ML20211D766

Informs of Intent & Rationale for Extending Current LaSalle County Station SALP Cycle to Approx Six Months Following Restart of Either Unit

ML20211D766
Person / Time
Site:	Big Rock Point, LaSalle  File:Consumers Energy icon.png
Issue date:	09/03/1997
From:	Beach A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:	Collins S NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
Shared Package
ML20211D674	List: ML20211D672 ML20211D709 ML20211D741 ML20211D766
References
NUDOCS 9709290231
Download: ML20211D766 (2)

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' UNITS 0 STATS 3 1 NUCLEAD REGULATORY COMMITS 10N I [OShe%h}

E REGloN ill a01 WARRENVILLE AoAD UsLE. ILUNots a06324361

% ,,,,. Septembor 3, 1997 '

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Samuel J. Collins, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM: A. ' dill Beach, Regional Administrator

SUBJECT:

EXTENSION OF LASALLE COUNTY STATION SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT OF LICENSEE PERFORMANCE CYCLE This memorandum is to inform you of my intent and rationale for extending the current LaSalle County Station Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) cycle to approximately six months following restart of either unit. In accordance with NRC Management Directive 8.6, " Systematic Assecsment of Licensee Performance," I arrived at this decision following consideration of current plant performance and status.

, Performance of the LaSalle County Station has been a concern to the NRC for some time, and the plant is currently receiving significant NRC oversight. During the January 1997 Senior Management Meeting, the NRC categorized the LaSalle County Station as a plant that warrants increased NRC attention. I appointed a regional oversight manager for the LaSalle County Station, assigned an engineering inspector to augment the resident inspector staff, and formed a joint regional and headquarters Plant Performance Review Panel which holds frequent public meetings with Commonwealth Edison (Comed) management to discuss performance improvement at the LaSalle County Station, in addition, as a result of continuing inco".51 stent performance of the Comed nuclear stations, the NRC lasued a letter on January 27,1997, requiring Comed to provide information regarding its ebility to safely operate its six nuclear stations while sustaining performance improvement at each site. A public meeting between Comed and the Commission to discuss Comed's response to this letter was held on April 25,1997. An NRC Oversight Panel for Comed also conducts meetings approximately every two months with Comed management.

Both LaSalle County Station units remain shut down since September 1996, to address material condition, human performance, corrective action process, and engineering support and design deficiencies identified by the NRC, licensee staff, and an Independent Safety Assessment. The licensee developed and is implementing a comprehensive restart action plan to ensure extensive corrective actions for performance weaknesses. The NRC issued a supplement to Confirmatory Action Letter 96 008 on April 14,1997, to ensure more direct NRC involvement in a LaSalle County Station restart decision. The Region lli and NRR staffs plan to assess restart readiness through implementation of Manual Chapter 0350, ' Staff Guidelines for Restart Approval."

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i S. Collins . 2-The current SALP cycle which began on August 3,1996,is scheduled for completion on November 22,1997. Given the current plant status, performance problems at the facility, and significant NRC actions, I believe completing the SALP process in accordance with the current schedule would provide little,if any, added value with respect to communicating  ;

performance insights and encouraging the licenses to address performsace issues. A more '

effective use of N8C resources is to delay completion of the curlent SALP cycle until approximately six months after either LaSalle County Station unit is started up. This delay would provide the licensee with the opportunity to implement appropriate corrective >

actions before the NRC evaluates the effectiveness of these actions during a period of sustained plant operations, cc: A. C. Thadenl, Acting DEDE H. L. Thompson, DEDM P. G. Norry, DEDM J. L. Blaha, OEDO S. G. Burns, OGC G. M. Tracy, OEDO R. A. Capra, NRR C. Y. Shiraki, NRR B. L. Burgess, Rlli L. S. Gerke, OCA DRS Branch Chiefs 9

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