ML20210N427
| ML20210N427 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Dresden, Byron, Braidwood, Quad Cities, Zion, LaSalle  |
| Issue date: | 12/02/1996 |
| From: | Brian Holian NRC |
| To: | Shirley Ann Jackson, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20210N181 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-97-178 NUDOCS 9708250227 | |
| Download: ML20210N427 (14) | |
Text
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December 2,- 1996.
-NOTE T0: Chairman Jackson iFROM:-- Brian Holiar
- COORDINATED WITH: h k/Annet e
SUBJECT:
December 3. 9:00-9:45 Drop In, Commonwealth Edison (Comed)
VISITORS: James O'Connor - Chief Executive Officer -
Mile Wallace - Senior Vice President. Nuclear Strategic Services L PLANTS: 12 plants at 6 sites t
Braidwood, Byron. Zion (W - PWR) l Dresden, LaSalle Quad Cities (GE - BWR) r Dresden-1 in SAFSTOR
SUMMARY
Drop-in meeting for an update.on industry restructuring and
-. deregulation: Unicom strategic planning; and mixed oxide fuel.
Mr. O'Connor and the-VPs-for-Nuclear Operations-(Maiman^and Keiser) visited on_May 13: and-October 3, 1996 Maiman and Keiser returned; In May you requested a briefing on deregulation in the state of .
Illinois. Messrs. O'Connor and Wallace last visited on August 13. 1996.
to discuss Comed's " slow careful-movement into deregulation."
The Dresden Independent Safety inspection (ISI) held an interim exit meeting with licensee management on November 8, 1996. The ISI identified significant-~ concerns-with Dresden Station's control of calculations and with the overall performance.of site and corporate engineering activities. A. Confirmatory Action Letter, dated-November 21, 1996 commits Comed to meet with the NRC on_a monthly basis to discuss _ findings:from
- the action plan You will be briefed on.the Dresden ISI on December 9,1996.
The public exit is December 12, 1996.
ISSUES-The briefing package ldoes not have any information on the Illinois initiative on restructuring for deregulation. The PMs were unable to obtain information from their licensee contacts.
I G 3CE DRPIN.5EH --
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Comed (in partnership with Duke) has expressed interest in burning MOX fuel at its Byron, Braidwood, and LaSalle stations. The partners have aligned themselves with France and British Nuclear Fuels.
All plants are upgrading TS.
UFSAR conformance. Numerous discrepancies were identified, however, most have low safety significance. Selection and prioritization criteria have been developed for additional reviews.
11 SALP scores. Quad Cities scores have not been released yet (2,3,3,2). (
If these scores stand. performance will have declined from the previous i period in Engineering (2 -
). Most notably - LaSalle ha three 3'g.
and Dresden has two 3's.. -
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Emergency Operations Facility. In February 1996 the Commission approved use of an interim EOF (more than 20 miles from the Comed sites). Comed has now requested approval to make this permanent. If recommended by the staff Commission approval will be required.
G.\tf_DRPIN BEM
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QUESTIONS::
Will the Illinois initiative on deregulation allow for enough of a transition period-to-allow recovery of stranded-costs?-
How will the collection of decommissioning costs be handled? -
You stated in May that you need to be done with your improvement programs before deregulation takes affect. I note that you provided increased funding (0&M and Capital) for all six stations i
in July of this year. Were your actions too little too late; or, L will you indeed make it? -
l Will-your engineering organization be capable to support the use l-
-of M0X fuel, should that option be availed to you?
What is your assessment of the Dresden Independent Safety Inspection? How will you utilize " lessons learned" from this inspection to improve performance at all stations across Comed?
What has been the impact of the 10 CFR 50. 54(f) letter?
-(LaSalle questions next page .... Could be asked to lead into the announcement that you intend to visit LaSalle in February (in
'ff
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conjunction with youeFermi-Lab speech).
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(specific LaSalle questions; to prep them for your plant visit)
I note that your restart of.the LaSalle units has been delayed to early 1997 (questions on operability evaluations of the residual ,
heat removal service water system and control room HVAC raised concerns regarding design basis). Is this delay evidence of a ,
good questioning attitude and a sharpening of your engineering support?
