ML20071Q635

Responds to NRC Re Violations Noted in IE Insp Repts 50-266/83-01 & 50-301/83-01.Notice of Violation Inappropriately Based on Implementation of Listed Items. Fifteen-minute Notifications Inconsistent W/Minor Events

ML20071Q635
Person / Time
Site:	Point Beach
Issue date:	04/08/1983
From:	Fay C WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER CO.
To:	James Keppler NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
Shared Package
ML20071Q620	List: ML20071Q635
References
TASK-3.A.2.1, TASK-TM TAC-46259, TAC-46260, NUDOCS 8306090185
Download: ML20071Q635 (3)

Text

1 WISCONSIN Electnc m coumr 231 W. MICHIGAN, P.O. BOX 2046, MILWAUKEE WI 53201 .'

April 8, 1983 Mr. J. G. Keppler, Regional Administrator Office of Inspection and Enforcement, Region III U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 799 Roosevelt Road Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137

Dear Mr. Keppler:

DOCKET NOS. 50-266 AND 50-301

• INSPECTION REPORT NOS. 50-266/83-01 AND 50-301/83-01 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROCEDURES POINT BEACH NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2 The following is in response to your March 8, 1983 letter which forwarded Inspection Report Nos. 50-266/83-01 and 50-301/83-01 describing the findings of a routine safety inspection of emergency preparedness procedures at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant. We disagree with the finding which resulted in the Notice of Violation which was included in the letter. Our belief that the Notice of Violation is inappropriate is based upon our implementation of the following three items:

1. Requirement. As reiterated by your letters dated

January 21 and February 11, 1982, and March 8, 1983,

! Paragraph IV.D.3 of Appendix E to 10 CFR 50 states, in part, that "A licensee shall have the capability to l

notify responsible State and local governmental agencies within 15 minutes after declaring an emergency."

l i Implementation. The capability fcr State and local notification within 15 minutes was achieved with the installation of the NAWAS phone system in July 1980.

Procedures for using that system were in place by fall l 1980.

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• - Mr. J. G. Keppler April 8. 1983

2. Requirement.- Your letters of January 21 and' February 11 ,

-stated that:this notification' capability "shall include

' delegation of authority to the Shift Supervisor to promptly1 (15 minutes) notify responsible State and-county agencies of an emergency if he cannotSreach the Duty and Call Supervisor". . .

Implementation. On February 24, 1982, procedure DCS .

1.12.2 was issued. This procedure explicitly provides the Shift Supervisor the authority to proceed on his own, within 15 minutes, with red p' hone calls and Emergency Plan notifications in accordance'with the applicable procedures for each specific event.

3. Requirement. Your letters of January 21 and February 11 also stated that "the licensee shall provide to NRC '

by February 18, 1982, the State and counties' position-regarding prompt notification to them for an Unusual Event emergency at Point Beach".

Implementation. Our February 18, 1982 response stated

• " Tie State of Wisconsin Division of Emergency Government (DEG) has in the past asked that it not be notified for an Unusual Event. However, in response to recent J

discussions with NRC, DEG has. reconsidered its waiver of that notification. Our. notification procedures will be revised by March 1, 1982 to include notification of the DEG for Unusual Events." Subsequently, a revision l

to EPIP 2.3, Unusual Event - Offsite Notification, i was made to include notification of Notificationthe State of-Wisconsin of local

[ Division of Emergency Government.

l government agencies was already included in the Unusual Event notification procedure. EPIP 3.3, Alert Event - i Offsite Agency Notification, already required notification

• of both State and local governments. Both procedures i recommend initiation as soon ac possible and require ,

i it within one hour. l

' From the-above, we believe that we complied with the i regulation, your correspondence,'and our own commitments. Your March 8 letter appears to introduce a new element that notification of State and local agencies for either an Unusual Event or an Alert T i

should be explicitly required within 15 minutes. We believe that the capability for 15-minute notification, as required by Appendix E to 10 CFR 50, is intended for utilization commencurate with the - ,

seriousness of the occurrence, and does not require all situations ,

l to be' treated with the same degree of urgency. We do not consider that an " unusual event" or an " alert" should be characterized as "I

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- Mr. J. G. Keppler. j April 8, 1983 y l.

A declaring an erstgency"4 under Appondix E. Fubther,:itl appears to us that 15-minute n'atifications are inconsistent with minor

~ eve $th and wish t'o note /that NRC reqairements for notification of.s~ignificant events under 10 CFR 50t 70 allows one hour for notification to the NRC. - JL requirement to provide minute notifica' tion for Unusual Events or Alerts woGl'd be more stringent than, and in some cases inconsistent withy that required for ~

significant events as defined by the NRC. 7, ' , .

Since de believe we have complied with,the regulations as well as the ' specifics of your previous correspondence, we believe that the Notice of Violation is inappropriate. If you wish a further discussion regarding the necessity of 15-minute notification for Unusual Event and Alert occurrences, please advise.

We also wish to clarify or provide additional information regarding three other items mentioned a the inspection reports. .

1. Section 3.a. The augmentatdon drill committed to be conducted by June 1, 1903 was' held on March 5, 1983.

2. Section 4.c.. Procurement of a ne"w permanent Post-Accident Sampling System has beein cancelled as noted in item 6 of our February 21,1983 / letter to the NRC Office of Nuclear' Reactor Regulation (attached). Please

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note that the new system das originally proposed for our own convenience but never required by NRC and that the existing system meets ERC Lessons Learned requirements.

3. Section 6.i. The specified-dates are nct wholly precise.

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The first revision of lesson plan EPLP-3, which includes training on EPIP 1.5, was issued on June 15, 1982.

Training in accordance with the revision also began in June 1982.

Please' contact us if you require any further clarification of this information.

Very truly yours,

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Vice President'-Nuclear Power C. W. Fa'y _

Attachment Copy to NRC Resident Inspector

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%%SCORSin ElecMc rowca.mr 231 W. MICHIGAN, P.O. BOX 204 MitWAdAEE WI 53201

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, May 23,~1983 Mr. J. G. Keppfer,RegionalAdministrator

@Q s Office of Inspection and Enforcement, Region III

'" U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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, 799 Roosevelt Road

' Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137

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Dear Mr. Keppler:

T k* DOCKET NOS. 50-266 AND 50-301 g ,

INSPECTION-REPORT NOS. 50-266/83-01 AND 60-301/83-01

. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROCEDURES ~

POINT BEACH NUCLEA'R PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2 u,

' T As a result of the subject inspection report transmitted sby your letter of March 8, 1983 and our response of April 8, 1983, a'conferen'ce telephone call was. held on May 17, 1983 between -

Messrs. Axelson and Snell of your staff and Messrs. Fay and Lipke

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of Wisconsin Electric. This letter documents the agreement reached in the course of that call regarding the timing requirements for

' g' s notification of state and local agencies for an Unusual Event or s

an Alert.

, s s 1. For an Unusual Event, EPIP 2.3 requires that notification "should be initiated as soon as possible after the

'. initia-1 classification and must be initiated within one

. , hour of the initial classification". Your staff agrees

,,.' that this timing satisfies the intent of the regulations for an Unusual Event.

Y 'C' 2.' For an Alert, EPIP 3.3 will be revised to require that

-notification "must be initiated within about 15 minutes i- of the initial classification as an Alert".

^ f ' '3 - Wisconsin Electric Power Company agrees to have the 1 revised procedure in place by July 1, 1983.

Very truly yours, st b ,

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} , f, Vice Prasident- uclear Power

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