ML20149L798

Forwards Facility Biweekly Status Rept for 871119-1202.NRC Augmented Insp Team Was Onsite to Review Sequence of Events & Util Response to Loss of Offsite Power Incident on 871112

ML20149L798
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	12/08/1987
From:	Blough A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Wiggins J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
References
NUDOCS 8802250043
Download: ML20149L798 (7)

See also: IR 07100119/2012002

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DEC 081987

Docket No. 50-293

MEMORANDUM FOR: James T. Wiggins, Chief

Reactor Projects Branch No. 3

FROM: Allen R. Blough, Chief

Reactor Projects Section No. 3B

SUBJECT: PILGRIM STATUS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD NOVEMBER 19 - DECEMBER 2, 1987

Enclosed is the Pilgrim bi-weekly status report from the NRC Resident Office

at Pilgrim. Three resident inspectors and a region-based specialist inspector

monitored activities at the plant during the report period. In addition, an

eight member NRC Augmented Inspection Team was onsite to review the sequence

of events and the licensee's response to the loss of offsite power incident on

November 12, .,57.

These status reports are intended to provide NRC management and the public with

an overview of plant activities and NRC inspection activities. Subsequent

inspection reports will address many of these topics in more detail.

Origiral EiSL62 BY3

Allen R. Blough, Chief

Reactor Projects Section 3B

Enclosure:

As stated

8802250043 e71200 3

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OFFICIAL RECORD COPY PILGRIM WEEKLY 5tATUS REPORT - 0001.0.0 g\

12/07/87 ,

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Memorandum for James T. Wiggins 2 DE[ Q8 jggJ

cc w/ encl:

W. Russell, RI

W. Kane, RI

W. Johnston, RI

T. Martin, RI

S. Collins, RI

T. Murley, NRR

R. Starostecki, NRR

F. Miraglia, NRR

S. Varga, NRR

B. Boger, NRR

0. Crutchfield, NRR

J. Partlow, NRR

C. Rossi, NRR

L. Shao, NRR

F. Congel, NRR

R. Wessman, NRR

W. D. Paton, OGC, NRC

R. Bird, Senior Vice President-Nuclear, BECo

K. Roberts, Station Manager, BECO

Paul Levy, Chairman, Department of Public Utilities

Chairman, Board of Selectmen, Plymouth

Chairman, Board of Selectmen, Carver

Chairman, Board of Selectmen, Duxbury

Chairman, Board of Selectmen, Marshfield

Chairman, Board of Selectmen, Kingston

J. D. Keyes

R. Boulay

Plymouth Civil Defense Director

Senator Edward P. Kirby

Representative Peter Forman

S. M. Pollard

M. Conyngham

M. R. Jeka

K. R. Anderson

The Honorable E. J. Markey

M. D. Ernst, Committee on Energy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Public Document Roon (PDR)

Local Public Document Room (LPDR)

Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)

NRC Resident Inspector

Commonwealtn of Massachusetts (2)

0FFICIAL RECORD COPY PILGRIM WEEKLY STATUS REPORT - 0002.0.0

12/07/87

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Memorandum for James T. Wiggins 3

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DEC 081987

bec w/ enc 1:

Region I Docket Room (with concurrences)

R. Blough, DRP

L. Doerflein, DRP

R. Fuhrmeister, DRP

PA0(2)

RI:DRP I:0RP

Blough/mjd Wiggins

12/7/87 12/k/87

0FFICIAL RECORD COPY PILGRIM WEEKLY STATUS REPORT - 0003.0.0

12/07/87

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ENCLOSURE

PILGRIM STATUS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD NOVEMBER 19 - DECEMBER 2, 1987

1.0 Plant Status

As of 9:00 a.m. on December 2,1987, the plant was in the cold shutdown

mode with all 580 fuel assemblies in the reactor vessel. The reactor

moderator temperature was about 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.0 Facility Operations Summary ,

The plant has been shutdown for maintenance and to make program improve-

ments since April 12, 1986. The reactor core was completely defueled on

February 13, 1987 to facilitate extensive maintenance and modification of

plant equipment. The licensee completed fuel reload on October 14, 1987.

Reinstallation of the reactor vessel internal components and the vessel

head was also subsequently completed.

At the end of this report period, the licensee was in the orocess of pre-

paring for the reactor vessel hydrostatic test.

3.0 Items of Sqecial Interest

Site Work Stoppage Update

On November 9, 1987, licensee senior management decided to stop work at

the Pilgrim facility to allow site management the opportunity to review

the causes of several problems which occurred onsite on November 7-8, 1987.

These problems principally involved the adequacy of controlling maintenance

,ork and onsite radiological work practices. The licensee formed teams to

nyestigate these problems, determine the root causes and recommend

appropriate corrective actions. Final reports from these teams are not  !

yet available. In the interim, the licensee has implemented an improved

pre-job briefing process and a tempora ry work control process which l

requires Station Manager's approval prior to release of any task. A

substantial amount of work, including security modifications, installation

of the new process computer, and installation of the third diesel j

generator, has been restarted. Additional detail of the work stoppage, l

the licensee's corrective actions, and followup inspections by the NRC '

will be contained in future resident inspection reports.

