRC has taken escalated enforcement action. ,10 NRC ordered the licensee to suspend irradiator 11 operations at Rockaway in March and, again, in June, 1986. 12 Three members of the licensee's staff were ordered removed 13 from further involvement in licensed activities, including l 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 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. O C r)006 (202) 232 0800

88 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 l' '*e personnel had been inaccurate or incomplete. 5 .4 e facility has been allowed to continue 6 operat. as while the staff conducted its investigation 7 because the cell entries were apparently made with the 8 sourecs in their shielded position, when the keys needed 9 to start the irradiator or open the cell door were 10 inadvertently left in the cell. 11 The cell door lock problems were documented in 12 licensee records available to the NRC, and appear to have 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. 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 accord with 20 regulatory requirements, and three subsequent inspections 21 have been performed, in which no significant safety issues 22 have been identified. 23 Process Technology North Jersey's license is in 24 timely renewal. We are scheduling an enforcement 1 25 conference to discuss the results of our investigation. A NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. p02) 234 433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 232M

r 29 1 final decision about license renewal and appropriate ! enforcement action will be deferred untl1 after the 2 I 3 i enforcement conference. 4 If you have no questions, I'll turn it over to 5 Bert. 6 MR. DAVIS: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, I will 7 discuss American Radiolabeled Chemicals, Incorporated 8 which, from now on, I will refer to as ARC. 9 As a result of inspections following 10 allegations, we found many problems at ARC. These 11 included willful violations of shipping regulations, 12 failure to adequately evaluate personnel expomures and 13

doses, failure to adequately evaluate airborne i

14 concentrations released to unrestricted areas, inadequate 15 laboratory practices, procedures and training of the 16 personnel. 17 Through confirmatory action letters, an order, 18 and other corresponde.ce, we suspended all activities 19 under the license and removed the president and owner of 20 the company from all activities. 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 1 25 staff has been retrained, they have hired a well qualified NEAL R. GROSS i CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 2 % 4433 WASHINGTON. O c. 20005 CO2) 2326

i 30 i 1 radiation safety officer, they have modified their air 'i 2 handling system. and they have modified their bioassay 3 program. 4 As a result, we have relaxed the order several i 5 times, to perait 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 8 had on hand that was already synthesized with labeled 9 radioactive material, and they've been permitted to 10 perform laboratory decontamination. They've also been 1 11 permitted to run purity checks on the materia 3s that they 12 had in stock, before they sent it to their customers, and 13 to repurify any material that needed it, i i 14 We have denied,

however, their request to 15 purchase larger quantities of material, and have denied 16 their request to synthesize additional material.

17 Some other comments: The company has done well 18 sino's NRC got into this problem. They have requested a 19 ht<aring. It has been on hold at the request of both 20

parties, pending potential settlement.

A prehearing 21 conference has been scheduled. .f 22 We are currently evaluating appropriate 23 enforcement action, and are in discussions with the ~ L. 24 licensee, on future operation of the facility which, if it l l 25 occurs,.would be controlled under a license renewal. That E 4 NEAL R. GROSS l COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS I 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W l (202) 734 4433 WASHINGTON. D C. 20006 (202) 232M

i i 1 32 j 1 concludes my remarks on ARC. i 2 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: What purposes are their 3 products used for? Wh a t --- 4 MR. DAVIS: Generally, research. They label-- 5 they synthesize a chemical compound with a radioactive 6 label n r. Ic, and it's used in research. We've received a 7 number. of letters Prom universities and industrial j 8 organizations concerned about the loss of this source of 9 labeled 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, e 17 MR. TAYLOR: That concludes the staff's 18 presentation, sir. l. 19 CHAIRMAN CARR: Any questions? Commissioner 20 Roberts? t l l 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 y l NEAL R. GROSS ( ' coVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS L im RHooE ISLAND AVENUE. N W L (m> rx*n wASHINotoN.oe me (m) me

32 i l 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 i 4 that there aren't other instances where priority attention 5 is needed, without any pejorative meaning associated with 6 i t,- and we do discuss-cases that are ju.t complex, that 7 will come up, 8 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Would there be any virtue 1 9 in making more public the organizations that are on that 10 list? i 11-MR. TAYLOR: No. 12 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: No? 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 progrems, 16 it's quite wide over material facilities, depending upon i 17 the amount of material and, you know, the hazard. l l' 18 We came up with the word -" priority" to exemplify 19 that it's certainly more than the norm at some of these 20 material licensees. An irradiator has a certain I 21

program, and this particular irradiator has had priority l'

D 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 i NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 13M RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W (M2) N WASHINGTON, D C. 20006 (202) 2324200 F

