ML20198J857
| ML20198J857 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crystal River  |
| Issue date: | 01/10/1998 |
| From: | Robert Davis FLORIDA POWER CORP. |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20198J675 | List:
|
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9801140226 | |
| Download: ML20198J857 (12) | |
Text
,
t Florida Power CORPOR*' TON CRYSTAL RIVER U NIT 3 1
OPERATIONSL 9
LD4 R,W. Davis Assistant Pirnt Director Operations 4
ph[
hKOO 2
PDR P
Key bsces -
To assure that l'h plant is o;:uated in1 a safe,. reliable manner, improvement initiativcs were required to address the following areas: 1) human performance, 2) organizational structure, and 3) key operations processes and procedures.
Executive
' Weaknesses in Operations leadership at Crystal River Unit 3 contributed-Summary to the declining plant performance. CR-3's operational performance issues included:
Standards for personnel and equipment performance On shift organization and expectations Communications with support organizations and plant ownership e
EOPs, AOPs, and a backlog of operating procedure comments e
Self acsessments and corrective actions in order to resolve these issues, CR 3 developed and implemented the Operations leadership Plan. This plan addressed the deficiencies noted above along with other performance deficiencies identified as the outage progressed. The three key areas of the plan include: 1) human performance,2) organizational structure and staffing levels, and 3) key operations processes and procedures.
Significant progress to resolve the operationai defic.encies is illustrated through the following examples:
Internal self-assessments and independent reviews by INPO have noted strengths in operator professionalism, communications, self-checking, and shift turnovers - a notable improvement over past performance.
Organizational changes have been completed to restore the senior licensed individual to the on-shift leadership position and provide for an on shift work controls supervisor position.
Operational staffing levels have improved through the addition of twenty-three personnel, including seven personnel with previous SRO license experience at other facilities.
An additional eight-positions are being recruited into the non-licensed ' operator ranks.
- Over.3000 comments - most. from operators - have been incorporated into the operating procedures as part of an~ initiative to
-improve the quality, accuracy, and human factoring of plant procedures.
2
~_
Y 1-
)
. rocedures : hayeE been f
,e ' Emergency! and _ Abnormal operating p
Eco_mpletely rewritten.. Training on the new procedures is complete-Land operators'have_ validated the. procedures and their readiness; to i
operate through multiple sessions.; The an'nual operating evaluations :
have been completed with no failures using the ne~w proceduresi An_ operations (work controls center has.been established and-manned to help reduce the impact of maintenance activities in the.
main control room.
The CR-3 Operations Leadership Plan continues to be utilized as.the road map for ongoing' operations improvements. Florida Power i
Corporation is confident that the im.ovement actions taken will 1
e 4
facilitate an event free startup and return to service of Crystal-River 3.
Ongoing = actions specified byJ:the plan will continue to raise performance to a world class nuclear operations department.
}
= Initiatives Human A fundamental effort by the new Operations management team has 4
Performance been to improve' opera;or performance. This effort has focused on plant -
Improvements ~
ownership, ' equipment' status control, watchstation practices l and communications.
Additionally, improvements in selfesessment programs and more aggressive involvement in training activities were necessary to casure sustained performance.
Ownership Operations personnel had not been sufficiently intrusive and involved in site activities to ensure an operations focus was maintained. To improve this situation, system operators were assigned to work withisystem engineers in the System Readiness -Review Program.
Operations -
representatives also participate in all design review boards. Operations personnel _run: daily plant status and planning meetings, and are involved in pre-job. briefings for many activities on-site. Additionally, in-plant operators have been coached on their responsibility to be intrusive in all activities occurring in the plant.
- The site has become more responsive to operations needs and issues.
_. Operation issues are tracked by site performance indicators to maintain-c this focus. Site indicators for Operator Work-Around items and Control Board Deficiencies shown below are examples of increased operations i
- focus, x-p
+
g s
3-
~
my
=.
4 Operations Readiness Operator Work Arounds U.. :
t...
. A' I..
1,7
.c IIIiiiiiiiiiilIiiiiiilili Operations Readiness Control Board Deficiencies 26 -
20 -
15 -
10 -
6 0 Ar-r-,-
~
S g3IIg3!
% !$ $!n!s
?
g6 k
4 8
~
l - Actual Goal < 10 at Start Up l Watclistation Operations had experienced an unacceptable rate of component Practices, mispositionings through lack of attention to detail, inadequate Communications, procedure adherence, and poor self<hecking practices.
