ML20195B928

Forwards Plant Biweekly Status Rept for Period 880521-0603

ML20195B928
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	06/10/1988
From:	Blough A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Wiggins J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
References
NUDOCS 8806220049
Download: ML20195B928 (8)

Text

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N JUN 101988 Docket h3. 50-293 MEMORANDUF FOR: James T. Wiggins, Chief Reactor Projects Branch No. 3 FROM: A. Randy Blough, Chief Reactor Projects Section No. 3B

SUBJECT:

PILGRIM STATUS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD MAY 21 - JUNE 3, 1988 Enclosed is the Pilgrim bi-weekly status report from the NRC Resident Office at Pilgrim. Three resident inspectors monitored ar.tivities at the plant during the report period. In addition, four region-based specialist inspectors were onsite to review the licensee's radiation protection program effectiveness and the licensee's corrective actions on previous inspection findings. On June 2,1988, Mr. James M. Taylor, NRC Deputy Executive Director for Regional Operations, and Mr. William T. Russell, Regional Administrator, Region I were onsite and toured the station.

The 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.

p:38tal Sisned M1 A. Randy Blough, Chief Reactor Projects Section No. 3B

Enclosure:

As stated

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Memorandum for James T. Wiggins 2 JllN 101988 cc w/ enc 1:

L. Gustin, Vice President - Corporate Relations, BECo R. Bird, Senior Vice President-Nuclear, BECo K. Highfill, Station Director, BECo J. Keyes, Licensing Division Manager, BECo 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 Plymouth Civil Defense Director l

The Honorable Edward P. Kirby The Honorable Peter V. Forman The Honorable Edward J. Markey M. Ernst, Committee on Energy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts S. Pollard, Energy Secretary, Commonwealth of Massachusetts B. McIntyre, Chairman, Department of Public Utilities N. Johnson, Chairman, Duxbury Nuclear Committee R. Boulay M. Conyngham M. Jeka K. Anderson Public Document Room (PDR)

Local Public Document Room (LPDR)

Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)

NRC Resident Inspector Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2) l l

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..- ' Memorandum for James T. Wiggins 3 JUN 101988 bec w/ enc 1:

. Region I Docket Room (with concurrences)

T. Murley,.NRR ~

F. Miraglia, NRR '

T. Martin, NRR S. Varga, NRR zB. Boger,'NRR .;

LD. Crutchfield, NRR J. Partlow, NRR C. Rossi, NRR L. Shao, NRR R. Wessman, NRR' D. Mcdonald, NRR

-J. Roe, NRR W. Russell, RI

.W. Kane, RI ,

W. Johnston, RI G. Sjoblom, RI S. Collins, RI R. Blough, RI L. Doerflein, RI M. Kohl, RI M. J. DiDonato, RI (2)

K. Abraham, RI (2) 6 RTfG e *g CWarren/mjd R1. ore e1 oRR RBlough JWiggins 6/A/88 6//W88 6/ /h88 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY PILGRIM STATUS 5/21-6/3/88 - 0003.0.0 06/10/88 b

'l ENCLOSURE PILGRIM STATUS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD MAY 21 - JUNE 3, 1988 1.0 Plant Status As of 8:00 a.m. on June 3,1988, the reactor was in cold shutdown mode with moderator temperature about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.0 Facility 0,perations 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 fac111tato extensive maintenance and modificei. ion of plant equipment. The licensee completed fuel reload on Octicer 14, 1987.

Reinstallation of the reactor vessel internal components and the vessel head was followed by completion of the reactor vessel hydrostatic test.

The primary containment integrated leak rate test was also completed dur-ing the .eek of December 21, 1987. During this period, the licensee per-formt' routine maintenance and surveillance tests including the local leak re.te testing of selected containment isolation valves.

3.0 Items of Special Interest Maintenance Work Restricted by Licensee Management On May 27,1988, Boston Edison management restricted performance of some maintenance tasks at Pilgrim. A licensee self-assessment completed on May 26 identified maintenance program weaknesses. Several concerns regarding the effectiveness of the licensee's program for control of routine and corrective maintenance were also raised by the NRC during a recent maintenance team inspection completed on Mey 5, as documented in a report issued May 25. In addition, the licensee's Quality Assurance department recently identified similar concerns in the area of maintenance on environmentally qualified equipment. Licensee management concluded that changes to the station maintenance program are warranted, and is developing actions to address the problems. The restrictions on May 27, 1988 involved those maintenance tasks which were not covered by job-specific, detailed, approved station procedures. These jobs were restricted pending an additional management review. Activities such as surveillance testing and maintenance activities that are clearly delineated by detailed procedures were allowed to continue. These restricted maintenance tasks were to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and then released to the field if either 1) appropriate job-specific procedures or instructions were written and applied, or 2) the additional review conf!rmed that existing controls were conservative for that job. All work released is being reviewed and approved by the Maintenance Section Manager. The NRC staff considers the additional review to be a prudent measure.

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Enclosure 2 Licensee's S'u bmittal of the Self-Assessment Report On May 26,1988, the licensee submitted to the NRC the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Sel f-As se ssment of Readiness for Restart Report and Volume 2, Revision 2 of the Restart Plan. The licensee committed to pro-vide schedules for actions to address matters which were identified as restart issues in the self-assessment raport. This information, as well as the licensee's statement regarding readiness for a comprehensive NRC Integrated Assessment Team Inspection (IATI), is expected in a few weeks.

NRC staff review of the self-assessment report and additional submittals by the licensee will be completed prior to conducting a IATI.

