ML20195C621

EN-98-059,informing Commission That Staff Intends to Exercise Broad Discretion Pursuant to Section VII.B.6 of Enforcement Policy & Not Issue NOV or Propose Civil Penalty for Severity Level II Violation Identified by Licensee

ML20195C621
Person / Time
Site:	Big Rock Point File:Consumers Energy icon.png
Issue date:	08/18/1998
From:	Borchardt R, Reis T NRC OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT (OE)
To:
References
EA-98-319, EN-98-059, EN-98-59, NUDOCS 9811170182
Download: ML20195C621 (2)

Text

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, August 18,1998 EN 98-059 OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT NOTIFICATION OF SIGNIFICANT ENFORCEMENT ACTION Licensee: Consumers Energy Company (EA 98-319)

Big Rock Point Docket No. 50-155

Subject:

EXERCISE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION This is to inform the Commission that the staff intends to exercise broad discretion pursuant to Section Vll,B.6 of the Enforcement Policy and not issue a Notice of Violation or propose a civil penalty for a Severity Level li violation idernified by the licensee during the decommissioning of the facility. While dismantling the liquid poison system, which serves to provide a means of rendering the reactor subcritical and holding it subcritical in the event that the control rods are unable to do so, the licensee determined that the passive system was nonfunctional and most likely had been nonfunctional for a substantial period of the operating life of the facility.

Normally, a violation involving a system designed to prevent or mitigate serious safety i events not being able to perform its intended function is characterized at Severity Level 11.

However, the staff proposes to exercise discretion based on the special circumstances of this case. The basis for exercising discretion involves: (1) consideration that, while they were unable to identify the failure prior to permanent shutdown of the facility, the licensee's quality assurance and surveillance testing programs, as they pertained to the liquid poison system, were reasonable considering the design of the system, (2) the licensee's prompt identification and critical assessment of the significance of this condition, (3) the licensee's notable corrective actions which involved evaluating its operating Palisades Nuclear Power Plant for similar vulnerabilities and communicating the safety significance and potential vulnerability to the rest of the nuclear industry, (4) the fact that the liquid poison system is no longer required to be operable in the decommissioning phase of Big Rock Point and lastly, (5) the licensee's immediate notification to the NRC of this potentially generic safety issue.

It should be noted that the licensee has not been specifically informed of the enforcement decision. The schedule of issuance of the report and notification is:

Mailing of Inspection Report August 25,1998 Telephone Notification of Licensee August 25,1998 The State of Michigan will be notified.

No response is required to this Exercise of Enforcement Discretion Contacts: T. Reis, OE, (301) 415-3281 R.W. Borchardt, OE, (301) 415-3102

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August 18,1998 EN 98-059 Distribution ~

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