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Enclosure 2 r

NRC Augmented Inspection Team at Pilg,^1m

In response to the loss of of fsite power event on November 12, 1987 a NRC

Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) was dispatched to the site during the week

of November 15, 1987. The AIT was led by Mr. Jacque Durr, Acting Deputy

Director of the Division of Reactor Safety, and the team consisted of

seven systems specialists from NRC Region I, the Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulatiun, and the Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational

Data. The inspectirn focused on the sequence of events and the licensee's

response to the loss of offsite power. The team completed its onsite

inspection on November 20, 1987 with an 11:00 a.m. exit meeting. At the

exit meeting, Mr. Jacque Durr briefed the licensee management on the pre-

liminary inspection findings of the AIT. Mr. Jeffrey Hausner from the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts was also present at the exit meeting. Fur-

ther review of the incident, inspection report preparation, and NRC

management review of the team's work is continuing in the NRC Region I

office. A copy of the inspection report wi11 be available in the local

p ubl '- : document room upon issuance.

Radiological Calibration Laboratory Work Stoppage [

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Between November 18 and 20,1987, work was temporarily suspended by the

licensee for the five employees in the radiation calibration laboratory in

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response to internal licensee audit concerns. The licensee determined

that the work practices employed in handling small radioactive test

sources were not consistent with good radiological work practices or sta-

tion procedures. The licensee indicated that there have been no over-

';. exposures, external or internal contaminations, and no releases to the

environment. The resident inspectors will review the licensee's correc-

tive actions.

4.0 Emergency Notification System (ENS) Report i

During this period, the licensee made the following ENS reports tc the NRC l

pursuant to 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 73.71: '

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During performance of a reactor building closed cooling water (RBCCW)

system instrumentation calibration and functional test on November

18, 1987 the licensee identified an incorrectly wired electrical

relay. The RBCCW system consists of two loops with three pumps per j

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loop. Normally one pump in each loop is in service with the remaining

two pumps in standby. The standby pumps will automatically start on

a low discharge header pressure af ter a time delay. During the

surveillance test, the automatic start of the B pump failed to

function. The licensee identified that a relay in the start logic

had been improperly wired when it was installed in 1984. Testing of  !

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this logic function nad not been performed previously. The licensee l

corrected the wiring error and successfully retested the pump.

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0FFICIAL RECORD COPY PILGRIM WEEKLY STATUS REPORT - 0005.0.0

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Enclosure 3

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On November 23, 1987, at 6:45 p.m. the licensee experienced a spur-

ious automatic closure of the inboard containment isolation valse on

the reactor water cleanup (RWCU) system suction line when a false

high system flow signal was received. On November 26, 1987 at 5:35

a.m. the reactor water cleanup (RWCU) system outboard containment

isolation valves automatically closed due to spurious operation of a

RWCU high flow sensor. Investigation by the licensee identified that

the hydraulic snubbers (flow c-ifices) in the instrument lines which

feed the sensors were not preparly assembled. The improper assembly

resulted in large sensor oscillations in response to minor RWCU

system flow changes leading to the spurious trips. The licensee is

continuing to evaluate the problem.

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On November 24,1987 at 02:45 a.m. , a primary containment isolation

system (PCIS) electrical relay failed, creating a fault and resulting

in blosn logic power fuses. The deenergization of this portion of

the PCIS logic caused the outboard containment isolation valves in

both the RWCU suction and return lines to automatically close. On

November 24,1987 at 11:55 a.m. during replacement of the failed PCIS

relay, the licensee received spurious primary and secondary contain-

ment isolation signals. It was determined that the licensee person-

nel failed to fully identify the effect of lif ting an electrical wire

from the relay during relay replacement. When the wire was lifted it

opened the circuit for seve.al other relays. These relays deener-

gized causing all outboard secondary containment isolation dampers to

close, the "B" standby gas treatment system to start and an isolation

of the shutdown cooling suction line. The licensee relanded the

wires and cleared the actuations a short time later.

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On November 25, 1987, the licensee reported identifying an area con-

tainina vital equipment which is .1ot currently classified as a secur-

ity vital area in the licensee's approved security plan. The deter-

mination that the area was improperly classified was made following

the completion of a previously initiated vital area review. The

licensee has implemented appropriate compen sato ry measures.

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Region I security specialists have been informed.  ;

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5.0 NRC Staf f Status During the Period l

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The inspection staff at Pilgrim during the report period consisted of the

following:

Clay Warren ---

Senior Resident Inspector

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Jeffrey Lyash ---

Resident Inspector

Tae Kim ---

Resident Inspector

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Enclosure 4 l

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In addition, one regional specialist inspector was onsite during the week

of November 30, 1987 to review licensee corrective actions in response to '

previous inspection findings. The results of this inspection will be

documented in NRC inspection report 50-293/87-55. An NRC Augmented l

Inspection Team was also onsite as described in section 3.0. The results '

of the AIT will be documented in report 50-293/87-53. '

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OFFICIAL RECORD CODY PILGRIM WEEKLY STATUS REPORT - 0007.0.0  !

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