ML20149M633

Special Rept:On 880202,fire Water Storage Tanks Contained Less than Required Water Vol.Caused by Tripping of Deluge Valve in Fire Protection Sys at Cooling Tower C.Event Did Not Adversely Affect Fire Protection Capability of Plant

ML20149M633
Person / Time
Site:	Hatch
Issue date:	02/18/1988
From:	Gucwa L GEORGIA POWER CO.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION & RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (ARM)
References
SL-4155, NUDOCS 8802260207
Download: ML20149M633 (7)

Text

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. George Power Company .

., ; ' 333 ReN Annue '-

. Arianta, Georgia 30308 Tetephone 404 526-6526 -

. Mathog Add'ess: i Fbst Offte Box 4545 A!!anta, Georga 30302 GeorgiaPower ,

t t ove.a '*#"""'"" i Manager Nuc' ear Safety  ?

and Ucensmg

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i February 18, 1988. '

U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission .

i ATTN: Document Control Desk i Washington, D. C. 20555 PLANT HATCH - UNIT 1 t i NRC DOCKET 50-321 -

OPERATING LICENSE OPR-57 i SPECIAL REPORT 88-002 FIRE WATER STORAGE TANKS CONTAIN LESS THAN j 270,000 GALLONS RESULTING IN  !

SPECIAL REPORT AS REOUIRED BY FIRE HAZARDS REPORT t l Gentlemen:

1 In accordance with the requirements of the Plant Hatch Unit 1

! Technical Specifications Section 6.9.2, and the Fire . Hazards Analysis .

l (FHA) Appendix B, Georgia Power Company is' submitting the enclosed i

i Special Report (SR) concerning an event where the fire water storage  ;

tanks contained less than the required water volume. This event occurred ,

, at Plant Hatch - Unit 1.

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j Sincerely,  !

i f&:2 2 L. T. Gucwa a

LGB/lc l

Enclosure:

SR 50-321/1988-002 c: (see next page)

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3 j GeorgiaFbwer A U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission l February 18, 1988 -

Page Two c: Georgia Power Company '

Mr. J. P. O'Reilly, , r. Vice President - Nuclear Operations '

Mr. J.-T. Beckham, Jr , Vice President - Plant Hatch GO-NOR'4s U. S. Nuclear Reaulatory Commission. Washinaton. D. C.

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Mr. L. P. Crocker, Licensing Project 'ianager - Hatch U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Reaion II Dr. J. N. Gract, Regional Administrator 'j Hr. P. Holmes-Ray, Senior Resident Inspector - Hatch

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GeorgiaPower A ENCLOSURE PLANT HATCH . UNIT 1 NRC DOCKET 50-321 OPERATING LICENSE DPR-57 SPECIAL REPORT 88-002 FIRE HATER STORAGE TANKS CONTAIN LE3S THAN

270,000 GALLONS RESULTING IN SPECIAL REPORT AS REOUIRED BY FIRE HAZARDS REPORT

A. REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT

' This report is required per the Unit 1 Technical Specifications i

section 6.9.2. This section of - the Technical Specifications states that special reports for fire protection equipment operating and surveillance requirements shall be submitted, as required, by the Fire Hazards Analysis (FHA) and its Appendix B

requirements.

The FHA section 1.3.1 item b requires that the fire suppression water system shall be operable with at least. two separate water

• supplies, each with a minimum contained volume of 270,000 '

gallons. If this requirement can not be met, a Special Report '

is required.

B UNIT (s) STATUS AT TIME OF EVENTS j

On 2/2/88, Ur.it I was in the run mode at a power level of 2429 MHt (approximately 100 percent of rated thermal power). ,

2 On 2/2/88, Unit 2 was in cold shutdown for refueling with the reactor vessel head removed.

Unit 2 is affected by this event because the fire suppression. {

water system tanks discharge into a common header which provides i fire protection water to both Unit 1 and Unit 2.