If you had cuestions of this magnitude on the two systems that you selectec for an in depth review, how will you assure yourselves that other systems are not susceptible to faulty operability evaluations?
Were the two Confirmatory Action Letters that the Region issued in the wake of the poor work control event at LaSalle (injecting foreign material into the service water tunnel) effective in pointing out the need for improvements in persannel performance?
< Are the SALP scores- recently issued (3, 3, 3, and 2 in Plant-Support: 8/96) viewed by Commonwealth as a strong indicator of
.the need for improvement at LaSalle?
I hope to visit LaSalle in February 1997. Will I see improvement there by that time?
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/9 MEETING WITH JAMES J. OCONNOR, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AND MICHAEL WALLACE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT CHIEF NUCLEAR OFFICER, UNICOM/ COMMONWEALTH EDIS0N COMPANY This meeting is scheduled as a courtesy visit. The submitted agenda for the visit covers nuclear division performance and key strategy issues including-leadership, standards and accountability, material condition and competition.
This brief includes; issues, comments and questions for the topics on the agenda; information on Technical Specifications initiatives; and a summary for each site.
(0MED NUCLEAR DIVISION PERFORMAr1CE issues _
4 o PerformanceatDresden,QuadCities, Zion,BraidwoodandLaSallsareof .
i concern to the staff. Dresden, Quad Cities and Zion all continue to be '.'
challenged by material ifondition and human performance problems. ~
i Significant work remains to fully resolve equipment, technical support l and work control issues. Quad Cities has made good progress in 7 l resolution of major plant deficiencies. .f~
o Dresden has been on the Watch List since January 1992, and was .
previously on the Watch List from June 1987 through December 1988. 3 o Trending letters were issued for LaSalle and Quad Ci_ ties in January and
} in June 1994. Quad Cities was issued a third trending letter in January ^ ,
1995. At present both Quad Cities and LaSalle have been removed from U.
the declining trends list. C# '
o Performance-at Braidwood has declined.
The decline has been attributed . ,g r "
to a high threshold for problem identification, weak engineering and -,
corrective actions, and the lack of a questioning attitude. R '
o- In the last several years Comed has taken significant steps to improve performance including hiring managen,ent from outside the company; f reorganization; increased engineering capability; improvement of craft skills; performance benchmarking with other utilities.
Comments-Dresden and Quad Cities both need to improve material condition and human performance.
The rate of improvement of performance at Zion is considered slow. The changes at Zion have not resulted in significant improvements in either human performance or material condition. Because of the slow progress the Region will be closely evaluating the effectiveness of the site management.
Material condition is declining at Braidwood. This situation needs to be addressed before it becomes a safety concern, l'
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4:-
Caestions What-initiatives have been taken to improve performance at Dresden?
What actions were taken after the' receipt of the third-performance trending
_ letter for Quad Cities? Do you feel these actions have been effective in improving performance?-
What, insights have you gained _through performance _ benchmarking with other utilities?
-LEADERSPIP-
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l-L .. o. During the past 3 years Comed has brought-in considerable management-talent from outside of the corporation. Previously Comed had-traditionally promoted from within and as a result benefited little from outside experience. 1 c Comed management needs to maintain management's focus on plant performance and ensure resources are:used to see improvement' programs through to the end.
o Slow progress at' Zion has brought into guystion_the-effectivences of-the ney managemenLicacL.
STANDARDS AND ACCOUNTABILITY lssues o- New ma'nagers at. Quad Cities with proven track records _have improved
' standards and accountability. Most notable improvement has been in the conduct of control room operations.
o During a-recent LaSalle Unit 2 outage management invoked two outage activity stand-downs due to a number of personnel errors and equipment problems. The-licensee develop.id improved expectations for personnel-and-developed training to reirforce those expectations, o Operations-at Dresden improved.significantly after operators attended conservative decision making training.
' Comments Continued' improvement of standards and acc.ountability at Dresden.and Quad -
Cities tis dependent.upon the sustained attention of management in-these areas.
