ML20202C919

Responds to Re Serious Mgt Deficiencies at Facility.Info Cited Based on Poor Performance Indicated in 860606 SALP Board Rept.Meeting W/Licensee Planned.Author Has Scheduled Addl Meeting W/Util Executive Officer

ML20202C919
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom
Issue date:	07/07/1986
From:	Stello V NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:	Goodling W HOUSE OF REP.
Shared Package
ML20202C924	List: ML20202C919 ML20202C926
References
NUDOCS 8607110476
Download: ML20202C919 (12)

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JUL 7 1986 Docket Nos. 50-277 50-278 The Honorable William F. Goodling United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Goodling:

We are pleased to respond to your letter dated June 12, 1986 which expressed concerns regarding the NRC's identification of "a serious management deficiency" at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Your letter inquired as to whether the allegations were substantiated, what we were planning to do and how quickly we could bring about necessary changes.

The information for the newspaper article you cited was based on a Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) Board report dated June 6, 1986.

First, it is important to understand the purpose of the SALP program and how it

was implemented for Peach Bottom. SALP is an integrated NRC staff effort

which, on a periodic basis, takes all available inspection and licensing observations for a fixed time interval, usually 12 to 18 months, and uses them to evaluate licensee performance based on criteria established by NRC procedures. SALP is supplementary to the normal regulatory processes and is intended to be diagnostic, with emphasis on understanding the reasons for licensee performance in important functional areas: e.g., operation, maintenance, radiological controls, etc. Routine inspections were conducted at regular intervals at the Peach Bottom facility but the reports of those inspections generally dealt with observations of work in progress and the quality control systems in place to oversee the work. In this regard, the SALP process is unique in that it also captures our opinions and judgement, based on observation, and attempts to relate these to our understanding of the reasons for the noted performance. That is, the symptoms of either good or poor performance may exist and be seen on a sporadic basis during the course of a year, but the SALP is our opportunity to collect such symptoms and assess management's role in the observed performance. In the case of Peach Bottom, f

our recent assessment indicated that performance in some functional areas has either deteriorated or shown no improvement over the years. Other areas have

! shown occasional improvements yet have slipped back to previously poor performance levels. A copy of the current SALP report is enclosed. Not-withstanding the weaknesses noted in this report, the overall performance in nuclear safety at the Peach Bottom Station was found to be acceptable.

! The purpose of the SALP is twofold: 1) to better understand the underlying reasons for the plant's performance and to share these insights with licensee i

management such that they can take appropriate actions to further improve and, l

2) to provide a rational basis for allocating NRC inspection resources among NRC licensed facilities such that we can provide more attention to weaker per-formers and less attention to the better ones. In this regard, to better i $7110476860707 ADOCK 05000277 l U PDR L

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The Honorable William F. Goodling 2 understand the underlying reasons for the performance at Peach Bottom, NRC Region I is conducting a special in-depth inspection by a team of experienced inspection specialists and resident inspectors from other sites. This inspection commenced June 18, 1986 and is intended to obtain a more complete understanding of the reasons for the performance described in the SALP report, and to assess licensee corrective action programs. Specifically, the SALP results are focusing our attention in the short term so that we can verify the need for longer term corrective measures. A copy of the inspection report will be forwarded to you when it is completed for your information.

The performance at Peach Bottom during the most recent SALP period indicates shortcomings when compared to that of the overall population of plants licensed by NRC. Similar kinds of problems, however, have been observed at other faci-lities, both in Region I (northeast United States) and nationally. It is our policy to bring problems identified through the SALP process to the attention of utility management and deal with them before they lead to further degradation of performance. It is this type of aggressive action that highlights to licensees the need for precautionary actions rather than allow events to proceed unchecked.

We have forwarded the SALP Board Report to the licensee and in the near future will meet with them to discuss the issues identified in the SALP report and in our team inspection with Philadelphia Electric Company management. We will solicit from them their views and corrective actions which we will monitor and take appropriate measures to ensure that the desired results are beino

, achieved. Additionally, the poor performance as indicated in the S1LP Report and the recent Notice of Violation, with a proposed civil penalty, were of such serious concern to me personally that I have scheduled a separate meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Pennsylvania Electric Company to address these issues.

