ML20137A154
| ML20137A154 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Monticello  |
| Issue date: | 03/11/1997 |
| From: | Caldwell J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | Wadley M NORTHERN STATES POWER CO. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20137A159 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9703200214 | |
| Download: ML20137A154 (2) | |
See also: IR 05000263/1997002
Text
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March 11, 1997
Mr. M. Wadley, Vice President
,
Nuclear Generation
Northern States Power Company
414 Nicollet Mall
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Minneapolis, MN 55401
SUBJECT:
NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50-263/97002(DRP);
Dear Mr. Wadley:
,
On February 19,1997, the NRC completed an inspection at your Monticello reactor
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facility. The enclosed report presents the results of that inspection.
Your conduct of activities at the Monticello facility was acceptable during the 6-week
period covered by this inspection period.
However, during the previous inspection period, we noted that a rapid power reduction
was necessitated by a loss of condenser vacuum. We have completed our assessment of
this event and determined that a violation of NRC r3quiremants occurred. Operations
peraonnel failed to ensure the ventilation system te', ting was performed under suitable
environmental conditions. Frigid air from open turc,% building doors affected nearby
equipment. We are concerned because it appeared that an artificial sense of urgency to
conduct the test may have caused your staff to overlook several opportunities to avoid
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this event. Spt,cifically: (1) operations personnel were not familiar with the proposed
testing sequence, (2) degraded conditions attributed to the colder ambient air were
identified but not aggressively acted upon, and (3) lessons learned from a January 1996
freezing event were not executed. Also, this test was not conducted with the lual
careful planning and execution we have observed during other surveillance actiwties.
A violation of NRC requirements concerning untimely corrective actions was identified. In
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1993, your staff identified a nonconservative error associated with the modeling of the
scram discharge volume. This error resulted in a potential for as-found and as-left
instrument settings to be outside of technical specification values. The acceptance criteria
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for the surveillance test was not corrected until brought to your staff's attention by the
NRC inspectors.
These vic,miions are cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation, and the circumstances
surrounding the violations are described in detailin the enclosed report. Please note that
you are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the
enclosed Notice when preparing your response. The NRC will use your response, in part,
to determine whether further enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with
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regulatory requirements.
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9703200214 970311
ADOCK 05000263
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in accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter
and its enclosures will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room.
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Sincerely,
,
"
/s/ J. Caldwell
James Caldwell, Director
Division of Reactor Projects
Docket No. 50-263
License No. DPR-22
Enclosures:
2. Inspection Report No. 50-263/97002(DRP)
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cc w/erv,l:
Plant Manager, Monticello
John W. Ferman, Ph.D.,
Nuclear Engineer, MPCA
State Liaison Officer, State
of Minnesota
Distribution:
Docket File w/ encl
DRP w/enci
PUBLIC IE-01 w/enci
Rlli PRR w/enci
,
OC/LFDCB w/enci
Project Manager, NRR w/enci
SRI Monticello, w/enci
Prairie Island w/ encl
A. B. Beach, w/enci
Rlil Enf. Coordinator, w/enci
CAA1 w/ encl (E-mail)
DRS (3) w/enci
TSS w/enci
DOCUMENT NAME: R:\\l N S PR PTS \\ POW E R S\\MO NT\\MO N 97002.D R P
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To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box "C" = Copy without attach / encl
"E" = Copy with attachionci "N" = No copy
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DATE
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OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
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