Questions What actions have been taken.to ensure that plant management will-remain committed to--improving standards and accountability?
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O MATERIAL CONDIT10JJ Issues o Steam Genera s at Byron and Braidwood.
R o
ei Dresden, Quad Cities and Zion all have large maintenance backlogs.
Management has been ineffective in reducing the maintenance backlog at the older plants.
o The material condition of equipment at Braidwood is declining.
Comments Continued effort is required to improve material condition at a number of Comed facilities in particular Dresden and Quad Cities.
Coned management must take the lead in resolving steam generator technical issues at Byron and Braidwood.
Questions How are you addressing the decline in the material condition at Braidwood.
your newest plant?
I understand that the Dresden. Quad Cities. Zion facilities all have large maintenance backlogs, what is being done to improve the material condition at these facilities?
COMPETITION Issues o In June 1994 the company was restructured. Comed became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unicom. The stated purpose for the restructuring was to permit the company to compete in an unregulated environment. NRC staff review concluded that the restructuring did not have a detrimental effect on the operation of the nuclear units.
o Several of Comed's co rate offices are undergoing a detailed function and rsonnel revie (.h Similar efforts have taken place at the plants.
CommenIs Safety and long term economic performance are mutually interdependent and they reinforce one another because of the impact of safety upgrades and improved maintenance on improved reliability. I hope that when you make decisions to 3
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meet the industry *s challenges.- you keep the focus-of your efforts on SAFE AND ECONOMIC. NUCLEAR OPERATIONS. In my view, you cannot have one without the other.
Strong management oversight is _particularly important during decentralization.
Questions How has corporate restructuring impacted the_operatinn of Comed's nuclear generating facilities? Are resources readily available to safely operate your facilities?
Standard Technical-Specifications issues All of the Comed sites are upgrading their Technical Specifications, o LaSalle. Ryron and Braidwood plan to submit license amendment-packages to convert to the improved Standard Technical Soecificatinns in June
~
q 1996.
- o Zion is in the process of converting to the improved Standardized Technical . Specifications with full implementation scheduled for-June 1996.
o Dresden and Quad Cities have submitted license amendments for-upgrading-from custom Technical-Specifications to the old BWR-Standard Technical Specifications. Technical review is currently ongoing by NRR-projects.
The entire program-is expected-to be complete in fall of 1995 and be implemented by the end of the year.
Questions
> What is the projected economic benefit for your facilities _ following the
. implementation of improved Standard Technical Specifications?
SITE
SUMMARY
Comed's 6 sites are Braidwood, Byron, Dresden, laSalle, Quad Cities and Zion.
d)2.0aits,PWR-(Westinghouse)4 Loop Unit 1 shutdown on September 30, 1995, for a 50 day refueling outage. Unit l
- Steam Generators-(SGs), Westinghouse "D4" models, have tube degradation-at the- '
tube support plate-(TSP) crevices due to outside diameter stress-corrosion cracking (00 SCC). lThe; staff has required mid-cycle inspections of-SGs based-upon voltage growths in excess of 2-7 volts. At present the licensee is required to repair or remove from service:those tubes with an eddy current voltage of.' greater than 1 volt. The licensee has. submitted a license Smendment request to use a 3 volt repair criterion for hot leg Tj2.__.
intersections. The licensee has requested staff approval by November 7,1995. [
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s The major issue that remains to be resolved for the request is the prediction of transient differential pressures across a TSP during a Main Steam Lin_e Break. The differential _ pressure is used to predict TSP deflection. Because it is not clear how closely the models predict actual pressures the staff has proposed to conservatively estimate TSP loads. The magnitude of the loade affects the number of tubes which must be expanded to limit movement of the TSPs. The licensee intends on replacing Unit 1 SGs in September 1998.
Unit 2 Steam Generators, Westinghouse "D5" models, have not shown accelerated tube degradatius.