Sincerely.

OriSinal signed by yictor Stellof j Victor Stello, Jr.

Executive Director for Operations

Enclosure:

1. SALP Report

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The Honorable William F. Goodling 3 2

DISTRIBUTION:

i J. Roe T. Rehm

. J. Sniezek q G. Cunningham J. Taylor -

T. Murley R. Vollmer -

J. Partlow R. Spessard P. McKee R. Starostecki W. Kane i S. Collins 4

R. Gallo T. Johnson i

P. Lohaus D. Muller G. Gears i R. Bernero 1 EDO 001842 SECY 86-595

CA Docket Nos. 50-277/50-278 Public Document Room i Local Public Document Room Commonwealth of Pennsylvania OCA t

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JUN 30 '86 07:00'

~ NRC KING OF PRUSSIA PO4 The Honorable William F. Good 11ng 3 DISTRIBUTION:

J. Roe ~~

T. Rehm J. Sntezek G. Cunningham J. Taylor T. Murley R. Vollmer .

J. Partlow R. Spessard P. McKee R. Starosteckt W. Kane S. Collins -

R. Gallo T. Johnson P. Lohaus D. Muller G. Gears R. Bernero EDO 001842 SECY 86-595 CA Docket Hos. 50-277/50-278 Public Document Room Local Public Document Room Commonwealth of Pennsylvania RI:0RP / RI:RA ED0 RI:0RP K Collins Gailo RI:0RP d kane RI:DRP ( Sta RI.0ostecki Larkin rhl Murley Stello 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6 86 6/h/ 86 6/ /86 "j

OFFICIAL F'ECORD COPY 186 LARKINS 6/19/86 - 0002.0.0 06/19/86

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The Honorable William F. Goodling 3 DISTRIBUTION:

J. Roe T. Rehm J. Sniezek G. Cunningham J. Taylor T. Murley R. Vollmer J. Partlow R. Spessard P. McKee R. Starostecki W. Kane S. Collins R. Gallo T. Johnson P. Lohaus D. Muller G. Gears R. Bernero EDO 001842 SECY 86-595 CA Docket Nos. 50-277/50-278 Public Document Room Local Public Document'^ Room

Commonwealth'of Pennsylvania OCA RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:RA E0 Larkins/rhl Gallo Collins Kane Starostecki Murley St o 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 f3/86 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY

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31L we J

Docket Nos. 50-277

, 50-278 i

The Honorable William F. Goodling i United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 i

~

Dear Congressman Goodling:

i We are pleased to respond to your letter dated June 12, 1986 which expressed concerns regarding the NRC's identification of "a serious management

deficiency" at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Your letter inquired as to whether the allegations were substantiated, what we were planning to do and j how quickly we could bring about necessary changes.

t The information for the newspaper article you cited was based on a Systematic l' Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) Board report dated June 6, 1986.

First, it is important to understand the purpose of the SALP program and how it i was implemented for Peach Bottom. SALP is an integrated NRC staff effort I which, on a periodic basis, takes all available inspection and licensing observations for a fixed time interval, usually 12 to 18 months, and uses them to evaluate licensee performance based on criteria established by NRC l

j procedures. SALP is supplementary to the normal regulatory processes and is intended to be diagnostic, with emphasis on understanding the reasons for j

i licensee performance in important functional areas: e.g., operation, i

maintenance, radiological controls, etc. Routine inspections were conducted at '

! regular intervals at the Peach Bottom facility but the reports of those inspections generally dealt with observations of work in progress and the quality control systems in place to oversee the work. In this regard, the SALP l

process is unique in that it also captures our opinions and judgement, based on observation, and attempts to relate these to our understanding of the reasons for the noted perfonnance. That is, the symptoms of either good or poor l

performance may exist and be seen on a sporadic basis during the course of a

year, but the SALP is our opportunity to collect such symptoms and assess

management's role in the observed performance. In the case of Peach Bottom, our recent assessment indicated that perfonnance in some functional areas has

either deteriorated or shown no improvement over the years. Other areas have shown occasional improvements yet have slipped back to previously poor r

performance levels. A copy of the current SALP report is enclosed. Not-withstanding the weaknesses noted in this report, the overall performance in l

nuclear safety at the Peach Bottom Station was found to be acceptable.

