ML20136D657

Weekly Info Rept for Wk Ending 970228

ML20136D657
Person / Time
Issue date:	03/05/1997
From:	Blaha J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:
References
SECY-97-057, SECY-97-057-R, SECY-97-57, SECY-97-57-R, WIR-970228, NUDOCS 9703120441
Download: ML20136D657 (25)

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March 5. 1997 SECY 97-05Z l 1

l For: The Commissioners From: James L. Blaha Assistant for Operations. Office of the EDO l Sub.iect: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 28, 1997 Contents Enclosure Nuclear Reactor Regulation A .

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards B l Nuclear Regulatory Research C* i Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data D General Counsel E*

Administration F Chief Information Officer G i Chief Financial Officer H* l Personnel I Small Business & Civil Rights J* i Enforcement K* 1 State Programs (* l Public Affairs M i International Programs N

Office of the Secretary 0* l Region I P l Region II P  ;

Region III P l Region IV P l Executive Director for Operations 0*

Congressional Affairs R

• No input this week.

W,p taha james l

James L. Blaha l Assistant for Operations. OEDO l l

Contact:

l M. Biamonte. OEDO [q o g l Document Name: C:\ WEEK 228.

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03/p/97 03/f,/97 i

9703120441 970305 PDR COMMS NRCC

, .WEEKLYINFOREPT PDR

4 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORI COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D. C. 20666 INFORMATION REPORT March 5. 1997 SECY 97-057 For: The Commissioners From: James L. Blaha, Assistant for Operations Office of the EDO Subiect: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 28, 1997 Contents Enclosure Nuclear Reactor Regulation A Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards B Nuclear Regulatory Research C*

Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data D General Counsel E*

Administration F 1 Chief Information Officer G l Chief Financial Officer H* I Personnel I Small Business & Civil Rights J*

Enforcement K* l State Programs L*

t Public Affairs M International Programs N Office of the Secretary 0*

Region I P Region II P Region III P Region IV P Executive Director for Operations 0*

Congressional Affairs R

• No input this week.

p ames L. Blaha Assistant for Operations, OEDO

Contact:

M. Biamonte, OEDO l l

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Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation  !

Items of Interest l

Week Ending February 28, 1997 Maintenance Rule Baseline Insoection HoDe Creek A maintenance rule baseline insp'ection was conducted during the week of February 24-28. 1997, at the Hope Creek facility. The inspection tecm was i made up of Herb Williams, team leader; several inspectors from RI

Rich l Travis, a PRA s)ecialist contractor from Brookhaven National Labs: and John  ;

Wilcox. NRR/DRC4/HQMB as support staff. Glenn Meyer. Chief of the Operator i Licensing and Human Performance Branch RI. attended team briefings with the l licensee and the exit meeting on Friday. February 28, 1997.  !

South Texas Pro.iect. Unit 2 -- Steam Generator (SG) Insoection Results

- The STP-2 SGs are Model E with alloy 600 tubing (hydraulically expanded in the 4

tubesheet), stainless steel tube support plates, and about 4844 tubes per SG. '

1 As a result of SG eddy current testing during the current refueling outage.

the licensee will be plugging a total of 601 tubes. . The majority of the tube i plugging is due to axial indications at hot leg tube support plates (TSPs). '

The licensee believes that the indications are from outside diameter stress corrosion cracking. These results show a significant increase in degradation from the last inspection, when only 11 tubes were plugged and total previous i plugging after the last inspection was less than 0.5%.

In accordance with the TSs. the inspection results are Category C-3 since I more than 1% of the inspected tubes were determined to be defective. In i accordance with TS 4.4.5.5.c. the licensee submitted a special report on  !

February 21, 1997, prior to placing the plant in Mode 4 which occurred )

February 23, 1997.

The licensee was granted approval on May 22, 1996, to use voltage based repair criteria at STP-1. They intend to apply for alternate plugging criteria (APC) on STP-2 in the near future. The staff informed the licensee that the STP-2 amendment will not be a straightforward application of the Generic Letter 95-05 criteria since these criteria (for example, the inspection techniques and voltage based correlations) were developed for plants with carbon steel TSPs.

As noted previously. STP-2 has stainless steel TSPs. STP-1 has carbon steel TSPs. The licensee indicated that they did not pull tubes last outage and will not pull any tubes this outage. They expect to pull tubes during the next refueling outage.

FEBRUARY 28. 1997 ENCLOSURE A

Maine Yankee Maine Yankee is in refueling mode. On February 12, 1997, the licensee announced that it was entering its 1997 refueling outage ahead of schedule due to fuel problems. The licensee plans to replace 92 of 217 fuel assemblies to support an 18-month operating cycle after restart.

