ML20207H739

Forwards Insp Rept 50-289/98-09 on 981227-990130.Two Apparent Violations Being Considered for Enforcement Action.First Violation Deals with Failure to Follow Procedures for Control of Emergency Boration Source

ML20207H739
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	03/05/1999
From:	Schmidt W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Langenbach J GENERAL PUBLIC UTILITIES CORP.
Shared Package
ML20207H745	List: IR 05000289/1998009 ML20207H739
References
50-289-98-09, 50-289-98-9, EA-98-432, NUDOCS 9903160089
Download: ML20207H739 (4)

See also: IR 05000289/1998009

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March 5,19S9  !

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EA 98-432 '

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Mr. J. Langenbach .  ;

~ Vice President and Director.  :

t GPU Nuclear, Inc. I

- Three Mile Island Nuclear Station I

P. O. Box 480

Middletown, Pennsylvania ' 17057-0480

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- SUBJECT: NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50-289/98-09

l- Dear Mr. Langenbach:

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On January 30,1999, the NRC completed an inspection at your Three Mile Island Unit 1

reactor facility. The enclosed report presents the results of that inspection which the

resident inspectors discussed with you and your staff during'the February 12,1999 exit i

meeting.-

Your staff continued to support safe operation of the unit. Operators performed well and

responded promptly and properly to several equipment problems. Specifically, good

responses limited plant transients following integrated control system module degradations.

- Good use of procedures during maintenance and surveillance activities continued. Your

staff used the corrective action process to document equipment problems. Operations,

maintenance, and engineering reacted well to the decay heat river strainer clogging.

However, this represented the second such failure on this strainer in approximately one

year, and as such warrants your continued attention Review of the recent voltage

regulation study found that your system conformed with the general design basis.

Housekeeping and the control of radiological conditions remained appropriate.

Based on the results of 'this inspection, we identified two apparent v;olations that are being

processed in accordance with the " General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC

. Enforcement Actions" (Enforcement Policy, NUREG-1600). The first deals with failure to

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l follow approved procedures for the control of the emergency boration source from the boric )

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acid mix tank. We note that you plan to submit a licenses event report on this NRC l

identified issue. We will use the licensee event report to determine the appropriate I

enforcement action for this issue and will document the results in a future inspection

report.

The second apparent violation deals with your failure to properly review a change made to i

the design basis for the emergency feedwater system. Specifically, you failed to complete I

. a safety evaluation for design basis analysis changes to the emergency feedwater system l

, minimum required flowrate to the once through steam generators. Subsequently, we were

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concerned whether you should have identified these changes as an unreviewed safety

F question requiring NRC review and approval prior to implementation in accordance with 10

CFR 50.59. Specifically, you reduced the accident analysis required flowrate, using enhanced i

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Mr. J. Langenbach 2-

l accident analysis methods which were different than the original method. You used this

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reduced flowrate requirement as a basis to determine emergency feedwater system operability

during the 1997 outage. Further, your review did not identify that your analysis determined that

the turbine driven emergency feedwater pump was not capable of supplying 100 percent of the ,

accident analysis required flowrate as described in the bases for Technical Specification 3.4.1.1  !

l and in the updated final safety analysis report, Section 10.2. This apparent violation is still under

review,

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We will contact you at a later date to inform you of our conclusions regarding the second '

apparent violation. Accordingly, no Notice of Violation is presently being issued. In addition,

please be advised that the number and characterization of apparent violations described in the

enclosed inspection report may change as a result of further NRC review.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its

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enclosures will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR).

No Reply to this letter is necessary. We appreciate your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Original Signed By Neil Perry for:

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Wayne L. Schmidt, Acting Chief

Projects Branch 7

Division of Reactor Projects

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Docket No.: 50-289

Enclosure: NRC Inspection Report No. 50-289/98-09

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Mr. J.' Langenbach 3

cc w/ encl:

M. J. Ross, Director, Operations and Maintenance  !

D. Smith, PDMS Manager .

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M. Laggart, Manager, Licensing and Vendor Audits . l

L J. Wetmore, Manager, Nuclear Safety and Licensing )

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E. L. Blake, Shaw, Pittman, Potts and Trowbridge (Legal Counsel for GPUN)

TMI-Alert (TMIA) l

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania l

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Mr. J. L'angenbach 4 l

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Distribution w/ encl-

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l Region i Docket Room (with concurrences)

Nuclear Safety information Center (NSIC)

PUBLIC

NRC Resident inspector

H. Miller, RA/W. Axelson, DRA

D. Holody, EO, RI

T. Walker, ORA - l

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L. Manning, ORA

P. Eselgroth, DRP

N. Perry, DRP

C. O'Daniell, DRP

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Distribution w/enci(VIA E-MAIL):

M. Tschiltz, OEDO

R. Zimmmerman, NRR

J. Goldberg, OGC

J. Lieberman, OE

E. Andensam, PD1-2, NRR

T. Colbum, f-D1-2, NRR

R. Correia, NRR

D. Holody, EO, RI

DOCDESK

Inspection Program Branch, NRR (IPAS)

DOCUMENT NAME: G:\ BRANCH 7\TMI\TMl9809F.WPD

~ T:e receive a copy of this document. Indicato in the box: "C" = Co)y without attachment / enclosure "E" = Copy with attachment / enclosure *N* = No copy

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OFFICE Rl/DRP [d Rl/DRP / l l

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NAME WSchmidt f//fr NPerry gg7

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'DATE 03/05/99 03/.r/99 03/ 199 03/ /99

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

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