0 33 L 1.i with these f acilition. 2 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: In the report on page 18, 61 3 I ne ticed a p ragraph on procedural adherence, and you 4 discuss the need to make some changes in the use of terma 1 5 'and the term " verbatim compliance with procedures" is now a 6 cgoing to be dropped from the manual, I take it. Could you just say a little bit about that? 7 ij

i 8 !!That seems to-be probably wise, but one wonders just 4

9 exac tly what you are going to substitute f or that term in i b 10 - the manual. 11 MR. TAYLOR: The staff has looked at the q it jfollowing of procedures all through the years. The state as you've heard. People are-- ll of proceduresj varies, 13 ll 14 (they're in a : process you heard about some of the d 15 !jfaci lities that are in a Procedures Upgrade Program.- So, 16 !', the state of procedures and how good they are varies, I L 17 think, a bit across this entire industry, and I think most 4 18,l industry people would tell you that. 1 The ' term " verbatim compliance" really grows out 19 h ii 20 4 of nome of the experience in the Naval program, where some l be

he manual.a and M-ocedures are written literal y to 21jjof 22 L in a state of werbatim compliance.

A great deal of money, 23 l eff art and time is spent in that program, to keep those 24 procedures to that degree of what I'll call "close to li I been *.he case in this industry. -, e,- J en"

• hat has not f"

NEAL R GROSS I COURT REPORTER $ AND TMNSCRIBER$ 1373 AMODEISlAND AVtNUS.N.W. { WASMINGToN. O C. 20006 (am 2324000 T m di ed11

i 34-1 In fact, when I first came to the agency a j 2 number of years ago, there was a differing professional 3 opinion. Somebody ielt like the way to solve some of this i 4 industry's problems was to go to verbatim compliance I procedures. That was not -- that's an old VPO, but it was v. 6 handled and it's in the files. i 7 Some of that terminology has crept into practice in our own staffs across the country, and it was a 8 9 discussion of the use of that term that we felt was i 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 to be g 14 mindful of all the conditions that may affect what tney 3 15 are doing. I hope that explains it. 16 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Well, no, I think it does, 17 and I think that's very helpful. It does occur to me, 18 though, that it is very 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. that you bring that 23 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: 24 together because it does open the door for considerable c1 25 variability in anterpretation. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. I (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON, O C. 20006 (202) 232 6000 p 4

35 1 FR. TAYLOR: This will be followed up with some 2 special training across the inspection, for us to be sure 3 people understand it. 4 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: All expecting the same 5 kind of thing. 6 MR. TAYLORi Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER ROGERS: Just one other point. In 8 the report, I notice the reference to 'icensees' 9 Engineering Managers Forum that has been started in Region 10 V, and it seemed to me that that was a very fine 11 initiative, and I know that Mr. 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 well encourage. 16 MR. EBHETER: Utilities in Region II, t 17 Commissioner Rogers, are also pursuing that initiative. l 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. MTR?.0LIA: I think we should also note that 4 24 these engineering forums have been providing input-into i. 25 'the NUMARC initiatives dealing with design basis I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $ 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W (202) N WASHINGTON. D.C 20006 (202) 232 6

36 i i documentation and engineering issues in the broader 3 2 context. So, I think we're seeing a collective use of l 3 l engineering through the NUMARC activities as well. I i 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 7 sta*tts on design basis reconstitution where a number of 8 li:ensees have worked together, but I have not seen F 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 i first, the observation. 15 observation and one. question 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 briefings 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 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 I 25 operations, but I do see a positive trend here, and I'd NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) N WASHINGTON, D C. 20005 (202) 232 4000

37 1 l like to commend the staff for the work that goes in. 2 particularly in the region and on-site, in working with 3 thtse licensees and bringing it to, as I say, the fewest 4 numbir 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 e.t 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 J* 14 public eye, that we're actually tracking conformance to 15 the Performance Improvement Program? 16 MR. TAYLOR: Yes. The region, really -- I think 17 Mr. Ebneter alluded to it in his discussion of Surry -- we 18 will use largely regional rd f orts to follow and track 19 that. Most commitments are tracked and followed up on by 20 the region staff who oversee it. Perhaps-you'd like to 21 add to that. 22 MR. MIRAGLIA: In add'ition, 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 CoVRT REPORTERS ANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. (202) 234 4 433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20006 (202) 232-6000 -v