Outaae Plan The licensee is developing its outage plan. New fuel is expected to be delivered no sooner than June 1997. Outage activities include resolution of the issues identified in the staff's Confirmatory Action Letter, as  !

supplemented. These issues include cable separation problems, logic circuit i functional testing issues (GL 96-01), and design related and configuration  !

control issues. They also include amendment of the Station Service Power '

Technical Specification (TS 3.12) to require operability of two 115 kV offsite power sources during power operation.

The licensee will begin steam generator (SG) inspections durin the first week of April. During 1994. Maine Yankee shut down due to SG tube eakage in excess of TS limits. During SG ins)ections in 1995, the licensee identified cracking in most tubes above the tu)e sheet. The facility remained shut down for the remainder of 1995 for sleeve repair of all three SGs. The upcoming inspection will be the first since restart from the sleeving outage. The licensee plans to begin with plus Joint probe inspection of' areas identified through industry experience as hig1-risk areas.

ISA Enforcement Conference The staff will conduct an enforcement conference open for public observation, at the Maine Yankee site on March 11, 1997. This conference is related to the l Independent Safety Assessment conducted in 1996. The licensee intends to I provide a written response to the identified issues before the meeting. At the meeting, they expect to address their plans to resolve the broader implications of these and other issues.

Staff Activities NRR and Region I staff are developing the charter of the Maine Yankee Assessment Panel (MYAP) using the guidance in IMC 0350. The MYAP will develop plans to assess the adequacy of the licensee's actions before restart and the effectiveness of the licensee's long-term performance improvement plans. The formation of the MYAP will be documented in a letter to the licensee in the near future. The MYAP met on February 27 in Region I.

LaSalle. Units 1 and 2 -- Meetinas On Indeoendent Self Assessments On 02/20/97 Comed held public meetings near LaSalle and Zion to discuss the findings of the Independent Self Assessment teams. The ISA teams were commissioned by Comed in late 1996 to provide a comprehensive assessment of performance and to identify the fundamental causes for poor performance. The teams found deficiencies in each of the functional areas that they reviewed FEBRUARY 28. 1997 ENCLOSURE A

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! and identified four fundamental root causes at both LaSalle and Zion: (1) no l 1

consistent commitment to excellence. (2) ineffective leadership. (3) failure j to establish consistently high standards, and (4) lack of necessary management.

skills. Each meeting consisted of a summary of the team's findings by the ISA

- +eam leader and a discussion by station management of its actions to address the identified problems. The licensee agreed with the ISA teams' findings but ,

stated that the plants-have been operated safely. I Review Status of 10 CFR 50.54(f) Submittals During the week of February 17, 1997, the staff began receiving licensee responses to the request for information on design bases pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(f). NRR project managers are performing an acceptancb review of the submittals'to ensure that there are no. obvious omissions. The goal for completing the acceptance reviews is february 28, 1997.

In addition, on February 18, 1997. NRR and the Regions initiated a pilot program to review in more detail one licensee res)onse from each Region using draft review criteria. Experience gained from t1e oilot program will be used to finalize the review criteria. The final review criteria will be used by the staff to review the remaining responses, which is scheduled to begin the week of' March 3. 1997.

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1 FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE A I

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Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

! Items of Interest j p Week Ending February 28. 1997 '

l National Patient Safety Foundation Symoosium i 1

On February 21. 1997, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff member attended 4 the Consensus Building Symposium of the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF). The purpose of this symposium was to bring together experience from

] diverse sectors to assist NPSF in developing its 1997 patient safety program.

! 'Part of the discussion related to development and use of a medical incident

, reporting systcm and performing accident investigations. The NRC staff member j described a proactive approach. Human Factors Evaluation, based on a system, 4 . function, and task analysis. This approach has proven to be valuable to the i NRC in analyzing nuclear power plants, as well as medical therapy systems.

Another approach. Critical Incident Evaluation, was also mentioned. These approaches complement incident reporting and accident investigation, and have a number of advantages, including identification of system problems prior to g the occurrence of events with adverse consequences, i Industry Presentations on the Use of Mixed 0xide Fuel l

On February 21, 1997, staff of the Regulatory and International Safeguards 1

i Branch attended nuclear industry presentations on the use of mixed oxide (M0X) i fuel. The meeting was held at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Headquarters '

Auditorium. Presentations by industry representatives on the use of MOX fuel in nuclear reactors included: (1) History of MOX Use Around the World, presented by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory: (2) MOX use in Asea Brown

. Boveri/ Combustion Engineering (ABB/CE) Reactors, presented by ABB/CE

(3) M0X L Use in' Westinghouse Reactors, presented by Westinghouse: (4) M0X Use in-f 1

General Electric.(GE) Reactors, presented by GE: (5) European Pressurized  ;

Water Reactor Experience, presented by Mr. Jean-Luc Provost, Fuel Operations  ;

and Strategy Group. Nuclear Fuel Branch, Elect ricite de France; and (6) 1 European Boiling Water Reactor Experience, pr asented by Mr. Dieter Krebs.