A recent enforcement issue involvad the operation of Unit 2 with the ttydrogen sonitoring system disconnected for 2 months, potentially defeating containment integrity during a severe accident. A Severity Level III violation with
$100,000 civil penalty was issued on May 30, 1995.
Byron - 2 Units, PWR (Westinghouse) 4 Loops Byron is considered to be Coned's only-above average performer. ,
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!, Unit 1 SGs are Westinghouse "D4" models. Issues with @ DDSCC are similar ' toL c. -
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those at Braidwood. ~
are scheduled to beginThe staff has on October 20, required mid-cycleof'Unit 1995. Replacement inspections 1 SGs is of SGs which ,' o -
scheduled for 1999.
Unit 2 Steam Generators, Westinghouse "D5" models, have not shown accelerated tube degradations.
Dresden - 2 operating Units (2 and 3), BWR-3 (GE) Mark 1 Containment Dresden has been on the Watch List since January 1992 _
Turbine Blade Failure - Unit 3 experienced a low pressure turbine blade failure in May 1995. The blade failure was caused by fatigue cracking which initiated in the stellite surfaced wear material on the leading edge of the turbine blade. Subsequent liquid penetrant exams identified numerous <
indications on the leading edge of the blades. The subjec. hlading was -
reverse e Rered by ABB from original GE blades. The licensee has replaced all of the defective pressure ABBGE turbines with manufactured blades in both Unit 2 and Unit 3 Low turbine blades. No other Comed plants are known to have ABB reverse engineered blades. Unit 3 restarted, following the low pressure turbing blade replacement, on September 22, 1995.
Core Shrog tracking - Comed discovered significant cracking in the core shroud circumferential welds in Unit 3 in the spring of 1994. The licensee submitted an analysis that showed that the cracked core shrouds could maintain margins against weld failure. The NRC staff evaluated the licensee's analysis and concluded that the cracked shrouds would satisfy ASME Code margins against weld failure for 15 months of operation. Unit 2 has completed permanent repairs of the core shroud cracks and the staff plans to issue the Safety Evaluation prior to the Unit 2 restart scheduled for early November 1995.
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Unit 3 plans to effect permanent repairs to the core shroud in the spring of 1996.
Installation of 2 Additional Diesel Generators - The licensee committed to install 2 additional Diesel Generators to meet the requirements of the Station Blackout Rule. - The completion has been delayed from December 30, 1995, until 4 the next Unit 3 refueling outage in March 1996. A schedular exemption has been requested by the licensee.
LaSalle - 2 Units, BWR-5 (GE) Mark 2 Containment Equipment reliability continues to be a problem, although some progress has been noted in this area as evidenced by a decrease in the number of unplanned outages. Emergent work has hindered resolution of long standing equipment problems and diver +ed attention from improvement programs. The recent Unit 2 outage was extendea by approximately 50 days due to equipment problems discovered both during the outage and during restart.
l Ouad Cities - 2. Units BWR-3 (GE) Mark 1 Containmant Equipment reliability is a concern _ This concern was recently substantiated by 4 Unit 2 shutdowns due to equipment problems during the 2 month period foll; wing a 4 month refueling outage.
Qre Shroud Crackina - Unit I core shroud has significant cracking that was identified in the spring of 1994. Evaluations were performed that concluded l that Unit 1 could operate safely for 15 months without making any repair, i
Unit 2 Core shroud cracking has been repaired.
Installation of 2 Additional Diesel Generators - The licensee committed to install 2 additional Diesel Generators to meet the requirements of the Station Blackout Rule. The completion has been delayed from December 30, 1995, until the next Unit I refueling outage in February 1996. A schedular exemption has been requcsted b;. the licensee.
lion - 2 Units, PWR (Westinghouse) 4 Loops The licensee was granted 5 Notices of Enforcement Discretion between March and June 1995. These violations were classified as a Severity Level 111 violation 22, 1995.
wTthoutTvil penalty)wa.s_ issued on September 6
l l
MEETING WITH JAMES J. OCONNOR, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AND MICHAEL WALLACE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT CHIEF NUCLEAR OFFICER, UNICOM/ COMMONWEALTH EDIS0N COMPANY Update to briefing package based on the ED0's visit to Braidwood and Dresden on October 4/5.
