ML20059H418

Responds to NRC Re Violations Noted in Insp Rept 50-400/90-13.Corrective Action:Changes to EST-717 in Area of Power Normalization Under Study for Past Several Months

ML20059H418
Person / Time
Site:	Harris
Issue date:	09/06/1990
From:	Richey R CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
CON-NRC-726 HO-900133-(O), NUDOCS 9009170156
Download: ML20059H418 (6)

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'8EP: 6 1990 Herres Nuctew Proket :.

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~ Letter Numbert HO-900133 (0) j x

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United Stat'es-Nuclear Regulatory Commission-

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!i SHEARON' HARRIS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

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DOCKET NO. 50-400:

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LICENSE NO. NPF-6^

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' REPLY TO A NOTICE-OF VIJLATION j

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' In" reference, to your > letter of ' August 7,1989, referring. to. I.E.

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Report'; RII31 50-400/90-13,. the '; attached Jis - Carolina Power and '

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LightlCompany's. reply to the violation identified in Enclosura 1.

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? It Ji's? considered ; thAt Lthe J corrective actions.teken/plar.ned are satisfactory.fortresolution of-the, item.

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'Thank you forjfour consideration;in'this matter.

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lii; 2p' Very truly yours, pc l,

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N.[f R.B.-Richey, Man /ger Harris Nuclear Project

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Enclosure.

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cct' Mr. R. A.3 Becker.(NRC)

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6 Mr. S. = D.'. Enneter, (NRC - RII)-

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p Kj, ATTACHMENT TO CP&L LETTER OF RESPONSE n

. TO NRC I.E. REPORT RIIt > 50-400/90-131 y

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A Reported Violationt' "l

JE Technical Specification 6.8.1.a requires that written-procedures be established and implemented' covering procedures J

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. outlined in Appendix A of Regulatory Guide; 1.33, Revisi n' 2, t

i Februaryf 978.

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Regulatory 1 Cuide ~1.33, Appendix A, paragraph. 8.b ~ requires

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.that written procedures be providedLfor=surveillanca.ests..

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Operation' Surveillance Test OST-1004,- Power' Range Daily Heat

~ Balance, -provides the steps necessary to adjust the power :

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.rangs-nuclear instruments. Step 2-of this procedure'requirest l that-blowdown-be / isolated by shutting the _ blowdown flow L

' control valves.--

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n Engineering Surveillance Test' EST-717, Incore/Excore Detector Calibration,..provides?'then steps necessary :to obtain';the' l _

appropriate data-f'om procedure OST-1004. Steps 5, 60, 9,J11-h,i and'.13 of7procedere EST-717 require that data'from procedure

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0ST-1004 be taken and-recorded on Attachment V.

Contrary to the above ei

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On June 26:and' June,27,51990,-' procedure _0ST-1004 was>not

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. properly - implemented,. in' that blowdown was lef t - in n

service during'the performance of the surveillance < test.-

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k, 2.1 On June 27,_1990, EST-717 wasi not properly" implemented, j!

Lin : that the' calorimetric: power levels ' recorded on b

I Attachment V differed from 03T-1004 data.

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..This is a ~ Severity: Level IV violation (Supplement 1). -

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R Denial or~ Admission-and Reason for the Violation.

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-Item'one of the violation is denied and item two is admitted.

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Background i

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EST-717- "Incore/Excore Detector Calibration," generates the information'needed to calibrate the Excore-Detectors d

a the ~ Incori flux d t,tribution.

EST-717 makes use of A

OSI-1004,- " Power ~ Rs Balance' Dally EInterval C

. Mode 1 (above 15% y ost-1004 is used primarily

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for daily adjus tmere the Excore power range ; flux detectors to calorimetric power... 0ST-1004 was ' never i

s written (o'r - intended) to be' c'ompatible with EST-717.

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.Most_ steps of OST-1004, with the exception of'those used

',, 4 to generate a calorimetric power level, are Lirrelevant l

M when - used for EST-717 ' data input.-. Procedure OMM-007, Operations Surveillance,

Periodic, and. Reliability qf Tests,- Step 5.3.5.C provides operating : personnel with

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the flexibility to mark procedure steps as "N/A" if they are. not. applicable.

As La result, -the Operations.

' personnel mark numerous steps of OST-1004 as."N/A" when

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thisiprocedure is performed for.EST-717.

This practice of markir.g certain steps of OST-1004 as "N/A".has'been-in. place since cpele 1 1 and led the Operations personnel g

and. Reactor Engineering staff to'.believe that.they had a 4

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great' amount of discretica in implementing OST-1004 when used to support.EST-717.

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'Over the. past several ' years, the isolation of steam-a generator blowdown has become an. operational problem.

Complete 1 solation can lead to steam generator chemistry 1

problems ifisecured for an - extended = period of time. '

Completion 'o f. EST-717 takes L about 12 : hours.- and can

" require up to 11 initiations of-OST-1004..The wear and l

on the ? blowdown -valves and potential.c chemistry

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problems has resulted. in a 2 great < reluctance on. the cpart.

