ML20114A172

Nuclear Oversight Committee Fifth Quarterly Rept

ML20114A172
Person / Time
Site:	Salem
Issue date:	01/18/1985
From:	Gottlieb M, Levy S, Rogers K Public Service Enterprise Group
To:
Shared Package
ML20114A163	List: ML20114A160 ML20114A172
References
NUDOCS 8501250573
Download: ML20114A172 (5)

Text

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NUCLEAR OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE FIFTH OUARTERLY REPORT JANUARY 18, 1985 Membership:

Dr.

M.

R. Gottlieb, Chairman Dr. S. Levy Dr. K. C. Rogers Admiral E. P. Wilkinson Dr.

W.

F. Witzig l

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PAGE 1 NUCLEAR OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE FIFTH OUARTERLY REPORT The fif th regular meeting of the Nuclear Oversight Committee (NOC) of Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSR&G) took place on the evening of December 5, 1984 and on December 6 and 7, 1984.

Management Response to NOC Ouarterly Report of October 22, 1984 NOC finds that the Management response to the quarterly report of October 22, 1984 recognized the NOC concerns and addressed each one.

The Availability and Capacity Factor Improvement Task Force has been commissioned and is assigned the tasks of identifying ways of improving failure and root-cause analyses.

The Reliability and Assessment Group will examine the record of past equipment failures and reactor trips to determine whether generic patterns exist.

NOC looks forward to reviewing the findings of both groups at the March meeting.

The problem of DCR and DCP backlogs is being addressed in several ways.

A Change Control Board has been established to exercise better screening and priority assignments to both new and backlogged design change requests.

A new " Integrated Living Schedule" will make possible adjustments in scheduling to meet changing priorities and available resources.

Additional contract personnel have been added to reduce the backlog of DCRs awaiting final documentation.

NOC notes the serious attention being paid to the improvement of engineering support for Salem Station operations.

This area was discussed at the December meeting and is commented upon later in this report.

Action Plan Status With minor exceptions, the Action Plan is on schedule.

Of the 26 Action Plans involving NRC commitments, 12 are now complete, with another 8 over 90% complete.

Of the total estimated manpower required for all Action Plans, about 50% has VdC,15 now been expended with about 2/3 of the remainder required for Plan 2.7.3, Information Systems, which is to be the last, plan to be completed (NRC commitment date of 6/87).

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~ Concern was expressed by the Action Plan Program Director as to whether the following four Action Plans can be completed on times-Action Plan 2.2.2 Commitment Identification, Tracking and Close-out 2.4.1 Maintaining Plant Cleanliness and General Appearance at a High Standard 2.4.4 Site Protection and Emergency Preparedness pdGS 2.6.2 Enhancing Maintenance Planning, Monitoring and Control While the delays seem minor and do not represent a threat to operations or safety, NOC feels that as a matter of internal pride and of credibility to the NRC, every effort should be made to meet commitments.

ManaQement attention is urged.

The implementation and evaluation processes, associated with some of the Action Plans do not in some cases form part of the NRC commitments.

NOC strongly urges that in all cases implementation and evaluation plans he developed, includino schedules, milestones, and assignment of responsibilities.

NOC expects to review on a continuing basis the implementation and evaluation activities.

Engineering Organization Considerable progress has been made under Action Plan 2.4.5 l

"To Strengthen the Nuclear Engineering Organization and Improve Coordiantion Between Nuclear Engineering and Operations."

In particular, a review of the Nuclear Engineering organizational structure is being carried out to enhance engineering capability to efficiently and effectively support plant operations.

Also, i

a minor DCR System is being developed to permit accelerated I

implementation of minor changes requested by Salem Operations.

f(klb The NOC recommends that the implementation of these two' programs be accelerated and that adequate engineering resources be l

committed to " mother" the specific power plant systems they are assioned.

NOC further supports the assignment of an appropriate number of encineers to Plant Operations.

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Maintenance Work Order Racklog

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At the last NOC meeting the committee noted the effectiveness of the Maintenance Department in reducing the work IUNo4 order backlog from a peak value of some 3,000 work orders to less than 1,300.

This performance has not continued as the present backlog now numbers the same as a year age, approximately 1,800.

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The primary contributors to this increased backlog are Unit 2 outage and the general non-outage _ backlog.

Unit 1 outage work orders declined during this same time period.

Management is encouraged to give this matter th-e same JMt attention it previously gave to this issue which greatly reduced the backlog.

NOC notes that an outage manager position has been created with project management responsibilities for monies, personnel and schedule.

This is a positive step.

Audits NOC notes that. audits from many sources are becoming more numerous and more extensive.

It is apparent that these audits place an ever-increasing load on management.

NOC raises the question as to the extent of overlap between these audits and (J(J whether the resulting burden may even affect plant safety and operations.: NOC has requested more detailed information which will provide a basis for discussions at the March NOC meeting, j/

SALP Report

'N The recent SALP report designated several areas where deviciencies were observed.

What is' important is that prompt corrective action be taken with specific responsibility for bl N correction being assigned to specific individuals.

It was not clear to NOC whether specific responsibilities had been allocated J to individuals in this respect.

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Persistent Problems h

NOC notes that there are persistent feed water problems which are being alleviated but not resolved.

While'these problems do not represent a direct threat to safety they do pgg affect operations.

Several methods are under test which may provide additional alleviation.

NOC raises the question as to M2.

whether PSE&G Research Corp. could provide assistance.

NOC further has requested information from both Operations and Engineering as to what other persistent problems exist in the Salem Plant.

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EHC System NOC notes that the Salem Unit 1 plant trips in November, 1984'were rapidly traced to the EHC system.

Further the subst!tution of " manual" operation of the turbine while. seeking the " root cause" of the difficulty is a prudent action.

Likewise the prompt investigation of the problem by the manufacturer who used a simulator and an outside expert 'is commendable.

These apparently intermittent failures are difficult.

Where the NOC believes this problem requires improved dgt attention is in the following:

gjpg A prompt autopsy of the " cards" used in the controller was in order.

The cards were located on a portable : test table several weeks after.the trip.

There is a question whether the monitoring equipment being used on the controller would indicate an intermittent failure involving fast transients.

It is unfortunate that, due to conflicting demands, there appears to be minimum or no Nuclear Engineering involvement.

j Engineerina Manpower

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NOC notes 'that engineering staf fing 'is now close to targets.

There do seem to be shortages in at least one type of skill--digital circuit engineering.

While such personnel are -

RAf3 hard to find, the need will surely increase as the sophistication of instrumentation and control systems increases.

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