l The purpose of the SALP is twofold: 1)tobetterunderstandtheunderlying reasons for the plant's performance and to share these insights with licensee management such that they can take appropriate actions to further improve and,

2) to provide a rational basis for allocating NRC inspection resources among i NRC licensed facilities such that we can provide more attention to weaker per-formers and less attention to the better ones. In this regard, to better i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _

3 k The Honorable William F. Goodling 2 understand the underlying reasons for the performance at Peach Bottom, NRC Region I is conducting a special in-depth inspection by a team of experienced inspection specialists and resident inspectors from other sites. This inspection commenced June 18, 1986 and is intended to obtain a more complete understanding of the reasons for the performance described in the SALP report, and to assess licensee corrective action programs. Specifically, the SALP results are focusing our attention in the short term so that we can verify the need for longer term corrective measures. A copy of the inspection report will be forwarded to you when it is completed for your information.

The performance at Peach Bottom during the most recent SALP period indicates shortcomings when compared to that of the overall population of plants licensed by NRC. Similar kinds of problems, however, have been observed at other faci-lities, both in Region I (northeast United States) and nationally. It is our policy to bring problems identified through the SALP process to the attention of utility management and deal with them before they lead to further degradation of performance. It is this type of aggressive action that highlights to licensees the need for precautionary actions rather than allow

events to proceed unchecked.

We have forwarded the SALP Board Report to the licensee and in the near future will meet with them to discuss the issues identified in the SALP report and in our team inspection with Philadelphia Electric Company management. We will solicit from them their views and corrective actions which we will monitor and take appropriate measures to ensure that the desired results are being achieved. Additionally, the poor performance as indicated in the SALP Report i,

and the recent Notice of Violation, with a proposed civil penalty, were of such serious concern to me personally that I have scheduled a separate meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Pennsylvania Electric Company to address these issues.

Sincerely, Original signed by yictor. Stelle/

Victor Stello, Jr.

Executive Director

for Operations i

Enclosure:

1. SALP Report i

l

t

. The Honorable William F. Goodling 3 DISTRIBUTION:

J. Roe T. Rehm J. Sniezek G. Cunningham J. Taylor -

T. Murley R. Vollmer J. Partlow R. Spessard P. McKee R. Starostecki W. Kane S. Collias R. Gallo T. Johnson P. Lohaus D. Muller G. Gears R. Bernero EDO 001842 SECY 86-595 CA Docket Nos. 50-277/50-278 E, Public Document. Room' Local Public Document Room Commonwealth of Pennsylvania OCA RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:DRP RI:RA E0 Larkins/rhl Gallo Collins Kane Starostecki Murley St o 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 6/ /86 ]p[3r /86 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY

f 5

I i

l Docket Nos. 50-277 I 50-278

.i

' The Honorable William F. Goodling i

United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Goodling:

We are pleased to respond to your letter dated June 12, 1986 which expressed j

' concerns regarding the NRC's identification of "a serious management deficiency" at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Your letter inquired as to whether the allegations we're substantiated, what we were planning to do and how quickly we could bring about necessary changes.

]

The information for the newspaper article you cited was based on a Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) Board report dated June 6,1986.

First, it is important to understand the purpose of the SALP program and how it was implemented for Peach Bottom. SALP is an integrated NRC staff effort which, on a periodic basis, takes all available inspection and licensing 1

i observations for a fixed time interval, usually 12 to 18 months, and uses them i

to evaluate licensee performance based on criteria established by NRC 4 procedures. SALP is supplementary to the normal regulatory processes and is intended to be diagnostic, with emphasis on understanding the reasons for i

licensee performance in important functional areas: e.g., operation, maintenance, radiological controls, etc. Routine inspections were conducted at

