ML20137K717

Order Imposing Civil Penalty in Amount of $80,000 for Violations Noted in Insp on 850808-16 & 0903-04 Re Inoperability of Low Steam Generator Trip Function for Reactor Protective Sys & Feedwater Trip Sys

ML20137K717
Person / Time
Site:	Maine Yankee
Issue date:	01/22/1986
From:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE)
To:
Shared Package
ML20137K700	List: ML20137K696 ML20137K717
References
EA-85-108, NUDOCS 8601240198
Download: ML20137K717 (8)

Text

c UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY CCPMISSION In the Matter of )

Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Company Docket No. 50-309 Maine Yankee Atomic Power Plant ) License No. OPR-36 EA 85-108 ORDER IMPOSING A CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY I

Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, Augusta, Maine 04336, (the licensee) is the holder of License No. DPR-36 (the license) issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Connission (the Commission or NRC) which authorizes the licensee to operate the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Plant, Wiscasset, Maine, in accordance with the conditions specified therein.

II On August 8-16, and September 3-4, 1985, an NRC inspection was conducted to review the circumstances associated with two violations of the licensee's technical specifications involving the inoperability of the low steam generator trip function for both the Reactor Protective System and the Feedwater Trip System. A written Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of a Civil Penalty was served upon the licensee by letter dated October 29, 1985. The Notice states the nature of the violation, the provisions of the Nuclear 9601240199 B60122 PDR ADOCK 05000309 G PDR

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5 j l Regulatory Commission requirements that the licensee had violated, the aggre-  !

l gate severity level of the violations, and the amount of civil penalty proposed ,

for the violations. An answer dated November 27, 1985 to the Notice of i

Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Fenalty was received from the i licensee urging that the aggregate severity' level of the violations be reduced.

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i III Upon consideration of the answers received and the statements of fact, explana-tion, and argument for remission or mitigation of the proposed civil penalty

contained therein, as set forth in the Appendix to this Order, the Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement has determined that the penalty 1

j proposed for the violations designated in the Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty should be imposed.

I j IV j In view of the foregoing and pursuant to Section 234 of the Atenic Energy Act i

of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2282, PL 96-295), and 10 CFR 2.205, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

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The licensee pay a civil penalty in the amount of Eighty Thousand Dolla'rs

($80,000) within thirty days of the date of this Order, by check, draft,

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i l_.-_________ _ . _ _ _ . _ . . - . . . _ . _ _ . . - _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ . _ . _ _ _ - _ ,

i l or money order, payable to the Treasurer of the United States and mailed j to the Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement, USNRC, Washington, D.C. 20555.

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The licensee may, within thirty days of the date of this Order, request a hearing. ,

A request for a hearing shall be addressed to the Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement. A copy of the hearing request shall also be sent to the i Executive Legal Director, USNRC, Washington, D.C. 20555. If a hearing is  !

i i j requested, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and place of i i

hearing. Upon failure of the licensee to request a hearing within thirty days

of the date of this Order, the provisions of this Order shall be effective 1

without further proceedings and, if payment has not been made by that time, the

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matter may be referred to the Attorrey General for collection.

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VI i

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l In the event the licensee requests a hearing as provided above, the issues to i i

j be considered at such hearing shall be:

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I i (a) whether the licensee violated NRC requirements as set forth in the  !

Nccice of Violation and Proposed imposition of Civil Penalty; and  :

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4-i (b) whether, on the basis of such violations, this Order should be 4

1 sustained.  :

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMISSION

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. M  :

J nes M. Tay , Director ffice of In pection and Enforcement ,

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• l Dated at Bethesda, Maryland '

thisA& day of January 1986 3

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l APPENDIX EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION

, In their November 27, 1985 response to the Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty for Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, dated October 29, 1985, the licensee admits the occurrence of the violations, but requests that consideration be given to reclassification of the aggregate violations from Severity Level II to Severity Level III. Provided below are (1) restatement of each violation, (2) a summary of the licensee's response in support of this request, and (3) the NRC evaluation of the licensee's response.

Restatement of Violation:

A. Technical Specification Limiting Condition for Operation (LCO) 3.9, and Table 3.9.1, Instrument Operating Requirements for the Reactor Protective System, requires that whenever the reactor is in power operation, a minimum 4

of three of the Reactor Protective System channels must be operable for low Steam Generator Pressure.