Higher andStatus Control expectations and standards of the new Operations Management team have been communicated and reinforced to improve operator performance in these critical areas. Sustained improvements in operator three-way communications, shift turnovers, self-checking,'and pre-job briefings have resulted from operators embracing the benefits of these practices, improvements have been validated by outside assessments as well as being validated by actual performance. Valve mispositioning events declined to two in the last six months, and Operator overall error rate has shown sustained improvement.
4
The following performance indicator illustrates this improvement regarding the steadily declining rates of operator errors per 10,000 opportunities:
Operator Errors per Opportunity 0.0003 '
O.00025s 0.0002' O.00015'
~
~
~
0.0001 0.00005'
~
~
~
~
~
~
O' Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Notwithstanding the above progress, additional improvement remains necessary in areas such as attention to detail during watchstanding. It is suspected that the sustained shutdown and extensive maintenance activities have reduced operator sensitivity to some plant conditions.
Line managers are minimizing the impact of the current plant status by continuing to focus attention on this problem through briefings and coaching sessions. Another challenge to performance improvement is a lack of on-shift supervisor presence in the field with the operators. This situation will improve as maintenance and testing activities are reduced, as restart draws near.
1 Self-Assessments Prior to the shutdown, operations did not use self-assessments as an j
effective tool for improving performance. Clear performance goals and expectations were not set and indicators were not in place to monitor performance. Significant progress has been made in this area with imp ovements in operational instructions, administrative instructions, tagging and work controls processes resulting from these assessments.
Operations Department performance indicators are now in place to monitor key areas.
Performance areas include operator errors, management and supervisor observations, crew performance, overtime, radiation exposure, and procedure comment backlog.
Additionally, operations participated in a recent site-wide self-assessment as well a; the operations training assessment in support of Accreditation renewal, i
l 5
Training Training played an integral role in preparing the operating shifts to resume normal operations. Extensive training was conducted on the new emergency and abnormal operating procedures as well as plant modifications.
This training culminated in annual operator testing.
Results of the tests, as well as comments from outside observers on operator performance, validate the effec:iveness of the training in preparing the crews for CR-3 return to service.
Additional training performed in preparation for Mode 4 and "just-in-time" startup training is in progress for Mode 2.
Emphasis and involvement of senior management in the training program has increased.
This is evidenced by senior managers conducting several training sessions for licensed operators (e.g., the Site Vice President conducted training on Conservative Decision Making).
Additionally, line managers have established and conducted routine sessions in training to improve communications with non-licensed operators.
Ongoing / Post Ongoing / post-restart actions include:
restart actions Continue to improve supervisory presence in the field.
e implement self-identified improveraents to the Operations e
department self-assessment program, Improve training methodology for coverage of Administrative e
instructions, Operating Instructions, and Compliance Procedures.
Organizational The Operations Department previously lacked an external perspective Structure and of the industry. In addition, a low number of licensed and non-licensed Staffing operators and limited movement of Operations personnel to and from other areas of the site organizations led to complacency and a non-self.
critical culture.
Vacancies were filled exclusively from within the organization.
Operations Fragmented and unclear lines of responsibility among the managers in Management the Operations Department resulted in reduced teamwork and Organization organizational effectiveness.
Reor;;anization of the department was needed to better support the operational shifts.
Additionally, the Operations Department historically was isolated from the industry and did not conduct benchmarking activities.
To correct these conditions and the resultant problems, the Operations support staff was consolidated under two managers.
The Manager Nuclear Plant Operations (MNPO) has full responsibility and authority for shift activities and is the senior licensed authority in the organization. The Nuclear Shift Managers report directly to the MNPO for day to day operation of the nuclear plant. To allow the MNPO to focus on day to day activities, all other operations functions were consolidated under a support manager, the Manager Nuclear Plant l
Operations Support (MNPOS). The MNPOS works closely with, and in 6
~
3;
~ - '
+~
~~ - + -
-~7y-^
c a
fdirect support lof,L thel MNPO and the: operating shifts.
To gain:
7 a
Texperience L tom other. units, :severalibsnchmarking s trips were
- conducted.L; Goals and~ budgets have been established for additional trips in 1998.'
The ultimate responsibility for on-shift ' decision-making.was unclear; Shift J
Organization ?
because the senior license holder (Nuclear Shift Supervisor) was not the senior manager on-shift.L Rather; this authority resided with the Nuclear
^
Shift Managers who were not licensed. A recent organization change; has realigned the Nuclear Shift Manager position to be the senibr license holder. FPC has exceeded industry standards by having all Nuclear Shift Managers who Eare graduates ofj the. National ' Nuclear 1 Academy-
~ Accredited Shift Manager Training Program. Additional _ly, each Nuclear Shift 'Manaaer has : been _ assigned to. a member of senior station 4
management, who serves as a mentor. to' further assist = them in transitioning to their new role as a senior station manager, The new organization also' adds a Work Controls Center - Supervisor / Shift Technical Advisor position reporting to the Nuclear Shift Manager.