> regular intervals at the Peach Bottom facility but the reports of those

! inspections generally dealt with observations of work in progress and the i , quality control systems in place to oversee the work. In this regard, the SALP process is unique in that it also captures our opinions and judgement, based on observation, and attempts to relate these to our understanding of the reasons for the noted performance. That is, the symptoms of either good or poor i performance may exist and be seen on a sporadic basis during the course of a "

year, but the SALP is our opportunity to collect such symptoms and assess

• management's role in the observed performance. In the case of Peach Bottom, our recent assessment indicated that performance in some functional areas has either deteriorated or shown no improvement over the years. Other areas have shown occasional improvements yet have slipped back to previously poor performance levels. A copy of the current SALP report is enclosed. Not- .

l withstanding the weaknesses noted in this report, the overall performance in nuclear safety at the Peach Bottom Station was found to be acceptable.

\

! The purpose of the SALP is twofold: 1) to better understand the underlying l

reasons for the plant's performance and to share these insights with licensee j

management such that they can take appropriate actions to further improve and,

2) to provide a rational basis for allocating NRC inspection resources among

)

NRC licensed facilities such that we can provide more attention to weaker per-I formers and less attention to the better ones. In this regard, to better i

l l

1 _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

g The Honorable William F. Goodling 2 understand the underlying reasons for the performance at Peach Bottom, NRC Region I is conducting a special in-depth inspection by a team of experienced inspection specialists and resident inspectors from other sites. This inspection commenced June 18, 1986 and is intended to obtain a more complete understanding of the reasons for the performance described in the SALP report, I and to assess licensee corrective action programs. Specifically, the SALP results are focusing our attention in the short term so that we can verify the need for longer term corrective measures. A copy of the inspection report will be forwarded to you when it is completed for your information.

The performance at Peach Bottom during the most recent SALP period indicates

. shortcomings when compared to that of the overall population of plants licensed by NRC. Similar kinds of problems, however, have been observed at other faci-lities, both in Region I (northeast United States) and nationally. It is our policy to bring problems identified through the SALP process to the attention of utility management and deal with them before they lead to further degradation of performance. It is this type of aggressive action that highlights to licensees the need for precautionary actions rather than allow events to proceed unchecked.

We have forwarded the SALP Board Report to the licensee and in the near future will meet with them to discuss the issues identified in the SALP report and in our team inspection with Philadelphia Electric Company management. We will solicit from them their views and corrective actions which we will monitor and take appropriate measures to ensure that the desired results are being achieved. Additionally, the poor performance as indicated in the SALP Report and the recent Notice of Violation, with a proposed civil penalty, were of such serious concern to me personally that I have scheduled a separate meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Pennsylvania Electric Company to address these issues.

Sincerely, OriSinal signed by yictor, Stel10/j Victor Stello, Jr.

Executive Director for Operations

Enclosure:

1. SALP Report

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$ :e E WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555 4, ,o fj 1 g 6 sh4 1 EDO PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL FROM: DUE: 07/01/86 EDO CONTROL: 001842 REP. BILL GOODLING DOC DT: 06/12/86 FINAL REPLY:

'TO:

CHAIRMAN PALLADINO FOR SIGNATitRE OF: ** PRIORITY ** SECY NO: 86-595 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DESC:

ROUTING:

O'S RE MISMANAGEMENT AT PEACH BOTTOM STELLO e --

ROE DATE: 06/17/86 REHM ASSIGNED TO: WS1 CONTACT: DE449eN M( "1 SNIEZEK MURLEY TAYLOR SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS OR REMARKS: GCUNNINGHAM NRR RECEIVED: 06/18/86-. ,

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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL TICKET PAPER NUMBER: CRC-86-0595 LOGGING DATE: Jun 12 86 ACTION OFFICE: EDO AUTHOR: B. Goodling AFFILIATION: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LETTER DATE: Jun 12 86 FILE CODE: ID&R-5 Peach Bottom

SUBJECT:

Ref news article and req explanation concerning allegations of mismanagement at Peach Bottom ACTION: Signature of EDO DISTRIBUTION: RF , OCA to Ack SPECIAL HANDLING: None NOTES:

DATE DUE: Jun 25 86 SIGNATURE: . DATE SIGNED:

AFFILIATION:

Rec'd Off. EDO Date-_ b -l 7~ f6 Time - AD V EDO

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