38 1 summary of the status of how that facility is doing for a 2 two-year pariod. 3 COMMISSIONER CURTISS: Okay, good, I'm pleased 4 to hear that. 5 MR. MIRAGLIA: So, it doesn't lose its 6 visibility to the Senior Managers or the agency. 7 COMMIS$1v:fER CURTISS: That's all I have. 8 CHAIRMAN CARR: It appears to me that the amount-9 of escalated enforcement action seems to be increasing, 10 especially in the materials licensing area. Can you give 11 me a reason for that? Is that increased inspection? 12 What's the story? 13 MR. BERNERO: Well, we discussed that issue at 14 the meeting, and one of the reasons is we have improved 15 the inspection program in.the materials area, over the 16-last several years, and we're finding 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 19 it hard. 20 And we did discuss at the Senior Management 21 meeting, how to cope with the resource demands that come 22 with that, which are very large in the materials area. We 23 have been allocating increasing numbers of resources in 24 the region and at headquarters, to cope with this. ';h a t ' s 25 CHAIRMAN CARR: So, how are we NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHOD". ISLAND AVENVE. N W (202) 2 % 4433 WAF 41NGToN,OC 20006 (202)mm m

30 1 1 diverting resources away from other licensing inspection 2 activities in the regions? 1 3 MR. BERNERO: It's demanding resources. It is 4 important to safety. It's significant work. It's just a 5 need that has increased in the last several years, with l 6 the increased attention to material safety inspection. 7 And we think it's necessary, and we expect that this will 8 pay off in the long run, as we get these resourc9s. I I 9 think we've got to manage these resources very carefully'. 10 MR. TAYLOR: We're keeping an eye on that 11 balance. 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 MR. TAYLOR: No, I'm not prepared to give you 19 that tFos morning, but we are doing it, and we may come up 20 with some innovative recommendations, but we don't have 21 that today. We're looking at it because we're conscious 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, see the NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W 002) N WASHINGTON. D C 20006 9 02) 232-6600 --,m--

~. 40 1 times come down so that we can meet their requirements. l 2 I HR. TAYLOR: Absolutely. 3 CHAIRMAN CARR: The time between finding the 4 fault and the enforcement action is entirely too long. b Any other questions? 6 (No response.) 7

Well, I'd like to thank the staff for this 8

briefing. Your insights into the regulatory performance 9 of our licensees are valuable to the Commission, as are 10 your continuing efforts to improve the NRC's ability to Al carry out our mission through the most efficient and 12 effective use of limited resources. 13 I continue to be encouraged by the removal of 1 q 14 yet another facility from the Category 2 list. I 15 encourage you to continue-using this system of 16 categorization as one of the tools through which the 17 agency can focus on those licensees who are.having 18 performance problems. 19 Do any of my fellow Commissioners have any 20 additional comments? 21 (No response.) 22 If not, we stand adjourned. 23 (Whereupon, at 9:58 a.m., the meeting of the 4 ' 24 Nuclear Regulatory Commission was adjourned.) .25 NEAL R. GROSS CoVRT REPoPTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N W. . (202) 234 4433 WASHINGTON. D C. 20006 (202) 232 6000

1 l t CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER This is to certify that the attached events of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission entitled TITLE OF MEETING: PERI'0DIC BRIEFING ON OPERATING REACTORS AND l FUEL FACILITIES PLACE OF MEETING: ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND DATE OF MEETING: JUNE 27, 1990 were transcribed'by me. I further certify that said 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.

bi-HAou A ~ Reporter's ns ne Phyllis Young + r e O HEAL R. GROS $ cover aseontees Aw taAuscaisens 1333 RMODI ISt&ND AVsNUE, N.W. (fot) #34 4433 wASMmeroN, D.C. 3000s (702) 232 6000

PERIODIC BRIEFING ON STATUS OF OPERATING REACTORS AND NMSS FACILITIES COMMISSION BRIEFING e JUNE 27, 1990 l J. TAYLOR SENaOR STAFF , 1 ~. ~ -, . - -. ~......

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

i L CATEGORY 2 i PLANTS AUTHORIZED TO OPERATE THAT THE NRC WILL MONITOR CLOSELY l Plants in.this category are having or j have had weaknesses that worront 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 j NINE MILE POINT 1. & 2 i 1 -s-

l t CATEGORY 3 l SHUTDOWN PLANTS REQUIRING NRC t AUTHORIZATION TO' OPERATE AND WHICH i THE NRC WILL MONITOR CLOSELY l Plants in this category are having or have j had significant weaknesses that warrant maintaining the plant in a shutdown condition l until the licensee con demonstrate to the NRC that adequate programs have both been i established and implemented to ensure f substantial improvement. I l BROWNS FERRY 1, 2, & 3 I ,f ~ ~ - > -e--.= me ,..1 g,, _____,,__a

1 i i PRIORITY MATERIAL FACILITIES COMBUSTION ENGINEERING - WINDSOR, CT PROCESS TECHNOLOGY -

ROCKAWAY, NJ

- AMERICAN RADIOLABELED CHEMICALS, MO. l .~ m. +. e .,y .,_}}