ML20154H529

Special Rept:On 980928,meteorological Monitoring Instrumentation Channel Inoperable for Period Greater than 7 Days.Caused by Vendor to Follow Std Industry Practice for Calibr of Instrumentation.Instruments Installed

ML20154H529
Person / Time
Site:	Seabrook
Issue date:	10/08/1998
From:	Feigenbaum T NORTH ATLANTIC ENERGY SERVICE CORP. (NAESCO)
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NYN-98116, NUDOCS 9810140223
Download: ML20154H529 (3)

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i (603) 474m21 The Northeast Utilities System l October 8,1998  :

Docket No. 50-443 NYN-98116 l r

Ref.: ACR 98-2674 l

. AR#98017987 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission .

Attention: Document Control Desk ,

Washington, DC 20555 - l Seabrook Station Special Report ,

l Meteorological Monitoring Instrumentation Channel Inoperable For a Period Greater than 7 Days

. Enclosed ;is a Special R'eport for an event that was identified at Seabrook Station on I

= September 28,1998. This event is being reported pursuant to the requirements of Seabrook <

Station Technical Specification 6.8.2 and section TR22-3.3.3.4 of the Technical Requirements  !

. Manual. l Should ' you require . further information regarding this matter, please contact  ;

Mr. Terry L. Harpster, Director of Licensing Services at (603) 773-7765.

Very truly yours, NORTH ATLANTIC ENERGY SERVICE CORP.

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'I'ed C. Feigenbaun(

Executive Vice President and

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Chief Nuclear Officer cc: . H. J. Miller, NRC Regional Administrator ,

' W. T. Harrison, NRC Project Manager, Project Directorate 1-3 V i R. K. Lorson, NRC Senior Resident Inspector ?p I 9810140223 981008' F PDR ADOCK 05000443!

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SPECIAL REPORT l  :

METEOROLOGICAL MONITORING INSTRUMENTATION CHANNEL i INOPERABLE i

FOR A PERIOD GREATER THAN 7 DAYS l t

The Seabrook Station Technical Requirements Manual section TR22-3.3.3.4 requires that the l

meteorological monitoring instrumentation for wind speed, wind direction and air temperature be operable at all times to ensure that sufficient meteorological data are available for estimating I potential radiation doses to the public as a result of routine or accidental releases of radioactive j

material to the atmosphere. The action statement for TR22-3.3.3.4 specifies that with one or more required meteorological monitoring channels inoperable for more than 7 days; prepare and

! submit a Special Report to the Commission pursuant to Technical Specification 6.8.2 within the next 10 days outlining the cause of the malfunction and the plans for restoring the channel (s) to 1 operable status. This Special Report is being forwarded to the NRC to meet these requirements. {

TR22-3.3.3.4 requires that there be a minimum of one lower level (nominal elevation 43 ft.) and one upper level (nominal elevation 209 ft.) wind direction instruments operable. Contrary to this  ;

requirement, on September 28,1998, it was determined that the lower and upper level wind )

direction instruments located on the meteorological tower were not calibrated in a manner which i verified all of the system performance specifications identified in the Updated Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) Table 2.3-37. Specifically, the wind direction instruments were not calibrated to verify that the starting speed was less than 1.0 miles per hour (mph) as identified on UFSAR Table 2.3-37. The starting speed can be defined as the required wind speed at which the wind i direction instrument will move in response to a change in wind direction over a short period of time. The other operational parameters meet the requirements of TR22-3.3.3.4.

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The cause of this event was a failure of a vendor to follow standard industry practice for the calibration ofinstrumentation. The subject meteorological tower instruments are calibrated by l an off-site vendor. The North Atlantic purchase order was written with the intent that the vendor would calibrate the subject instruments to the manufacturer's specifications, which if performed, would have met the requirements of UFSAR Table 2.3-37. A contributing cause of this event l was that the North Atlantic purchase order did not clearly identify that the instruments be i calibrated in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications.

l There were no adverse safety consequences as a result of this event. North Atlantic has l recalibrated the instruments (including the requirement to verify wind speed). The recalibrated

! instruments were installed on the meteorological tower on October 3,1998 and are operable.

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