ML20211H089

Notice of Violation from Insp on 990628-0811.Violation Noted:Periodic Assessment Conducted for Period of November 1996 Through May 1998 Did Not Adequately Evaluate Maint Activities as Listed

ML20211H089
Person / Time
Site:	Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png
Issue date:	08/19/1999
From:	NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
To:
Shared Package
ML20211H087	List: IR 05000271/1999012 ML20211H085 ML20211H089
References
50-271-99-12, EA-99-177, NUDOCS 9909020014
Download: ML20211H089 (2)

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i NOTICE OF VIOLATION Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation Docket No. 50-271 I Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station License No. DRP-28 EA 99-177 During an NRC inspection conducted from June 28 to August 11,1999, a violation of NRC requirements was identified. In accordance with the " General Statement of Policy and l Procedures for NRC Enforcement Actions," NUREG-1600, Revision 1, the violation is listed below: l 10 CFR 50.65(a)(3) requires, in part, that performance and condition monitoring activities and

. associated goals and preventive maintenance activities shall be evaluated at least every  !

' refueling outage. Adjustments shall be made where necessary to ensure that the objective of

, preventing failures of structures, systems, and components through maintenance (reliability) is appropriately. balanced against the objective of minimizing unavailability of structures, systems, i and components (SSCs) due to monitoring or preventive maintenance.

Contrary to the above, the periodic assessment conducted for the period November 1996 through May 1998 did not adequately evaluate the maintenance activities to ensure that reliability was appropriately balanced against unavailability for several risk significant systems.

Specifically, unavailability monitoring of SSCs during the refueling outage conducted from  ;

March 21,1998 to May 31,1998, was accomplished by monitoring key plant safety functions (i.e., decay heat removal; coolant inventory control) rather than monitoring the unavailability of the specific SSCs. As a result, total unavailability was not properly considered and assessed for certain in-scope, risk significant systems. Without considering the unavailability of these SSCs during the refueling outage, the balancing of unavailability and reliability was not accurate. For  ;

example, the licensee did not account for approximately 240 hours0.00278 days <br />0.0667 hours <br />3.968254e-4 weeks <br />9.132e-5 months <br /> of unavailability of the residual heat removal (RHR) shutdown cooling function during the refuel outage. If the ,

unavailability during the refueling outage had been considered, the RHR shutdown cooling function would have been considered for monitoring as required by 10 CFR 50.65(a)(1). j

' Additional examples of other risk significant systems where unavailability was in:sdequately measured and appropriate balancing could not be done included: AC electrical (115 and 345 KV systems); Control Rod Drive (CRD) system; Emergency Diesel Generator (EDG) Train B; 125 I VDC/ Main Station Battery, and Core Spray Train A.

This is a Severity Level IV violation (Supplement 1).  !

Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation is  !

hereby required to submit a written statement or explanation to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, D.C. 20555 with a copy to the Regional Administrator, Region I, and a copy to the NRC Resident inspector at the facility that is the subject of this Notice, within 30 days of the date of the letter transmittina this Notice of Violation (Notice). This reply should be clearly marked as a " Reply to a NWe of Violation" and j should included: (1) the reason for the violation, or if contested, the basis for disputing the violation, (2) the corrective steps that have been taken and the results achieved, (3) the corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations, and (4) the date when full 1 compliance will be achieved. Your response may reference or include previous docketed correspondence,if the correspondence adequately addresses the required response. If an  !

9909020014 990819 PDR ADOCK 05000271 0 PDR

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, 2 adequate reply is not received within the time specified in this Notice, an order or a Demand for information may be issued as to why the license should not be modified, suspended, or revoked or why such other action' as may be proper should not be taken. Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to extend,ng the response time.

if you contest this enforcement action, you should also provide a copy of your response to the

- Director, Office of Enforcement, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001.

Because your response will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), to the extent possible, it should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be placed in the PDR without redaction. if personal privacy or proprietary information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, then please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of your response that deletes such information. If you request withholding of such material, you must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of information will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information required by 10 CFR 2.790(b) to support a request for withholding confidential commercial or financial information). If safeguards information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.

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