ML20210U995
| ML20210U995 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 09/13/1997 |
| From: | GENERAL PUBLIC UTILITIES CORP. |
| To: | NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM) |
| References | |
| 50-289-97-06, 50-289-97-6, 50-320-97-02, 50-320-97-2, 6710-97-2398, NUDOCS 9709220213 | |
| Download: ML20210U995 (4) | |
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GPU Nuclear,Inc.
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Route 441 South NUCLEAR
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Tel717 M4-7621 September 13, 1997 6710-97-2398 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Attn: Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555 Subject; Three Mile Islena Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (TMI-1)
Operating License No. UPR-50 Docket No. 50-189 Reply to Notice of Violation 97-06-01 L
Dear Sirs:
Attached is the GPU Nucleer reply to Notice of Violation 97-06-01, transmitted as Enclosure 1 in NRC Inspection Report Nos. 50-289/97-06, 50-320/97-02.
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Sincerely, l
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Of, O9 James W. Langenbach Vice President and Director, TMI AWM cc:
.TMI-l Senior Resident Inspector TMI-l Senior Project Manager NRC Regional Administrator, Region 1
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-9709220213 970913 PDR ADOCK 05000289, G
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I ATTACHMENT 1 6710-97-2398 Page 1 of 3 NOTICE OF VIOLATION 06-01 During an NRC inspection, conducted June 16 - July 27,1997, a violation of NRC requirements was identified.
10 CFR 50 Appendix 'E' IV.D.3. requires, in part, "A licensee shall have the 0
capability to notify responsible State and local governmental agencies within 15 minutes afler declaring an emergency."
Technical Specification 6.8.1.f. requires that written procedures shall be established, implemented and maintained for the Emergency Plan Implementation.
Contrary to the above, on June 21,1997, an Unusual Event was declared at 12:26 p.m.
The Commonwealth (state) and Risk Counties were not notified until 12:50 p.m. The licensee failed to implement Emergency Plan Implementing Procedure EPIP-TMI.03, Exhibit 1, " Emergency Notifications and Call Outs," in that the state and local governmental agencies were not contacted within 15 minutes after declaring an emergency.
This is a Severity Level IV violation,97-06-01 (Supplement VIII).
GPU NUCISAR RESPONSE TO NOV 97-06-01 Reason for the Violation The Emergency Director (Shia Supervisor) directed the onshin Emergency Control Center Communicators to make the offsite notifications, but incorrectly assumed that the onshin Emergency Control Center (ECC) Communicators had received training on how to make th-offsite notifications and therefore were qualified to make those notifications. However, per the Emergency Plan, the onshiR Communicators are responsible for callouts of plant personnel but not for the offsite notifications. Offsite notifications are to be made by the ECC Communications Coordinator who is usually a Control Room Operator (CRO) carly in a event. The difference in the roles between an ECC Communicator and an ECC Communications Coordinator was not clearly covered in training. In interviews following the event, it was found that the distinction between the two positions was not well understood by some Emergency Director (ED) qualified personnel. In drills and exercises, the ED's have always used the CRO for making the offsite notifications. Hence, this training deficiency was not known prior to this event.
The reason the ED chose to use the onshin ECC Communicator to make offsite notifications was to maximize the utilization of personnel in the Control Room. At the time of his decision, he had l
l ATI'ACllMENT I 6710 97-2398 Page 2 of 3
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two technicians in the Control Room to fill the ECC Communicator position. Neither was actively involved in any task at the time.
An additional contributor to the failure to make timely notifications was poor communications on the part of the ED Since the Emergency Director had assumed that the technicians were trained, he did not provide specific instructions to make the notifications. Since the Communicators use a very similar form to make the callouts of plant personnel, they were initially rnaware that the ED expected them to make offsite notifications. Ten minutes afler the ED had provided the notification form to the Communicators, they we.e specifically told to make offsite notifications.
Corrective Stens That Have Been Taken And The Results Achieved A memo was sent on July 2,1997 to all Emergency Director qualified individuals reminding them that they are not to assume that the onshift ECC Communicators are trained and qualified to perform offsite notifications until they hear otherwise. This action ensures that other ED's will not make a similar faulty assumption when assigning personnel to make offsite notification.
Corrective Stens That Will Re Taken To Avoid Further Violations immediate action was taken to prevent an identical problem from happening in the near future. In addition, it was recognized that more extensive actions are required to address other problems that have been experienced with the notification process. Hence, a Quality Deficiency Report (QDR) was issued on 6/25/97 to ensure process improvewnts are made. The following corrective actions were committed to in response to that QDR:
The Emergency Plan and the implementing procedures will be modified to allow the onshifECC Communicators to perform offsite notifications and to ensure that they are appropriately trained.
The onshin ECC Communicators will be trained on how to do the offsite notifications prior to the revised procedure implementation.
An electronic notification form will be developed using software such as Lotus Notes to expedite filling out the fornt This form will then be able to be telecopied directly from the computer.
A system will be set up which allows the notification form to be telecopied to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and the 5 risk counties at the same time. The concept has been discussed with and approved by PEMA and the 5 risk counties.
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- r ATTACHMENT l-6710-97 2398 Page 3 of 3 The notification procedure will be modified to have the notification form telecopied to PEM A and the 5 risk counties prior to contacting them for verbal transmission of the -
message.
Date When Full Compliance Will Be Achieved i
it is expected to have all of the above actions completed by 12/1/97 t
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