Licensee's Limited Stop Work Order On May 19, 1988 the licensee's Cuality Assurance Department issued a stop work order on certain maintenance activities involving Environmentally Qualified (EQ) equipment. The NRC equipment environmental qualification regulations require that safety-related electrical equipment be designed and maintained to withstand the effects of an accident, such as high temperatures, humidity, and pressures. The licensee's internal Quality Assurance audits identified several potential deficiencies in EQ mainten-ance practices. The licensee has been evaluating the items and developing corrective actions which include stringent control of maintenance on EQ equipment and training the maintenance personnel on the full requirements of the EQ program. Although NRC was not involved in the initial stopping of work, the details of this item will be reviewed and documented in the resident inspection report 50-293/88-19.

Recent NRC Inspection Results On May 31,1988, NRC Region I issued the inspection report 50-293/88-12 documenting the results of a routine inspection conducted on March 6 -

April 17, 1988 by the resident inspectors. Prompt and positive approach to problem investigation and root cause analysis was considered as a licensee strength. The report identified a case of inadequate design l

control and review as evidenceo by the incorrect installation of two l reactor water level gauges. Also, weaknesses in test procedures and

< technical reviews were identified in the pre-operational tests performed

! on these instruments. The licensee is required to respond in writing l within thirty days.

Inspection report 50-293/88-13 was issued on May 26, 1988 documenting the results of a routine inspection conducted on April 11-15,1988 by two region-based specialist inspectors. Areas inspected included followup on previous inspection findings in the area of material / component integrity

! and plant modifications and test procedures. The inspectors reviewed eight previous inspection findings and determined that they were

satisfactorily addressed by the licensee.

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Enclosure 3 On June 1, 1988, NRC Region I issued inspection report 50-293/88-14 docu-menting the results of a routine inspection conducted on April 18-22, 1988 by a region based specialist inspector. Areas inspected included the licensee's Power Ascension Test Program and previous inspection findings.

The Power Ascension Test Program was found to be acceptable pending com-pletion of unresolved items and additional review by the NRC staff. Of four previous inspection findings reviewed, three are now resolved and one remains open.

Ir.spection report 50-293/88-16 was issued on May 24, 1988 documenting the results of a routine safeguards inspection conducted on April 11-14, 1988 by three region-based specialist inspectors. Areas inspected included the licensee's program tc, upgrade physical security barriers, alarm stations, safeguards contingency plan implementation, and previous inspection find-ing5. The inspectors determined that the progress on security program

-upgrades is being made. Seven previous inspection findings were reviewed and it was found that four items were satisfactorily addressed by the licensee. Three previous violations on degraded vital area barriers were raviewed and the licensee's actions to prevent recurrence were found ade-quate. These violations remain open pending an NRC determination regarding enforcement.

On May 25, 1988, NRC Region I issued inspection report 50-293/88-17 docu-menting the results of a special maintenance assessment team inspection conducted on April 25 - May 5,1988 by five Region I staff. The purpose of the inspection was to perform an in-depth assessment of maintenance program and management control . No violations of the regulatory require-ments were identified. However, significant maintenance program defici-encies were identified which should be addressed by the licensee prior to the plant restart. The licensee was requested to respond in writing within thirty days identifying actions taken or planned to address these deficiencies.

NRC Assessment Panel Meeting On June 1,1988, members of NRC management from Region I met onsite and discussed inspection plans with the NRC resident staff. Members of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation participated via teleconference. The NRC Assessment Panel meets periodically to coordinate the planning and execution of NRC irspection and licensing activities related to Pilgrim.

The Panel is chaired by Mr. Samuel J. Collins, Deputy Director, Division of Reactor Projects, NRC Region I.

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• Enclosure 4 Scheduled NRC Commission Briefing On June 9,1988, a publicly held Commission meeting is scheduled at the NRC offices in Rockville, Maryland to brief the Commissioners on the progress of the Pilgrim restart activities. Representatives of the Boston Edison Company and the NRC staff will independently present the status briefings before the Commission.

4.0 Emergency Notification System (ENS) Report During this period, the licensee made the following report to the NRC pursuant to 10 CFR 50.72:

On June 2,1988, the licensee discovered during a routine quarterly sur-veillance test that both accumulators for the SLCS were low on pressure.

There is one accumulator on the discharge piping of each pump which dampens the pulsations from the pump. Each is a steel vessel with a synthetic bladder. The bladder's upper side is charged with nitrogen to about 500 psig. Both accumulators were found with less than 300 psig of nitrogen pressure. The licensee determined that the system was inoperable based on a previous licensee engineering analysis. Peak to peak pressure fluctuations of approximately 30-40% of discharge pressure can occur with zero accumulator pressure. For an accumulator pressure of 300 psig the pressure fluctuations are reduced to 15-20% of the discharge pressure and at 500 psig the fluctuations would be approximately 5%. On June 3,1988 at 2:10 p.m., the licensee notified the NRC via the ENS of the inoperable SLCS. Several attempts by the licensee to recharge the accumulators were unsuccessful. The details of this item will be documented in the resident inspection report 50-293/88-19.

The Standby Liquid Control System (SLCS) is a backup method for establish-ing and maintaining the reactor subscritical independent of control rods.

5.0 NRC Staff Status During the Period The inspection staff at Pilgrim during the report period consisted of the following:

Clay Warren 7--

Senior Resident Inspector Jeffrey Lyash --- Resident Inspector l Tae Kim ---

Resident Inspector I

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• Enclosure- 5 Four region-based specialist inspectors -were onsite to review the licensee's radiation protection program effectiveness and the licensee's corrective -actions on previous inspection findings. In addition, a resident inspector from the Susquehanna facility was onsite during the week of May 23, 1988 -to assist 'the resident inspectors. The results ' of these inspection-- activities will be documented in the NRC inspection reports 80-293/88-19, 50-293/88-22 and- 50-293/88-24, respectively.

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