L Siemens AG-KWB-B. This meeting was also open to the public.

l Meetina with the Deoartment of Enerav on Fort St. Vrain a

! On February 20, 1997. Nuclear. Regulatory Commission staff met with the

_ Department of Energy-Idaho (DOE-ID) and its associated contractors to discuss transfer of the Fort St. Vrain Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) license from Public Service Company of Colorado to DOE-ID. The purpose of the meeting was to allow DOE-ID to present information on 4

transition plan activities supporting the license transfer. The information presented included: organizational strenre, quality assurance, training, operations, technical specifications, emergency planning employee concerns program, and the tracking and verification of turnover activities. Security matters involving sensitive information were discussed in a separate session, i

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FEBRUARY 28, 1997 . ENCLOSURE B i

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r Babcock and Wilcox Confirmatorv Order Rescinded On February 25, 1997, the Director. Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. rescinded a Confirmatory Order (Order) that had been issued to Babcock and Wilcox (B&W), Naval Nuclear Fuels Division, on December 13. 1996.

The Order required B&W to.obtain prior Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for shipments of radioactive materials containing beryllium (Be) and uranium (U). The Order was issued after B&W identified a l

issue with respect to shipments of Be-U material. potential The criticality Be-U material was safety produced during B&W's downblending of highly enriched uranium received from Kazakstan as part of Project Sapphire. An emergency final rule (10 CFR 71.53.

L " Fissile Exempt Materials") was published in the Federal Reaister on February 10. 1997, to address this safety issue; consequently, the December 1996 Order has been rescinded.

Meetina with Portland General Electric Comoany l

On February 26. 1997, staff from the Spent Fuel Project Office (SFP0) met with the Portland General Electric Company (PGE) regarding PGE's application to construct and operate an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) at its Trojan facility. A representative of the State of Oregon's Office of Energy also attended the meeting.

, Discussion focused primarily on numerous technical issues resulting from PGE's l

response to a Request for Additional Information issued to PGE on November 25.

1996. The technical exchange portion of the meeting involved Proprietary l Information. Technical topics discussed included: basket coatings: Sad design; transfer station (including seismic structural analysis); bascet design features criticality; fuel cladding temperature limits (methodology and assumptions); fuel debris program; and ISFSI operating procedures.

Licensing topics were also discussed regarding site construction: component fabrication and related quality assurance controls at PGE's vendors; and interfaces between 10 CFR Parts 50, 71 and 72. The SFP0 staff noted that there are still numerous technical issues to be resolved in the ISFSI design to facilitate the license review.

l Assumotion-of Jurisdiction Over Gaseous Diffusion Plants

! On Monday. March 3.1997, as of 12:01 a.m. , local time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will assume regulatory jurisdiction from the Department of Energy over United States Enrichment Corporation's (USEC's) operations at the gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants located at Paducah Kentucky, and Piketon.

Ohio. This step completes a process set in motion by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which called for NRC to establish standards and a process for certification within 2 years, and for the Corporation to apply to NRC for Certificates of Compliance with those standards.

, As required by the Energy Policy Act, the NRC issued new Part 76.

" Certification of Gaseous Diffusion Plants." on September 23. 1994. After its first application for certification was rejected by the.NRC for lack of sufficient information. USEC reapplied for initial certification on September 15, 1995. A proposed certification decision was prepared and issued FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE B

on Se)tember 19. 1996, and the actual certificates were issued to USEC on

-Novem3er 26, 1996.

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FEBRUARY 28. 1997 ENCLOSURE B i

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l Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data Items of Interest Week Ending February 28, 1997 Meetina with the Nuclear Enerov Institute (NEI) on the Arthur Andersen Studv On February 25, 1997. Ed Jordan from the ED0's office and Charles E. Rossi from AE0D met with representatives of NEI to brief them.on'the Arthur Andersen

study of the Senior Management Meeting Process for determining plants to be

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placed on the NRC's watch list.

Meetina with INP0 on the Exchanae of Ooerational Excerience Data On February 26. 1997 Denwood Ross, Charles E. Rossi. Patrick Baranowsky, and Jack Rosenthal of AE00 and Al Chaffee of NRR met with INP0 representatives to discuss the exchange of operational experience information in accordance with the INP0/NRC Memorandum of Agreement.

Aareement State Visits and Trainina on the Nuclear Material Events Database Samuel Pettijohn of the Nuclear Materials Events Section. Rt. ir.bility and Risk Assessment Branch, met with Agreement State Program staff in Tennessee on February 18 and Alabama on February 19. The visits were to discuss with the 1

'. Agreement State staff issues on using the Nuclear Material Events Database (NMED).

