ML20135F072
| ML20135F072 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Millstone, Haddam Neck File:Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co icon.png |
| Issue date: | 12/02/1996 |
| From: | Shirley Ann Jackson, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Lieberman J SENATE |
| References | |
| CCS, NUDOCS 9612120334 | |
| Download: ML20135F072 (4) | |
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UNITED STATES y
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION g
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December 2, 1996 CHAIRMAN The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman United States Senate Washington, D.C.
20510
Dear Senator Lieberman:
I am writing to provide you an update on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) efforts at Northeast Utilities' Millstone and Haddam Neck facilities.
l Several significant activities have taken place since my last status report of June 18, 1996.
On June 28, 1996, the Commission designated the Millstone station a Category 3 facility on the NRC Watchlist.
Plants in this category have significant weaknesses that warrant maintaining the plant in a shutdown condition and require that the NRC staff obtain Commission approval prior to restart.
During my visit to the Millstone area on August 6,1996, I announced that the Commission would require Northeast Utilities to obtain an independent assessment of the results of its programs aimed at resolving existing design deficiencies at the Millstone units. On August 14, 1996, the NRC staff issued a Confirmatory Order (Enclosure 1) confirming the licensee's commitment to establish an independent corrective action verification program (ICAVP). The i
ICAVP is intended to verify the adequacy of Northeast Utilities' efforts to j
establish adequate design bases and design controls, including translation of the design bases into operating procedures and maintenance and testing practices, verification of system performance, and implementation of j
modifications since issuance of the initial facility operating licenses.
NRC's oversight of the ICAVP and related activities will be separate from, and in addition to, the activities described in the restart assessment plan discussed below. The results from this program will be incorporated into the restart plan and considered significant input into the NRC's decision regarding recommended restart. The Connecticut Nuclear Energy Advisory Council co-chairs have been encouraged to participate as observers of the ICAVP.
To focus more regulatory attention on these issues, the NRC has established a i
Special Projects Office (SP0) within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) to oversee inspection and licensing activities at the Millstone site.
This new office will be managed by Dr. William D. Travers.
In addition to licensing and inspection activities, the office will be responsible for (1) oversight of the ICAVP, (2) oversight of Northeast Utilities' corrective actions related to safety issues involving employee concerns, and (3) inspections necessary to implement NRC oversight of the plant's restart V(Og/
activities. The Special Project Office also will have responsibility for g
regulatory activities at the Haddam Neck plant, unless Northeast Utilities decides to shut down the plant permanently.
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2 To address the licensee's chronic problem of dealing effectively with concerned employees, the NRC, on October 24, 1996, issued an order that directs Northeast Utilities to devise and implement a comprehensive plan for handling safety concerns raised by Millstone employees and for ensuring an environment free from retaliation and discrimination. The order additionally requires Northeast Utilities to enter into a contract with an independent third party to oversee the employee concerns program.
The third party will be responsible for reporting periodically to the NRC and the licensee the results of its findings and recommendations. The reports from this third party and the licensee's response to these reports will be reviewed for restart issues.
In March 1996, a task force was set up to review the January 1996 work force reduction at Northeast Utilities to determine if the process was utilized to discriminate against employees who had raised safety concerns. The task force completed its efforts in mid-April and orally reported its findings to senior NRC management.
Subsequently, the Office of Investigations (01) initiated two investigations regarding several complaints. 01 is presently pursuing these matters.
In mid-September, the task force was asked to document its findings and a report has now been completed.
The task force report and the 01
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investigations are part of the review being conducted by the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
At the present time, the NRC is evaluating potential enforcement actions concerning the spent fuel pool and design bases issues. There are also potential enforcement actions that may result from the efforts of the Office of Investigations, the allegation process review group, the Office of the Inspector General, special team inspection, routine resident and regional inspection efforts, and the 10 CFR 2.206 petition process. The Office of Enforcement has lead responsibility for this process.
Issues that result from this process will be evaluated to determine whether they present restart issues. Any restart issue identified will be formalized and incorporated into the restart assessment plan. A copy of the special team inspection report, which was issued on September 20, 1996, is provided (Enclosure 2).
From a system-wide perspective, the Commission currently perceives the restart assessment process as incorporating several major elements. These include the
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licensee's Improving Station Performance Program (ISP), the Independent Corrective Action Verification Program, the establishment of a comprehensive action plan regarding employee concerns, responses to enforcement actions, and the Operational Safety Team Inspection (OSTI). The NRC staff has formed a Millstone Restart Panel that provides direct oversight of Millstone activities. The Restart Panel has developed the Millstone Station Restart Assessment Plan (Enclosure 3), which encompasses the NRC Manual Chapter (MC) 0350, " Staff Guidelines for Restart Approval." The assessment plan is applicable to Millstone Unit 3, which Northeast Utilities indicates is the first unit expected to be ready for restart consideration, and will be maintained and updated as necessary.
The restart plans for Units 1 and 2 will address issues common to all Millstone units and will be supplemented with unit-specific technical issues.
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Nevertheless, you should be aware that recent personnel changes at Northeast Utilities and management action to address the recovery process for each of the Millstone units may affect the licensee's restart process and schedule.
Moreover, NRC's Restart Panel has met and will continue to meet frequently with the licensee and the public regarding the major elements of the restart process. As a result, we expect the restart-assessment plan will need to be t
updated periodically.
The Director of NRR and the head of the SP0 will keep the Commission informed of the staff's oversight and the licensee's restart plans through Commission papers, periodic briefings, and communications through the Executive Director for Operations (ED0). At an appropriate time, the Millstone Restart Panel will provide its recommendation for restart approval to the Director of the SP0.
The EDO, after discussions with the SP0 Director, the Regional Administrator, and the Director of NRR, will make a recommendation to the Commission regarding restart for each Millstone unit. Upon receipt of a staff recommendation, the Commission will hold a meeting to assess the recommendation and then vote on whether to approve the restart of the unit.
With regard to the Haddam Neck facility, the license shut the plant down on July 22, 1996, as required by the facility Technical Specifications, because of concerns that the containment air recirculation fan service water piping may exceed design loads during certain accident scenarios. The licensee determined that these concerns and other hardware and programmatic concerns identified before ar.d during this forced outage should be resolved prior to restarting the plant. Thus, the licensee decided to begin Refueling Outage 19 on August 17, 1996. However, on October 9, 1996, the owners of Haddam Neck said that an economic analysis of operations, expenses, and the cost of replacement power indicated that a permanent shutdown of the plant seems likely. A final decision by the licensee's Board of Trustees is pending.
The NRC will continue to oversee the licensee's specific actions pe'iding receipt of a final decision.
On July 31, 1996, the NRC published the results of a special inspection H
performed by NRR of engineering and licensing activities at the Haddam Neck station. The inspection identified programmatic weaknesses and apparent violations of NRC regulatory requirements in the areas of design calculations and analyses; problem identification and corrective actions; licensing and design basis documentation; operations; and material classifications. The inspection found process issues which were similar to some of those identified during the inspections at Millstone 1.
The NRC is evaluating potential enforcement actions as a result of these findings.
I hope the actions which I generally have described above, and the further details contained in the enclosures to this letter, will assure you that we are expending the necessary resources to verify that Northeast Utilities is performing the actions required for restart of each of its units.
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Additionally, our respective staffs will continue to remain in frequent contact regarding evolving issues related to Northeast Utilities and the safe operation of its units.
Sincerely, i
Enclosures:
1.
Confirmatory Order of l
August 14, 1996 2.
Special Team Inspection Report dated September 20, 1996 3.
Millstone Station Restart i
Assessment Plan i
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