Additionally, ambiguities ;n control room responsibilities and the Auxiliary Operators reporting chain were resolved when the " Operator.
at the Controls" and " Balance of Plant" watchstations were defined.
^
Clear responsibilities for each position were developed and implemented after incorporating operator feedback from a pilot program in the simulator. Auxiliary Operators now report to the " Balance of Plant" operator for in-plant activities.
a
$taffing insufficient shift resources _ previously hindered; supervisory efforts to
. Levels adequately monitbr operator performance and solve problems in the -
control room and in 1 the ' plant.
Opportunities for professianal development of operators and preparation for increased iesponsibilities were limited because replacement operators were unavailable. Also unnecessary administrative burdens were - distracting to Operations supervisors.
o Ongoing / Post Correcting staffing shortages in the licensed operatos ranks is a long-term restart actions; commitment of CR-3 management. Although CR-3 will restart with six fully-manned _ crews, staffing l shortages will. likely exist into 1999, i
hindering desired rotational (development of shift personnel.-
The following is'..a summaryo ofL CR-3' progress and plans for future qualification of operations personnel:
' Four SI'O upgrade licenses - comAted 1997.
e.
Six Secondary Plant Operators - completed 1997 Eight Secondary Plant Operators - qualification 4/98
~ e --
~
Six direct SRO candidates - qualification expected 7/98 -
.7:
'P*-
e At c'*-
N e
W.,na me.M'1 g-tW
-'m?-
T T4&*-
ww k-I 5"'
f*
'+t
'p
-' 7 e+
Six RO candidates - class temporarily suspended, qualification e
expected late 1998 Two Primary Plant Operator classes - completion in 1998 Six direc' "O candidates - classes start early 1998 Operations has recruited four personnel with previous SRO licenses to participate in the next direct SRO class.
Five engineers currently enrolled in SRO class have long-term experience with CR-3 Engineering and Maintenance, ar.d one individual has previously been SRO licensed at another facility. A total of twenty-three personnel have been recruited into Operations which increases the total number of previously licensed personnel on site.
Administrative burden on Operations supervisors had previously hindered their ability to operate the plant, coach their subordinates, and become involved in station planning and maintenance activities. A project was completed in which each administrative burden identified by shift supervision was evaluated. Many of these tasks have been transferred to operations support and administrative personnel.
An administrative clerk has been stationed in the main control room area to provide direct support to the crew on day shift when the demands on the crew are at a maximum.
To ensure that the future operational needs of the unit are met and provide a broad base of experience for operations personnel, Cperations will assess staff strengths and weaknesses and complete a personnel development and succession plan. This plan will be used to determine rotational assignments, individual training needs, and provide input to the long-range training schedule.
Process As the new operations management team continues to raise standards Enhancements and expectations for operator performance, weaknesses in some operations processes were identified which contributed to human errors, decreased worker safety, and placed...necessary additional burden on the operators. Four primary areas of focus were identified for immediate and ongoing corrective actions. These include the areas of work controls, switching and tagging, procedures, and plant labeling.
Work Controls The work controls interface with the control room caused unnecessary distractiols to main control room personnel. To correct this problem, a temporary work controls center was erected on the turbine deck outside the control room.
Switching and tagging and work authorization activities were moved from the control room to the work control center.
Success of the concept has resulted in the evolution of a permanent facility in the Operations Administration Building adjacent to the turbine deck.
8
)
Switching and The CR-3 switching and tagging process was not consistent with the Tagging Florida Power Corporation Accident Prevention Manual or best industry practices.
Additionally, the clearance software program was insufficiently designed and implemented.
Operations worked with Maintenance to develop a new process and procedure.
Following training, the procedure was implemented in the summer of 1997. The new process requires more administrative checks than the old, reducing the likelihood of concequential error. Although a lower threshold for self-reporting of errors has been achieved and over 18,000 tags have been hung since May, overall tagging related errors have shown a general decline.
Tagging Errors per Opportunity 0.0005 '
O.0004 "
0.0003/- ~
0.0002-0.0001-
~
0 Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Significant improvements have been made to the clearance software including tie-in to the plant configuration database to ensure consistcat nomenclature between the clearance and the plant components. A self assessment of tagging error trends was conducted in November 1997.
Improvement recommendations to better human factor the tagging procedure, eliminate distractions to tagout preparers, and to strengthen operator knowledge of verifier responsibilities are in progress.