The NMED was provided to all Agreement States in September 1996. Subsequently training on NMED was offered at NRC headquarters in which staff from 14 Agreement States attended. Visits to selected Agreement States are part of a follow-up effort to encourage Agreement States to use the NMED to report-events to NRC on a monthly basis. Experience derived from visits-to selected Agreement States will be shared with other Agreement States.

Prior to the visit.. Tennessee Program staff were using NMED to submit material event reports to the NRC. Alabama Program staff were not using the'NMED prior to the visit but committed to begin using it. Among other remarks on using i NMED. the staff in Tennessee and Alabama indicated that: i (1) The NMED will be used as a general purpose database for Atomic Energy Act

-(AEA) events and non-AEA events. (Only AEA events will be sent to the NRC.)

(2) Material events data will be sent to NRC on a monthly basis. 1 (3) Additional training on NMED was not needed at this time.

(4)- Approximately one staff month is the estimate of staff effort to implement NMED.

In addition to visiting the Agreement States above. Mr. Pettijohn conducted a one day training session on the operation and use of NMED for 11 members of FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE D

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' l the Region II staff in the Division of Nuclear Materials Safety on l February 20.

l Budaet Review Group Three Information Resource Division (IRD) staff members visited Regions I. II.

l" and III during the week of February 24. 1997 to discuss the impact of the ED0's Budget Review Group findings on the Incident Response program.

I PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATIONS (PNs)

a. PNO-I-07-013. University of Pittsburgh. RECEIPT OF A DAMAGED RADI0 ACTIVE

, MATERIAL PACKAGE

b. PNO-I-97-014. Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. (Haddam Neck 1).

RETRIEVAL OF CONTAMINATED MATERIAL VENDOR FACILITY

c. PNO-II-97-009. Florida Power & Light Co. (Turkey Point 3 4). ILLEGAL DRUG FOUND INSIDE PROTECTED AREA 4

d. PNO-II-97-010. Bhate Engineering Corp., STOLEN MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGES

e. PNO-II-97-011. National Hospital Medical Center. RECEIPT OF CONTAMINATED RADI0 PHARMACEUTICAL SHIPMENT

f. PNO-III-97-009. Commonwealth Edison Co. (Quad Cities 1 2). CONTAMINATED SCRAP METAL

g. PNO-III-97-010. Commonwealth Edison Co (Zion 1). AIT TO REVIEW IMPROPER.

CONTROL ROD MOVEMENT DURING REACTOR SHUTDOWN

h. PNO-III-97-010A Commonwealth Edison Co. (Zion 1). AIT TO REVIEW IMPROPER .

I CONTROL R0D MOVEMENT DURING REACTOR SHUTDOWN

i. PNO-III-97-011. Michael Lala. M.D. P.C.. RADI0 PHARMACEUTICAL PACKAGE EXCEEDS CONTAMINATION LIMITS

j. PNO-III-97-012.~ Consumer Power Co. (Big Rock Point '1) CONTAMINATION  ;

RELEASE TO THE TURBINE BUILDING l

k. PNO-III-97-013. Longview Inspection. Inc. , POSSIBLE RADIOGRAPHY OVEREXPOSURES

1. PNO-III-97-014. Joliet Machine Shop. RADI0 ACTIVE CONTAMINATION FOUND IN l MACHINE SHOP IN JOLIET. ILLIN0IS 1

m. PNO-III-97-015. Dept. of the Army U.S. Army Armament and Chemical .

DAMAGED GUN SIGHTS CONTAINING TRI. TIUM GAS FEBRUARY 28. 1997 ENCLOSURE D l

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Items of Interest i Week Ending February 28, 1997 Contract Award

-On February 27, 1997. NRC awarded a contract to Gray Personnel Services to-provide short-term temporary support for secretarial, accounting and word

-processing. The total value of the contract is $1.115.792 which includes a one-year base and two one-year option periods. NRC streamlined this

- . procurement by setting a deadline for questions; using less than three SEP members

' simplifying evaluation criteria: limiting the number of pages for offerors'_ proposals: using oral presentations: and waiving audit requirements,

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RESTACK ~ Pro.iect

Phase 1oftheRestackProjectinOWFNhasbeencompletedwiththecompletion i of the fourth and second floors. The Office of Public Affairs ~and the Administrative Service Center moved back to the sect. .d floor on 2/24/97 and L 2/25/97, respectively. The staff from the Office of International Programs, j the Office of Investigations and the Office of State Programs have been relocated to the fourth floor in preparation for Phase 2. Phase 2 of the ,

4 Restack project which is the renovation the third floor began 2/27/97 and is 'l l scheduled to be completed on 5/7/97. l t .

i l RULEMAKING ACTIVITIES L Safety-Conscious Work Environment: This document which announced the ,

i- Commission's intention tc consider several strategies for addressing the need I i for its licensees to establish and maintain a' safety-conscious work environment was published in the Federal Register on February 26:1997 (62 FR 4

8785). The Commission is':onsidering the development of a standardized approach that would require licensees to establish and maintain a safety-  :

. conscie s work environment with clearly defined attribu'es. establish certain i" indicators that may provide evidence of an emerging adverse trend, and outline specific remedial actions that the Commission may require when it determines a 4

particular licensee has -failed in this regard. The comment period for this

action closes May 27, 1997.