Signif nf from he visit:
Dresden :L va.h a vM - 3 M M 1 M 'a M '
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.o Control Room Operations were noted to have improved.
$v Wo Plant material condition has continued to degrade. The maintenance backlog is a concern and will require significant resources to resolve.
o 3resden conti o be a poor rformer avail abil i t y_. far as_ capacity _fattar and EY. 5 l Braidwood A Oe. Ps '. NA 10 # '
o li n amendments to implement a 3 volt lower limit for the tage based repair criteria are continuing to be reviewed by the staff.
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/Thisobservationcoincid'swiththeRegion's e
'Issessment oMigh threshold for identifying problems and.Etak c.orrective actions Q ,,
o 30% of maintenance workers recently failed a maintenance exam given to theworkersbythelicenseemanagemn(. M"N' Zloll W r e n. Ag W y*s wae
- t v .ts - PWit M o The results from the Zion steam generator inspections indicate approximately 10% of the tubes have degraded and will need to be sleeved. Inspection of 2 of the 4 steam generators has been completed.
Based upon projected inspection results it is estimated that approximately 2000 tubes will need to be sleeved. These results were unexpected and the options for sleeving are being evaluated by the licensee. The repairs are expected to add 40 days to the outage duration.
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O DIOGRAPHY_
JAMES. J. O'_CDNNQB James J. O'Connor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Unicom Corporation, and Chairman and Chlef Executive Officer of its subsidlary, g e b. #Y.
Commonwealth Edison Company, was born in He graduated from St. Ignatius High Schoolin 1954, in 1958, he received his bachelor of science degree with a major in economics from Holy Cross College and in 1960 obtained an MBA degree from Harvard. He spent the next three years on activif duty with ' inited States Air Force, assigned to the Office of SpecialInvestigation in Washington, D.C. He attended Georgetown Law School and received his J.D. degree in 1963.
He entered the ernploy of Commonwealth Edison on October 28,1963. On January 1,1965, he was made an administrative assistant in the Office of the Chairman of the Executive Committee. On March 21,1966, he was appointed Division Commercial Manager at Chicago North and on March 6,1967, was promoted to Assistant Vice President. He was promoted to Vice President on April 30,1970, and on Apni 1,1973, was promoted to Executive Vice Ptesident. He was named President on December 8, 1977, and became m 6dison Director in April,1978. Mr. O'Connor assumed his position as Chairman on March 1,1980, and relinquished the Presidency on September 30,1987.
Mr. O'Connor is a director of the following organizations: American National Can Company, Corning incorporated, First Chicago Corporation, The First j
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National Bank of Chicago, the Chicago Stock Exchan0e, Scotsman industries, jnc., The Tribune Company and United Airlines, Currently he is a member of The Business Council, a member and past i
Chairman of.the Board of Trustees of the Field Museum of Natural History, a Director and past Chairman of the Chicago Urban League, a Director and past
- Chairman of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Director of The Helen Brach Foundation, The Institute for Illinols, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Central Area Committee, Associates of Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration and a member of the Illinois Business Roundtable. He is a Director and past President of Catholic Charities; a life trustee of The Adler Planetarium; a trustee of Northwestern University, the Museum of Science and Industry; Executive Vice President of The Hundred Club of Cook County, Past Chairman and presently Honorary Director of the American Cancer Society and Chairman of Cbtdinal Bernardin's Big Shoulders Fund. He is an Honorary Director and former Chairman of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, and served as Chairman of the Business Advisory Council, Chicago Arts Council between 1981 and 1984.'
In the elect?c pc ver industry, he is a Director and past Chairman of-the Nuclear Energy Institute, Chairman of the Advanced Reactor Corporation,
. Director and past Chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, past Chairman of the Board of the institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Nuclear Energy. Council, i
3-Mr. O'Connor is a member of the American, blinois and Chicago Ber Associations as well as a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and The s Commercial Club of Chicago, Mr. O'Connor an
'f May 9,1995
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