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y; of' Operations-personnel to~ perform EST-717 with blowdown-5 isolated..

Several ' years ago,- the Reactor. Engineers noted. that O

performance of the calorimetrie. with blowdown out 'of

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' service provided a-conse iatively. high indication of

<reactora power of less than '2% (2% is. the current 1'y c~>

allowed. deviation of Excore detector.and'. calorimetric 7

power) and would'be normalized.to a: correct value during'

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the,: process of electrical calibration of ' the Excore f:l detectors.

Over time, the Reactor Engineers permitted S

operationsL personnel to not isolate blowdown during

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they did: not see the practice as OST-1004-because

' incorrect and because the precedent had already been I

established to mark steps of OST-1004 as '!N/A" when used.

with EST-717.

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The performance 'of OST-1004 without1 isolating blowdown

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duringl EST-717 has become a - standard practice-over; the j

y' last three years. > On-June 29, L1990, while implementing -

1 the EST-717 calibration,- the~ electrical-technician-

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invol.vedLidentified'a: 1.7 percent difference between the

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' expected and indicated power during an intersiediate step

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L in theLcalibration procedure.- Had the: calibration been L

fully implemented, L the : Excore detector would have teen

,l adjusted back1 to the expected power and resulted in an

- insignificant -error ~ in the indicated axial-flux

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The technician wasi correct in questioning j

larger; than-expected calibration- ' differences-but i

completion of the: calibration procedure would have

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' corrected the problem.

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On : June 29,:1990, Reactor:-Engineering 1 personnel -

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.'the observed. difference in detector-

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calibration and. agreed to modify the inputs to the' g

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. FDELTI program calculation as specified in EST-717,LStep

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7.5.6 to compensate for - blowdown rather than repeat 15~

hours-(EST-717 and FMP-101) of testing. This adjustment:

was' " technically. correct,: but done without ' written 2 i

y procedural guidance.

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Reason.for Denial-of Item 1 of Violation J-i a.

EST-717 makes use of af procedure (OST-1004) which was not adapted to the> specific needs of-

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. personnel : with: thei flexibility to mark "N/A"-

EST-717.

0MM-007; provided-operations q-

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for those: steps s of D procedu'res that; are ' no't

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r applicable.. Operations _ personnel bypassed the undesirable -steps 'of the-procedure, hence,

's blowdo'wn was left in servicer j

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'The Reactor Engineering staff-had the-j f*

res,ponsibility for both.. developing- -and k

implementing EST-717.

EST-717 never1 had ~ a.

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requirement for bl owdown to' be out of service.

The Reactor Engineers saw that the 4

r performa' ce' of OST-!004 with blowdown in n

service as an acceptable alternative and hence were permissive to ' operations N/A of this J

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OST-1004 requirement.

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Reason for. Item 2 of; Violations "f

NOTE:

' Item 2'of= violation should-be re-stated as

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follows:

OnDJune-29,-1990, EST-717 Ewas f not _: properly _

.e, implemented, 4.n that ' thef calorimetric power-l levels recorded on-Attachment : VI were.

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adjusted, without written procedural guidance, for input. iv o the E FDELTI" computer program noted in St_ep_7.5.6.

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Implementation of ' the EST-717 calibration was j

delayed = -from ' Wednesday,.. June.27.

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Friday,-June 29 in the late morning.

Te-4 Reactor. Engineer believed-1 that: it was en:

f acceptable l alternative to perform a s ih.,,l e i

adjustment' to'the. measured data, to compensate.

for blowdown.. The resulting calculation _was -

j technically adequate, ;however,-?the Reactor-Engineer did not.

initiate. an advanced

. procedure ' change: to ' forma 11yL implement the p,

' correction.'

j Corrective Steps Taken and Results Achieved.

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Cha'nges. to : EST-717 in_ the areat ofo power normalization e

havelbeen under study: (independent - of ;this violation) n:0

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for the ' past' sevetal' months.

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' Ai=new approach to - power n

normalization? ~ wilt = be' implementedi before.the.-next

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required ~ periodic use.of;EST-717, which wil1Jboth remove-1

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thei requirement : for. performance Lof f OST-1004(and improve -

the Naccuracy of the ;Incore/Excore L calibration.

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. action will make EST-717L indeper. dent 'of whether: blowdown.

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'is in; or out :of, ssevice and - will avoid!the ~ need ' to make M

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any blowdown. corrections < to the results.

This action

,will'be completed September 19, 1990.

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-Corrective Steps Taken'to Prevent Further,Violationst h

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Engineering - surveillance tests. that ?:are under Reactor i

Ef Engineer's control -will be reviewed. for the. 'use' of.

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OST-1004'and corrected if' proper-performance of OST-1004 3

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Reactor! Engineering personnel will be cautioned to look h ',

mort carefully. at ' -procedure steps that cannot be l

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acconusodated and to change- 'those procedures as 4

expeditiously'as possible.

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compliance' is

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