U.S. Enrichment Corooration (USEC)

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4 Effective March 3.1997. ADM assumes security cognizance and oversight of the

! facility security programs for the protection of classified material at USEC's gaseous diffusion plants (GDPs). A portion of this oversight and the facility

- security process includes making final determinations as to whether the companies operating the GDPs or certain of their contractors are free from foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI). Discussions with DOE Security have revealed that DOE's Acting Secretary and the DOE's Office of the General i - Counsel have questions concerning USEC's privatization efforts, and in

particular about the impact of FOCI determinations on prospective bidders or i owners. DOE Security / General Counsel t . 3cheduling a briefing for the Acting i

FERRUARY 28. 1997 ENCLOSURE F

Secretary and has requested NRC representation to respond to security and FOCI related questions.

Division of Security (SEC). IRM and 'NMSS Jersonnel met with USEC's Headquarters (HQs) Security Officer on Fe]ruary 27, 1997, to discuss various issues associated with the March 3.1997, transition from DOE to NRC security cognizance of USEC leased portions of the gaseous diffusion plant (GDP) sites.

Discussion topics incioded the arming of security guards at the Paducah GDP, overlapping DOE and NRC security reviews. communications security and automated iniormation systems oversight, personnel security clearances. FOCI and various access control issues. USEC will request derivative classification authority for its H0s Security Officer and plans to revise its NRC approved security plans for the protection of classified matter because of changing circumstances.

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FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE F

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,., 4 Chief Information Officer Items of Interest i

Week Ending February 28, 1997 j Washinaton National' Records Center I

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission entered an Interagency Agreement with the  !

National Archives and Records Administration. Washington National Records.

, Center (WNRC) to reimburse the WNRC for retrieving and processing large j 4

volumes of NRC records stored at the WNRC. Although the WNRC normally l provides its storage and services free of charge.to federal agencies, the NRC needs to withdraw approximately 7,500 cubic feet of reactor docket and material license files from the WNRC to reorganize them in accordance with the-l new NRC record schedules. The new schedules establish decommissioning records as a permanent collection. The withdrawal of the large volume of records is 4

above and beyond the routine services that the WNRC can provide free of charge. The WNRC will )ull approximately 1,500 cu, ft. of-records per month for the next seven montis, and make them available to NRC.

NRC Vital Records Proaram

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The Office of Information Resources Management (IRM) and the Office for i

Analysis and Evaluation of Operational' Data (AE00) have met to discuss the agency's Vital Records Program and the Continuity of Government Program. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site where NRC currently maintains emergency operating records will no longer be used as an emergency relocation site. The agency will conduct emergency o)erations and maintain all of the necessary emergency operating records at tie Headquarters Emergency Operation Center and in the event of an emergency or incident that affects the NRC i Headquarters building, the NRC will conduct emergency operations from its four regional offices. Additionally, NRC is revising its Management Directive 6.2, i

" Continuity of Government Program (COG)," to reflect what constitutes vital  !

emergency operating records Therefore, offices will no longer be required to e update Vital Records Plans for emergency operating records, Based upon  !

comments received on the draft Management Directive. AE00 will now have 1

, responsibility for identification and maintenance of emergency operating

, records under the Vital Records Program, Offices will still be required to update their Vital Records Plans for Legal and Financial records which are retained at the NRC Archival Facility.

[ F0IA Reauests Received Durina the Week Endina February 27. 1997

F01A-96-459, copy of request to include incoming, responses, and records

, provided request for previous FOIA response. (F01A/PA-97-0059)

' Boxer, Senator Barbara, correspondence from. (F01A/PA-97-0060) 1

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License status for Cherokee Electronics: Moniwave; R&D Products: and R&D Marketing. (F0IA/PA-97-0061) 4 Commonwealth Edison's Dresden plant, 0I report re alleged operator examination j cheating. (F01A/PA-97-0062)

FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE G i

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i Kewaunee nuclear plant. 01 file on 4/27/94 accident. (F01A/PA-97-0063) 2.206 petition from Thomas Cochran of the Natural Resources Defense Council regarding Envirocare of Utah, correspondence and comments related to.

i (FOIA/PA-97-0064)

Materials Licensee Tracking System on diskette. (F0IA/PA-97-0065)

Solubility criteria for liquid effluent releases and NRC's position on radioactive discharges to sanitary sewers. (F0IA/PA-97-0066)

Perry Nuclear Power Plant, records related to Alfio Adornetto v. Perry Nuclear Power Plant. (F01A/PA-97-0067)

I Envirocare of Utah and Waste Control Specialists of Texas, correspondence since 4/1/96. (FOIA/PA-97-0068) 8a contracts, listing of NRC's (F01A/PA-97-0069)

Employee (named) - work, training, and outside employment records.

