ML20198A367

Notice of Violation & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in Amount of $55,000.Violations Noted:On 970913,adequate Procedures Covering Operation of Shutdown Cooling Were Not Maintained

ML20198A367
Person / Time
Site:	River Bend
Issue date:	12/23/1997
From:	NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To:
Shared Package
ML20198A324	List: ML20198A319 ML20198A367
References
EA-97-497, NUDOCS 9801050357
Download: ML20198A367 (3)

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a NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF civil PENALTY Entergy Operations, Inc. Docket No. 50-458 River Bend Station License No. NPF-47 EA 97-497 During an NRC inspection conducted on September 22 thrcugh October 17,1997, violations of NRC requirements were identified. In accordance with the " General Statement of Policy and -

Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actiont,' NUREG-1600, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposes to impose a civil penalty pursuant to Section 234 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (Act),42 U.S.C. 2282, and 10 CFR 2.205. The particular violations and associated civil penalty are set forth below:

A. Technical Specification 3.0.4 states, in part, that when a limiting condition for operation is not met, entry into a MODE shall not be made except when the associated actions to be entered permit continued operation in the MODE for an unlimited period of time.

Contrary to the above, on September 13,1997, without meeting limiting conditions for operation associated with primary containment, secondary containment, drywell, emergency diesel generators I and lil, and containment unit cooler A, the reactor transitioned from MODE 4 (Cold Shutdown) to MODE 3 (Hot Shutdown), and the associated actions to be entered did not permit continued operation in the MODE or other specified condition in the applicability for an unlimited time. (01013)

8. Technical Specification 5.4.1.a states, in part, that written procedures shall be maintained covering the applicable procedures recommended in Appendix A of Regulatory Guide 1,33, " Quality Assurance Program Requirements (Operation),"

Revision 2, February 1978.

Appendix A of Regulatory Guide 1.33, Revision 2, Section 4, recommends procedures for operation of the nuclear steam supply system and shutdown cooling.

1. Contrary to the above, on September 13,1997, adequate procedures covering operation of shutdown cooling were not maintained. Specifically, Post-Modification Test Procedure MR-95-0010-PMT-04, " Alternate Decay Heat Removal System initial Operation," Revision 01, was inadequate, in that the procedure neither listed precautions related to performance of the test shorily after reactor shutdown when decay heat rates were high, nor did it contain the time to boil data available to the operators. (02013)

2. Contrary to the above, on September 13,1997, adequate procedures covering operation of shutdown cooling were not maintained. Specifically, Operation Section Procedure OSP-0037," Shutdown Operations Protection Plan,"

Revision 5, shutdown cooling guidelines and contingency actions were shown to N 28E mag 6 PDR

Entergy Operations, Inc. be inadequate to ensure there was sufficient time between securing or inadvertently losing normal shutdown cooling, and establishing suitable alternate shutdown cooling to prevent lost of reactor coolant temperature control, or inadvertently, entering a mode change when the applicable LCOs were not met.

(02C23)

3. Contrary to the above, on October 4,1997, adequate procedures covering operation of shutdown cooling were not maintained. Specifically, Operation Section Procedure OSP-0019, " Electrical Bus Outages," Revision 5, was inadequate, in that the procedure failed to recommend verifying that isolation signals were reset during restoration of Breaker 4A which controls an inboard suction valve for normal shutdown cooling. Additionally, the enclosure contained incomplete breaker designations. (02033)

These violations represent a Severity Level ill problem. (Supplement 1).

Civil Penalty - $55,000.

Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, Entergy Operations, Inc. is hereby required to submit a written statement or explanation to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, within 30 days of the date of this Notice of Violation and Proposed imposition of Civil Penalty (Notice). This reply should be clearly marked as a " Reply to a Notice of Violation" and should include for each elleged violation. (1) admission or denial of the alleged violation, (2) the reasons for the violation if admitted, and if denied, the reasons why, (3) the corrective steps that have been taken and the results achieved, (4) the corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations, and (5) the date when full compliance will be achieved. If an adequate reply is not received within the time specified in this Notice, an order or a Demand for Information may be issued as why the license should not be modified, suspended, or revoked or why such other action as may be proper should not be taken. Consideration may be given to extending the response time for good cause shown. Under the authority of Section 182 of the Act,42 U.S.C. 2232, this response shall be submitted under oath or affirmation.

Within the same time as provided for the response required above under 10 CFR 2.201, the Licensee may pay the civil penalty by letter addressed to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with a check, draft, money order, or electronic transfer payable to the Treasurer of the United States in the am ant of the civil penalty proposed above, or the cumulative amount of the civil penalties if more than one civil penalty is proposed, or may protest imposition of the civil penalty in whole or in part, by a written answer addressed to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Should the Licensee fail to answer within the time specified, an order imposing the civil penalty will be issued. Should the Licensee elect to file an answer in accordance with 10 CFR 2.205 protesting the civil penalty, in whole or in part, such answer should be clearly marked as an " Answer to a Notice of Violation" and may: (1) deny the violation (s) listed in this Notice, in whole or in part, (2) demonstrate extenuating circumstances, (3) show error in this Notice, or (4) show other reasons why the penalty should not be imposed in addition to protesting the civil penalty in whole or in part, such answer may request remission or mitigation of the penalty.

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4 Entergy Operations, Inc. In requesting mitigation of the proposed penalty, the factors addressed in Section VI.B.2 of the Enforcement Policy should be addressed. Any written answer in accordance with 10 CFR 2.205 should be set forth separately from the statement or explanation in reply pursuant to 10 CFR 2.201, but may incorporate parts of the 10 CFR 2.201 reply by specific reference (e.g.,

citing page and paragraph numbers) to avoid repetition. The attention of the Licensee is directed to the other provisions of 10 CFR 2.205, regarding the procedure for imposing a civil penalty.

Upon failure to pay any civil penalty due which subsequently has been determined in accordance with the applicable provisions of 10 CFR 2.205, this matter may be referred to the Attorney General, and the penalty, unless compromised, remitted, or mitigated, may be collected by civil action pursuant to Section 234c of the Act,42 U.S.C. 2282c.

The response noted above (Reply to Notice of Violation, letter with payment of civil penalty, and Answer to a Notice of Violation) should be addressed to: James Lieberman, Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, One White Flint North,11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 2738, with a copy to the Regional Administrator, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region IV,611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington, Texas 76011, and a copy to the NRC Resident inspector at the facility that is the subject of this Notice.

Because your response will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), to the extent possible, it should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be placed in the PDR without redaction. If personal privacy or proprietary information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, then please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of your response that deletes such information if you request withholding of such material, you must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of information will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information required by 10 CFR 2.790(b) to support a request for withnolding confidential commercial or financial information). If safeguards information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.

Dated at Arlington, Texas, this 23rd day of December 1997

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