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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~ Letter Numbert HO-900133 (0) j x ty i

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, United Stat'es-Nuclear Regulatory Commission-

' Washington, DC.20555 MD ,, )

!i SHEARON' HARRIS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ~!

q DOCKET NO. 50-400: :1 i[w

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LICENSE NO. NPF-6^

' REPLY TO A NOTICE-OF VIJLATION 1 'i j

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

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

. 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 g(,, e satisfactory.fortresolution of-the, item.

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'Thank you forjfour consideration;in'this matter. 1

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," Very truly yours, e,

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

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Harris Nuclear Project MD na . , , MCWidsiw I

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h% 3 1 Enclosure. .

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

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Q3. 6 Mr. S. = D.'. Enneter, (NRC - RII)- '

OM Mr.'J. E.:Tedrow.(NRC - SHNPP) m e ,

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p Kj, ATTACHMENT TO CP&L LETTER OF RESPONSE '*

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. TO NRC I.E. REPORT RIIt > 50-400/90-131 9 f.

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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

. p . outlined in Appendix A of Regulatory Guide; 1.33, Revisi n' 2, t i Februaryf l978. a Regulatory 1 Cuide ~1.33, Appendix A, paragraph. 8.b ~ requires ,

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.that written procedures be providedLfor=surveillanca .ests.. r i,

.. Operation' Surveillance Test OST-1004,- Power' Range Daily Heat e ~ Balance, -provides the steps necessary to adjust the power :

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

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.. ' control valves.-- 1

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

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

. properly - implemented, . in' that blowdownn was lef t - in  ;

.  : service during'the performance of the surveillance < test.- T, a

k, 2.1 On June 27,_1990, EST-717 wasi not properly" implemented, Lin : that the' calorimetric: power levels ' recorded on b

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

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0: 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 for daily adjus tmere the Excore power range ; flux  ;

i s detectors to calorimetric power.. . 0ST-1004 was ' never written (o'r - intended) to be' c'ompatible with EST-717.

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4: .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, q Operations Surveillance, Periodic, and. Reliability f

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Tests,- Step 5.3.5.C provides operating : personnel with ,

the flexibility to mark procedure steps as "N/A" if they

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• are. not. applicable. As La result, -the Operations.  ;

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

.t! thisiprocedure is performed for.EST-717. This practice

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

s and. Reactor Engineering staff to'.believe that.they had a 4 y , 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 1 solation can lead to steam generator chemistry

@ 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

' tear o on the ? blowdown -valves and potential.c chemistry J problems has resulted . in a 2 great < reluctance on . the cpart .

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of' Operations-personnel to~ perform EST-717 with blowdown-

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5 isolated. .  ;

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

! , O performance of the calorimetrie . with blowdown out 'of [

' service provided a- conse iatively. high indication of '

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<reactora power of less than '2% (2% is . the current 1'y allowed . deviation of Excore detector .and' . calorimetric 7 power) and would'be normalized.to a: correct value during'

,[ the,: process of electrical calibration of ' the Excore f:lS detectors. Over time, the Reactor Engineers permitted

, operationsL personnel to not isolate blowdown during

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

' incorrect and because the precedent had already been established to mark steps of OST-1004 as '!N/A" when used . I

, with EST-717.

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DE~  ; The performance 'of OST-1004 without1 isolating blowdown

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y duringl EST-717 has become a - standard practice- over; the j last three years. > On- June 29, L1990, while implementing -

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., . the EST-717 calibration,- the~ electrical- technician- [

F , invol.vedLidentified'a: 1.7 percent difference between the ~ (

a ' expected and indicated power during an intersiediate step .;

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

' difference. The technician wasi correct in questioning j larger; than- expected calibration- ' differences- but i completion of the: calibration procedure would have

' corrected the problem.

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I On : June 29,:1990, Reactor:-Engineering 1 personnel - were  ;

alerted' to .'the observed. difference in detector- )

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calibration and. agreed to modify the inputs to the'

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g 1 . FDELTI program calculation as specified in EST-717,LStep 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 m

procedural guidance. j k .-

• 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- ,

iE . EST-717. .

0MM-007; provided- operations .

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

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

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applicable. . Operations _ personnel bypassed the

% 's undesirable -steps 'of the- procedure, hence,  ;

s blowdo'wn was left in servicer j l, b. 'The Reactor Engineering staff- had the- j

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

implementing EST-717. EST-717 never1 had ~ a .

g,, requirement for bl owdown to' be out of 4' r service. The Reactor Engineers saw that the performa' n ce' of OST-!004 with blowdown in service as an acceptable alternative and hence J

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were permissive to ' operations N/A of this OST-1004 requirement. ,i

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Reason for. Item 2 of; Violations "f

NOTE: ' Item 2'of= violation should-be re-stated as , )

'> 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. "

[ adjusted, without written procedural guidance,  !

for input. iv o the E FDELTI" computer program ,

, noted in St_ep_7.5.6.  :

l, .a. Implementation of ' the EST-717 calibration was j delayed = -from ' Wednesday,. . June.27. until' l

', 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.'

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, Corrective Steps Taken and Results Achieved. 4

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

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

for the ' past' sevetal' months. ' Ai=new approach to - power

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

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S 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. ;This i

. 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 yl.7 ,

any blowdown. corrections < to the results. This action

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,will'be completed September 19, 1990.

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-Corrective Steps Taken'to Prevent Further,Violationst f' '

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

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

, $; i . , 3 OST-1004'and corrected if' proper-performance of OST-1004

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would lead;to procedura14 deficiencies'. '4 14 e

e D es 2. Reactor! Engineering personnel will be cautioned to look j h ', , mort carefully . at ' -procedure steps that cannot be l f **, 3.,

4 acconusodated and to change- 'those procedures as L 4 .  : expeditiously'as possible. >

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}f ' ' ."6 Data Full Comp 11ance will be Achieved I

Ful1~ o compliance' is 'expecteds to be .'- achieved .by -

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tober 31, 1990.;

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