Procedure A large backlog of Operations procedure comments accumulated improvements -
- because of-lack of emphasis and resources.
Additionally, system readiness reviews, plant modifications, and engineering analysis affected most operational procedures. A significant ongoing effort to reduce the backlog dropped comments on operating procedures to less than 25 and addressed over 3000 comments.
9
v.' A a s;.w - nN ww Jcg v.+.n. c ~g:., : -qAgg' a@g
.q-I.
g b;g.g1.;;L-operame Proceewe rommenu - >:
3
- s
- a wa. m;1 x,
a c. A. :.%
s:;
____w A
?APIM
- -n.
Emergency and Weaknesses in engineering' analysis and design processes were also Abnormal reflected in the plant's emergency and abnormal operating procedures.
Operating Joclear guidelines for procedure format and content had resulted in
- Procedures inconsistencies that, when combined with weak technical content, relied heavily on the knowledge and skill of the operator to assure a successful outcome to a transient.
Florida Power created a team consisting of Operations, Engineering, and Licensing, with support from Framatome and the B&W User's Group, to generate a new writer's guide and completely rework the EOPs and AOPs. The team's efforts identified additiona'. design weaknesses that were factored into the outage scope.
Operations Readiness EOP Im provement Status 300 i.s 0 10 120 100 ll - N
<0-x 20
- 0 10/97 11/97 12197 10
H
.y s
s V
Apperxmx t System Tumover Process m
, Input From
, I
_.. System Mary 29er l Resolution by System T
iManager of Open item Ust
. S9R Tumover to '
8"##h"*'
System Declared d
s z
Operations S
RW %"
Testing Operable MFTs, and NRC commstme-f.2
- Mode Change
..a 3 m
Wi y
~
Certification by System r
1 Assessment Hold Point Manager to Operstow
,s...
Normal Operation Near Term Operation f Prior to 90% power for Return to Long-Term t
Service l
System Manager Activities Tracks, dispositions, expeddes resoluten, priorttires system tesues
- Consolusates inforMion for Operations Prepares Final System Readtness Review poor to tumov:er to Operations
- Aggregate impact Assessment v
, Monttors Startup System Activtbes
- Prepares certifk:steon for Retum to Long-Term Service i
s
Operations Readiness Abnorm al Procedures 200.-
':: : M 140 -
%q' T 12
}
-.- Actu al 80 o Workoff
[
oal 16 Prior to
i 7/97 8/97 9197 10/97 11197 12/97 a
2' *.$ *;".Nl.4l,","l,"." '"*""' ' "***'"""** '"
The resultant procedures were validated initially through table-top and simulator sessions, then through crew simulator scenarios, and finally in training, examination, and inspection. Operator examination using the new procedures resulted in no failures, testifying to the quality of the procedures and the training.
The process and results support the conclusion that operators are prepared to use the new EOPs and AOPs to safely preclude any plant transient.
Plant labeling inadequate labeling of plant components has been a contributor to humar, errors in the industry and at CR-3. Facilities have been procured to produce high-quality labels for plant components. Many new labels have been hung in the plant. However, a significant effort remains to upgrade the labels on most plant components. Recognizing that plant labels do not meet industry standards, management authorized the hiring of eight new auxiliary operators to label the plant prior to starting into the non-licensed operator training program.
Ongoing / Post Continue to upgrade tagout software and procedures to make the restart actions process more user-friendly in order to reduce the potential for errors.
Execute the labeling project.
Review / revise the procedure writer's guide.
11
a Results Florida Power Corporation is satisfied that the ongoing initiatives in the
- CR-3_ Operations'_ Department have resulted in a sustained change in operator capabilities and attitudes toward safe operation of the CR 3 facility.7 Support organizatioris have a new apprec
- ation of their role in support of the operation of the unit. Operators' expect to be_ and are involved in design and maintenance decisions that affect the unit and are intrusive into these activities in the pla'nt.
A _ new level' of professionalism has been achieved and managers are responsive to the
, concerns of plant operators. ' t.ine managers have involved themselves in the day ~ to day activities of the unit and reinforce high standards of '
performance for plant equipment and operators.
The conclusions represented here consider not _only the opinions of-operations or site. management, but external observers as well. Recent reviews - including an INPO peer assist, a peer-based " pre-OSTI," and the NRC conducted OSTI-have noted as strengths, operator procedural use and adherence, ownership, communications, pre-job briefir.gs, and professionalism. These fundamentals are the basis on which CR-3 wil!
become a "world-class" organization.
d E
f --
7 a
h t
12 1
,,.,