Contrary to the above, from June 22, 1984 until August 7, 1985, with the reactur in power operations, all four channels of the Reactor Protective System for each of the three steam generators were inoperable for low Steam Generator Pressure.

B. Technical Specification LCO 3.22, Feedwater Trip System, requires that whenever the reactor coolant boron concentration is less than that required for hot shutdown, the feedwater trip system shall be operable to assure automatic shutdown of all main feedwater pumps, automatic closure of all main feedwater valves, and automatic closure of all auxiliary feedwater valves.

Contrary to the above, from June 20, 1964 until August 7, 1985, with the reactor coolant boron concentration less than that required for hot shutdown, three of the four channels for the Feedwater Trip System for each of the three steam generators were inoperable for low Steam Generator Pressure.

Collectively, these violations have been categorized as a Severity Level II problem (SupplementI)

(Civil Penalty - 580,000)

Sumary of Licensee Response The licensee admits that tne violations occurred as stated and acknowledges the seriousness of the violations. However, the licensee requests reconsideration of the aggregate severity level classification of the violations from Severity Level II to Severity Level III, claiming that the violations did not result in the complete loss of a primary trip function, nor did they result in a system not being able to perform its intended safety function as expressed in 10 CFR Part 2, Appendix C (1985).

Appendix The licensee claims that the two protective features provided by the inoperable instrumentation still existed. These features were: (1) provide input to the Reactor Protective System (RPS) to shut down the reactor in the event of a low steam generator (SG) pressure condition, and (2) provide input to the Feedwater Trip System to shut down the feedwater system to mitigate the severity of a cooldown transient associated with a steam line break. In the former case the licensee indicates that other redundant instrumentation would have provided an equivalent function in that even if the steam generator channels were assumed not to be operable, other RPS subsystems would have resulted in shutdown of the reactor.

In the latter case the licensee asserts that the instruments were in fact sufficiently operable to provide a trip of the feedwater system because of valve leakage, although the trip would be delayed. Further, the licensee asserts that other cooldown mitigation equipment, which comprised the original plant design or licensing basis, was unaffected by the violations and, therefore, the cooldown transient on the reactor pressure vessel resulting from the inoperability of the feedwater trip system would not have been more severe than that calculated in the latest licensing case.

NRC Evaluation of Licensee Response The NRC accepts the licensee's argument, as indicated in the October 29, 1985 letter, that other trip inputs would have resulted in a trip of the Reactor Protective System, even with the low SG pressure instrumentation inoperable.

However, the licensee has not shown that redundant protection existed for the Feedwater Trip System to mitigate the consequences of a cooldown transient, nor have they presented a reasonable argument to demonstrate why the instrumentation could be considered operable.

In addition, this response does not provide a reasonable or sufficient analytical basis to support the contention that a cooldown transient on the reactor vessel would not be more severe than that calculated in the latest licensing case. The licensee provided a best estimate case analysis which concluded that a cooldown transient resulting from failure to trip the feedwater system would not be severe.

However, the basis and assumptions used in this type of analysis differ from the assumptions used during licensing in a design basis event analysis. The design basis analysis uses assumptions containing sufficient conservatism to justify the ability of the plant to safely withstand a cooldown transient. Therefore, the licensee's analysis does not provide adequate justification that the cooldown transient resulting from a failure to trip the feedwater system would be acceptable.

Although the low SG pressure trip of the feedwater pumps was not part of the initial design or ~iicensing basis, it was specifically added because of a post TMI modification which required the installation of an automatic start feature for the auxiliary pumps in the event of a low water level condition in the SG.

Absent the automatic start features of the auxiliary feed pump, the NRC would agree that a low SG pressure trip of the auxiliary feedwater pump us unneces-sa ry. However, given an automatic start of the feedpumps, and given the inoperability of the low SG pressure instrumentation, no redundant automatic instrumentation exists to shut down the pumps.

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Appendix NRC Conclusion The licensee has not provided a sufficient basis for reduction of the aggregate severity level of the violation. Therefore, the aggregate violations remain classified at Severity Level II and an $80,000 civil penalty is being imposed.

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T. Murley, IE '

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