(F01A/PA-97-0070)

Radiation exposure record for named individual. (F0IA/PA-97-0071)

Radioactive releases by power plants located in California and Oregon.

(F01A/PA-97-0072)

Medical licenses for named New Jersey hospitals. (F01A/PA-97-0073)

Research Chemicals. Inc all records. (F01A/PA-97-0074) 4 4

FEBRUARY 28. 1997 ENCLOSURE G

Office of Personnel Items'of Interest Week Ending February 28, 1997 Office of Personnel Home Paae Added to NRC Internal Home Paae The Office of Personnel Home Page has now been added to the NRC internal home page under the title of " Human Resources Information" on the front page. ,

Topics covered on this new home 3 age include benefits programs, training  !

information. the current NRC/NTEJ bargaining agreement, Employee Assistance

~ Program functions, and Personnel Smartline information.

Arrivals AXELSON, William DEPUTY REGIONAL ADMIN (PFT) RI CLARK Jeffrey REACTOR ENGINEER (PFT) RII DAVIS William- INVESTIGATOR (PFT) 01/RI FREDRICHS. Thomas PROJECT MANAGER (DECOM) (PFT) NRR GRIFFIN, Norma Jean SECRETARY (OA) (OPFT) .

OP/SPAC KANE. William DIR. SPENT FUEL PROJECT OFC (PFT) .NMSS RODGERS. Mary Jo INVESTIGATOR (PFT) OI/RI MARSHALL. Jane HYDROGE0LOGIST (PFT) NMSS SALEHI Kombiz. PROJECT MANAGER (PFT) NRR SCHWIND. Scott REACTOR ENGINEER (PFT) RI

- Reti rements .

COOPER. Richard DIR, DIV 0F REACTOR PROJECT (PFT) RI TROTTIER. Edward- ' PROJECT MANAGER (PFT) NRR WALTON. Glenn SR REACTOR INSPECTOR (PFT) RII j Deoartures l

l ROT 0N, James REACTOR ENGINEER (PFT) RIII i

.SHANNON. Jennifer REACTOR ENGINEER (PFT) RI- I l

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Office of Public Affairs Items of Interest i LWeek Ending February 28, 1997 Media Interest 1

The Christian Science Monitor is planning to write a story. about NRC and its i current-enforcement practices.

l Press Releases Headauarters:

4 031 NRC Seeks Public Comment on Strategies to Hel) its Licensees Establish and Maintain a Safety-Conscious Worc Environment

'97-032 Note to Editors: Response to EPA on Radiological Criteria for Decommissioning 97-033 NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet March 6-8 97-034 Note To Editors: ACRS Report on the Human Performance Plan 97-035 NRC Proposes to Amend Licensing Inspection and Annual Fees97-036 N6te to Editors: ACNW Comments on-Radionuclide Transport at Yucca Mountain Reaions:

I-97-13 NRC, Niagara Mohawk Power Company Officials to Discuss Apparent Violations I-97-15 NRC Staff to Meet With University of Massachusetts Officials to Discuss Apparent Violations I-97-16 NRC Staff to Meet With Public on Salem-2 Restart 11-97-18 NRC Staff Issues Performance Assessment for North' Anna Nuclear Plant III-97-19 Note to Editors: News Media Briefing on Big Rock Point Decommissioning Process III-97-20 NRC Special Team Ins Commonwealth Edison'pection to Review s Zion Nuclear Control Rod Incident at Power Station 111-97-21 NRC Staff Proposes $100,000 Fine Against Commonwealth Edison Company for Violations of NRC Requirements at Byro Plant FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE M

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l III-97-22 Predecisional Enforcement Conference Scheduled for March 4 on Apparent Violations at Clinton Nuclear Power Station l IV-97-14 NRC Fines Barnett Industrial X-Ray $4,000 For Safety Lapse l 1 l

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FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE M

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!~" Office of International Programs i

Items of Interest ,

Week Ending February 28~. 1997 Foreian Visitors -- Russia

[i :The First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federal Authority on Nuclear and 1 Radiation Safety. Alexander Gutsalov, and his delegation visited NRC during i

the period February 20-28 for the annual meeting on nuclear safety assistance, r Members of his delegation were Alexander Matveev. Director. Scientific and Technical Department

Yuri Volodin. Director Materials Protection. Control and Accounting and Physical Protection: Andrei Vistgof. Director. Inter-Regional Information Center and Irina Sokolova. International Relations

' Officer. During the visit. the delegation met with the Commissioners, the Executive Director for Operations and appropriate representatives of the NRC

/ staff.