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GeorgiaPower d i

ENCLOSURE (Continued)

FIRE HATER STORAGE TANKS CONTAIN LESS THAN 270,000 GALLONS RESULTING IN SEE.CJAL REPORT AS REOUIRED BY FIRE HAZARDS REPORT C. DESCRIPTION OF EVENT On 2/2/88 at approximately 1030 CST, plant operations personnel '

determined that the deluge valve,1H43-F002M (this is a Grinnel Hultimatic valve, model A-4), in the fire protection system at the south end of the C cooling tower, had tripped and sprayed water into the cooling tower. This valve is held closed by pressure against one side of the valve. If this pressure decreases, the valve can open and allow fire protection water to 1 flow through the valve. ,

l When the valve tripped, it opened. This caused the water levels  ;

within the two fire water storage tanks to drop below the '

required 270,000 gallon limit. .

i The water leve.1 in tank #1 (lY43-A001 A) decreased to 23 feet, or i approximately 221,600 gallons. The water level in tank #2 *

(lY43-A0018) decreased to 24 feet, or approximately 231,300

gallons. Plant personnel documented the tripping of the deluge

valve and the decrease in water storage tank water levels on I deficiency cards (#1-88-446 and #1-88-449), as required by the plent's administrative control procedures.

With the water levels below the required storage volume, plant -

i operations personnel initiated a Limiting Condition for .!

Operation (LC0 -

number 1-88-37). Plant fire protection '

personnel isolated the deluge valve at 1050 CST. At 1110 CST, with the valve isolated and makeup water being supplied from the -

deep well system on site, the water levels began to rise within ,

the fire tanks. At 1330 CST, the fire water storage tank levels '

were above the minimum requirements of the FHA and operations personnel terminated the LCO.

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Georgia Power d ENC'MSURE (Continued)

FIRE HATER STORAGE TANKS CONTAIN LESS THAN 270,000 GALLONS RESULTING IN SPECIAL REPORT AS REOUIRED BY FIRE HAZARDS REPORT

0. CAUSE OF EVENT The event occurred as a result of the tripping of a deluge valve in the fire protection system at cooling tower C. The root cause for the tripping of the deluge valve could not specifically be identified.

Two actions, performed by plant personnel on 2/2/88, may have contributed to the event. These actions are: 1) the flushing / purging of a recently repaired water line (refer to Special Report 88-1, dated January 29, 1988) that was in close proximity to the deluge valve and part of the fire protection system, and/or 2) the performance of the annual hydrostatic gasket and hydrant operability tests by plant fire protection and plant maintenance personnel. Both actions could have caused fluctuations in water pressure which would have allowed the valve to open.

E. ANALYSIS OF EVENT Hhen the deluge valve tripped, the valve was isolated within 20 minutes by plant fire protection personnel. With the deluge valve isolated, approximately 75 percent of cooling tower C did not have fire deluge protection.

However, the cooling towers are not a safety related system, and are not required to function during any accident condition. Had a fi e caused the loss of the cooling tower, this condition would not prevent the safe shutdown of Unit 1 or the maintenance of Unit 1 in a safe shutdown condition.

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e GeorgiaPowerA ENCLOSURE (Continued)

FIRE WATER STORAGE TANKS CONTAIN LESS THAN 270,000 GALLONS RESULTING IN SPECIAL REPORT AS REOUIRED BY FIRE HAZARDS REPORT Additionally, the cooling towers are located far enough away from any safety related structures and components, such that were a fire to occur at the cooling towers, no safety related items would be impacted.

In addition to the above information, plant engineering personnel performed an engineering evaluation of this event.

The evaluation shows . that the fire main loop which protects safety related areas remained operable. This conclusion was made after reviewing the reauirements contained in NUREG -

75/087 (STANDARD REVIEH PLAN -

FIRE PROTECTION PROGRAM),

paragraph 5.b.(5).

Even though each of the fire protection water storage tanks contained less than the required 270,000 gallons, the minimum

' combined volume they contained in this event was approximately 452,900 gallons. The NUREG requires "not less than 300,000 gallons."

Based on the above information, it is concluded that this event did not adversely affect the safety related fire protection capability of the plant.

F. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS The corrective actions for this event included:

1. Isolating the deluge valve.

2. Restoring the water levels in fire suppression storage tanks lY34-A001A and lY34-A001B.

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Georgia Power $bk l ENCLOSURE (Continued) .f FIRE WATER STORAGE TANKS CONTAIN LESS THAN 270,000 GALLONS RESULTING IN SPECIAL REPORT AS REOUIRED BY FIRE HAZARDS' REPORT ,

3. Initiating the appropriate LCO.

4. Resetting the valve to its closed position. The  ;

resetting of the valve was performed by Maintenance -1 Work Order (MHO) 1-88-0455. This MHO was completed on 2/6/88 and no other problems identified with the valve.

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