ML20206K587
| ML20206K587 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Millstone  |
| Issue date: | 04/29/1999 |
| From: | Travers W NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Kenyon B NORTHEAST UTILITIES |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9905130211 | |
| Download: ML20206K587 (4) | |
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i UNITED STATES g
j NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.c. 20066 4 001 l
April 29, 1999 1
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Mr. Bruce D. Kenyon President - Generation Group l
Northeast Utilities System 107 Felden St.
Berlin, CT 06037
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Dear Mr. Kenyon:
On April 28,1999, the Commission agreed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff's conclusion that Northeast Nuclear Energy Company (NNECO) has taken appropriate corrective actions to support restart of Millstone Unit 2, subject to satisfactory completion of all remaining issues requiring NRC verification. As part of the Commission's restart authorization, I was designated as the NRC's senior manager recponsible for verifying that appropriate aspects of Inspection Manual Chapter (MC) 0350, " Staff j
Guidelines for Restart Approval," are completed and for approving commencement of i
actions to restart Unit 2.
I In a letter dated April 1,1999, NNECO stated that Millstone Unit 2 was expected to be ready for ascension to Mode 2 on or about April 14,1999. Leakage and subsequent repair for a shutdown cooling system isolation valve delayed the projected restart. In a letter dated April 26,1999, NNECO informed the NRC that Millstone Unit 2 was ready for ascension to Mode 2. After careful review of the results of NNECO's restart-related activities and the staff's assessment of these results, I have concluded that Millstone Unit 2 is ready for restart. A summary of the NRC's review activities follows.
On February 20,1996, NNECO shut down Millstone Unit 2 when both trains of the high pressure safety injection system were declared inoperable because of a design issue. On August 14,1996, the NRC issued a confirmatory order directing NNECO to contract with a third party to conduct an independent Corrective Action Verification Program (ICAVP) to verify the adequacy of its effv.s to establish adequate design bases and design controls.
On October 24,1996, the NRC issued an order directing that, before the restart of any Millstone unit, NNECO develop and submit to the NRC a comprehensive plan for reviewing and dispositioning safety issues raised by NNECO employees and for ensuring that ernployees who raise safety concerns can do so without fear of retaliation. This safety conscious work environment / employee concerns program (SCWE/ECP) Order directed NNECO to retain an independent third-party to oversee implementation of its comprehensive plan.
On November 3,1996, the NRC created a new organization, the Special Projects Office s
(SPO) within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), to provide a specific O
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management focus on licensing and inspection activities required to support an NRC decision on restart of the Millstone units. The staff's inspection and assessment efforts were conducted in accordance with MC 0350, including the development of a specific Restart Action Plan (RAP) for each Millstone unit. The RAP was revised several times to capture significant emerging issues and was the major tool used by the Millstone Restart Assessment Panel (Panel) to track Millstone recovery efforts.
Following the NRC's approval to allow restart of Millstone Unit 3, a staff requirements memorandum dated July 15,1998, eliminated SPO, and assigned responsibilities to various groups within NRR and Region I. Inspection activities, with the exception of ICAVP inspections, were assigned to the Millstono inspection Directorate reporting to the Region i Regional Administrator. ICAVP and SCWE/ECP activities were assigned to the Director of NRR.
The NRC has performed many inspections since February 1996, to evaluate NNECO's progress in resolving performance issues. These activities included oversight and inspections of the ICAVP and SCWE/ECP areas, augmented resident inspector staff and specialist inspections, inspections of technical and programmatic restart items, and several multi-disciplined team inspections. Periodic public meetings were conducted to solicit public input on the Millstone recovery effort, and many publicly observable meetings on both technical and programmatic issues were conducted at the site. In addition, several Commission meetings were conducted to provide the status of recovery efforts at Millstone.
In a January 19,1999, meeting with the Commission, the staff, along with Little Harbor Consultants (third-party oversight organization) and NNECO, recommended closing the SCWE/ECP Order. On March 9,1999, the Commission approved the staff's recommendation to close the SCWE/ECP Order. Subsequently, on March 11,1999, the staff informed NNECO that the Order was closed.
During a Commission meeting on April 14,1999, the staff provided its assessment that NNECO had takren appropriate corrective actions to support restart of Millstone Unit 2.
The staff's conclusions were detailed in SECY 99-109, " Recovery of Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit 2," dated April 9,1999. Our letter to NNECO dated April 28,1999, stated that the ICAVP Order had been satisfied.
A NNECO letter dated December 22,1998, detailed the Unit 2 startup and power ascension program and provided several commitments, including the identification of four specific hold points during the ascension to full power. One commitment indicates that NNECO will assess plant and organizational readiness to proceed through power ascension at each of these hold points, review the results of each of these assessments with the NRC, and disposition any NRC concerns before increasing power. Another commitment indicates that NNECO will discuss the results of the 100 percent power assessment with the NRC staff, and disposition any NRC concerns before declaring the startup and power
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ascension program complete. These assessments should be coordinated with the NRC
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resident inspectors.
in summary, the NRC agrees that with respect to those public health and safety determinations required of NRC under the Atomic Energy Act, NRC orders and regulations Millstone Unit 2 is ready for restart. I am hereby providing authorization for NNECO to restart Unit 2.
i Sincerely, i
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William D. Travers Executive Director for Operations Docket No. 50-3,4 cc:
L J. Olivier, Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer M. H. Brothers, Vice President - Operations R. P. Necci, Vice President - Nuclear Oversight and Regulatory Affairs F. C. Rothen, Vice President - Nuclear Work Services D. Amerine, Vice President - Engineering Services J. T. Carlin, Vice President - Human Services C. J. Schwarz, Director - Unit 3 Operations G. D. Hicks, Director - Nuclear Training Services (CT)
J. A. Price, Director - Unit 2 Operations E. J. Harkness, Director - Unit 1 Operations L. M. Cuoco, Senior Nuclear Counsel J. R. Egan, Esquire N. Burton, Esquire V. Juliano, Waterford Library J. Buckingham, Department of Public Utility Control S. B. Comley, We The People State of Connecticut SLO Dasignee First Selectmen, Town of Waterford D. Katz, Citizens Awareness Network (CAN)
T. Concannon, Co-Chair, NEAC R. Bassilakis, CAN J. M. Block, Attorney, CAN S. P. Luxton, Citizens Regulatory Commission (CRC)
E. Woollacott, Co-Chairm, NEAC
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Distribution: -
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1 Nuclear Safetv information Center (NSIC)
J PUBLIC FILE CENTER, NRR (with Oriainal concurrences)
Millstone inspection Directorate Secretarial File, Region i NRC Resident inspector
' H. Miller, Regional Administrator, RI J. Wiggins, Deputy Regional Administrator, RI
' D. Holody, ORA W.' Lanning, DRS W. Ru!and, DRS J. Linville, RI R. Urban, RI-B. Davis, PIMB/ DISP D. Screnci, PAO DRS File Distribution: <VIA E MAIL >
' T. Madden, OCA J. Lieberman, OE (OEMAIL)
R. Zimmerman, NRR R. Correia, NRR M. Tschiltz, OEDO J. Nakoski, PM, NRR W. Dean,' NRR E.' Imbro, NRR P. Koltay,- NRR Inspection Program Branch <lPAS>
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