$ The purpose of this visit was to conduct the fifth annual meeting to review program-results and ~ accomplishments, to revise or reaffirm previous program  !

4 commitments and to consider proposals for new' initiatives. The results of these discussions are documented in a Memorandum of Meeting signed by the EDO.

Joe Callan, and Mr. Gutsalov.

This visit was similar to the one held the previous week (February 10-14) with the delegation from the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Administration of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety. - The head of this delegation was Oleksandr Smyshlyayev. First Deputy Minister. (A copy of the Memorandum of Meeting from this visit was sent to the Commission on February 27.)

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.IAEA Vacancy Notices i The following notice from the International Atomic Energy Agency has been posted on NRC bulletin boards:

D-1 Director 97/009 Administration P-5 Senior Safeguards Analyst 97/010 j Safeguards l D-1 Director 97/011 Research & Isotopes P-2 Personnel Analyst 97/012  !

Administration P-3 Asst. to Secretary of Policy-making Organs 97/013 Director General ,

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' Region I Items of Interest i Week Ending February 28, 1997 j Schott Glass Technoloaies Confirmatory Survey On February 19 and 20.1997. Region I. completed its confirmatory inspection at'

. Schott Glass Technologies, Inc.', 'in Duryea. Pennsylvania. The' inspection at thisLSDMP site had begun in September 1996. Inspection activities included observations of the multi-layered' cap installed on the onsite landfill and independent radiation measurements during three phases of the remediation projecp)..

150 ft the With indoor the fac"lity exception andofonsite two small landfill. indoormeetareas (totalling the NRC releaseless than guidance for unrestricted use. The licensee has acknowledged the need for additional

. remediation of the indoor areas. Resolution of this issue will. permit the NRC

--to issue the Federal Register Notice that will lead to removal of this site from the SDMP list. SECY 96-106 informed the Commission of the i

. decommissioning plan, which included the multi-layered cap for the onsite landfill . The Commission approved the decommissioning plan and planned staff  ;

actions by an SRM dated June 4, 1996.

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. 'e" 4 O Region II Items of Interest i Week Ending February 28, 1997 4

l Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)- Seauoyah i ~

The Regional Administrator and additional Regional and headquarters staff met.

.in a~ public. meeting, with TVA officials at the_ Sequoyah site to discuss the effectiveness of the licensee's performance improvement plans.

Issues discussed' centered around implementation of TVA's maintenance and

corrective action programs and how they related to several examples of equipment reliability problems. TVA also discussed several examples of self-assessments and root cause analysis that they have conducted.

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I Southern Nuclear Ooeratino Comoany - Farley o -The. Region participated in a conference call between Southern Nuclear

Operating Company management. Farley plant management, and NRC to discuss an L issue associated with the Control-Room. Penetration Rooms and Containment L Purge Exhaust Filtration System. This call addressed a request for l< enforcement-discretion (NOED) after a determination that all testing required by ANSI N510-1980 as referenced in the Technical Specification surveillance had not been performed. NRR granted the NOED February 26.

.This issue was identified by the resident staff during review of penetration room surveillance testing.

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Region III Items of Interest Week Ending February 28, 1997 AIT Disoatched to Zion Nuclear Power Station and CAL issued On February 24, 1997, a seven-person Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) was dispatched to the Zion Station to review an incident involving improper control rod movements while Unit 1 was being shutdown. On February 21, 1997, a control room operator was moving control rods into the reactor core to take the reactor to very' low thermal power level. The operator shut the reactor down completely rather than maintaining it at the intended low power level.

The operator recognized his error, and after consulting with a nuclear engineer in the control room, partially withdrew the control rods he had inserted.

The NRC inspection team will review the actions by the operator and the engineer and the monitoring of control room activities by 31 ant management.

The team will also assess the response of the utility to t1e incident.

Region III also issued a Confirmatory Action Letter on February 25, 1997, which requires, prior to the startup of either Zion unit, that Commonwealth Edison discuss the event investigation results, associated generic performance concerns, and corrective actions with the NRC and implement a remediation plan.

Predecisional Enforcement Conference with Commonwealth Edison-Dresden Station  !

On February 28, 1997, a predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in i

! the Region III.0ffice Lisle, Illinois, between managers from Commonwealth Edison Company and members of the NRC staff. Discussion focused on the ,

utility's failure to test the control room ventilation system after '

modifications were made to the main control room in 1992 and 1993. ,

Predecisional Enforcement Conference Commonwealth Edison-Ouad Cities Station On February 27, 1997, a predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region III Office, Lisle, Illinois, between managers from Commonwealth Edison Company and members of the NRC staff. Apparent violations involving the safety-related control room ventilation system and reactor building siding was discussed An NRC inspection in November and December determined that the system was inoperable longer than permitted and that the utility failed to

( adequately test the system and perform a required safety evaluation.

Predecisional Enforcement Conference with Cerac. Inc.

t On February 26, 1997, a predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region III Office Lisle, Illinois, between managers from Cerac, Inc.,

l Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and members of the NRC staff. The meeting focused on the company's overall failure to properly implement its radiation safety program and conduct proper safety evaluations. The company operates a thorium reprocessing and uranium repackaging facility.

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. 1 Region IV l Items of Interest  ;

Week Ending February 28. 1997 I Reaion IV Utility Grouo Meetina i i

On February 25, 1997 re)resentatives of Arizona Public Service. Entergy Operations. Inc. . Nebrasca Public Power District. Omaha Public Power District.

Pacific Gas & Electric. Southern California Edison. TV Electric, and Washington Public Power Supply were in the Region IV offices, in Arlington.

Texas, to meet with the Acting Regional Administrator. Director of the Office of Enforcement and members of the Region IV staff to review the results of the Region IV Utility Group (RUG IV) review of the NRC's Enforcement Policy and nonescalated enforcement process.

Construction Testina & Enaineerina. Inc.

A predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region IV. Walnut Creek Field Office (WCF0) on February 26, 1997. with Construction Testing &

Engineering. Inc. (CTE) to discuss a repeat failure to obtain authorization under either a specific or general NRC license, as required by 10 CFR 30.3.

prior to performing licensable activities in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction. Also under discussion was the apparent failure to provide complete and accurate information regarding CTE's activities in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction.

Fairbanks Memorial Hosoltal A predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region IV. Walnut Creek Field Office (WCF0) on February 27.1997..with Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (FMH). A separate enforcement conference was also held on the same day and location with an employee of FMH. The conferences were conducted to discuss the findings of a reactive inspection and 01 Investigation conducted in response to a misadministration reported by FMH. The OI Investigation determined that there was a deliberate failure on the part of the licensee's radiation safety officer to obtain the dated signature of an authorized user prior to administering the radiopharmaceutical (I-131) to the patient.

Apparent violations of 10 CFR 35.32(a) and 30.10(a)(1) were identified.

Arizona Public Service.Manaaement Meetina A management meeting was held between NRC and Arizona Public Service management on February 24, 1997, in the Region IV office to discuss the status >

of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station business plan, the progress on goals set in the plan, and initiatives to assure continual improvement.

Southern California Edison Manaaement Meetina On February 27, 1997, a management meeting was held with Southern California Edison in Arlington. Texas. The meeting was held at the recuest of the licensee to discuss three radiation protection violations icentified in a recent inspection report. The licensee both presented information relative to FEBRUARY 28, 1997 ENCLOSURE P

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both the technical adequacy of the violations and their regulatory characterization. A written response to the Notice of Violation is required to-be submitted within two weeks. Any final decisions concerning these issues will be made after the formal response is received and reviewed.

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,e Office of Congressional Affairs Items of Interest Week Ending February 28. 1997

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CONGRESSIONAL IIEARING SCIIEDULE, No. 7 jiDdTE' '

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" FWITNESS[ . jCOMMITTEE?

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mummmmmmum Combs TBA TBA Markup / Vote S.104, amend Nuclear Waste Policy Senators Murkowski/ Bumpers 366 DSOB Act; Vote on Nomination of Federico Energy & Natural Resources Pena as DOE Secretary -

Gerke 03/05/97 9:30 TBA II.R. 26, H.R. 445, Firearms Reps. McCollum/Schumer 2141 RHOB Amendment to Omnibus Appropriations Crime Judiciary Gerke 03/06/97 9:30 TBA Electricity Deregulation: What are the Senators Murkowski/ Bumpers 216 Hart issues of Competition? Energy & Natural Resources Gerke 03/06/97 10:30 OMB Congressional Review of Agency Reps. Gekas/Nadler 2237 RHOB Rulemaking Commercial and Administrative Law Judiciary Madden 03/11/97 10:00 DOE DOE's FY98 Budget Senators Murkowski/ Bumpers 366 DSOB Energy & Natural Resources Madden 03/12/97 10:00 DOE Nuclear Waste Mgmnt & Disposal Reps. McDade/Fazio 2362 RHOB Energy & Water Development Appropriations Gerke 03/13/97 9:30 TBA Role of Public Power in a Competitive Senators Murkowski/ Bumpers 50 DSOB Market Energy & Natural Resources s

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Madden 3/18, 20, 4/22 - 9:30 TBA' DOE's FY98 Budget Senators Domenici/Reid

.124 DSOB Energy & Water Development ,

Appropriations ,

r Gerke 03/20/97 9:30 TBA Electricity Deregulation: Is Federal- Senators Murkowski/ Bumpers ,

216 Hart legislation Necessary? Energy & Natural Resources  !

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