ML20212F496

Forwards Insp Repts 50-245/99-08,50-336/99-08 & 50-423/99-08 on 990615-0809.Four Violations of NRC Requirements Occurred & Being Treated as Ncvs,Consistent with App C of Enforcement Policy

ML20212F496
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	09/20/1999
From:	Linville J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Necci R NORTHEAST NUCLEAR ENERGY CO.
Shared Package
ML20212F502	List: IR 05000245/1999008 ML20212F496
References
50-245-99-08, 50-336-99-08, 50-423-99-08, NUDOCS 9909280223
Download: ML20212F496 (4)

See also: IR 05000245/1999008

Text

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September 20,1999

Mr. R. P. Necci, Vice President

Nuclear Oversight and Regulatory Affairs

e/o Mr. D. A. Smith, Manager- Regulatory Affairs

Northeast Nuclear Energy Company

P.O. Box 128

Waterford, Connecticut 06385

SUBJECT:

NRC COMBINED INSPECTION 50-245/99-08,50-336/99-08,50-423/99-08

Dear Mr. Necci:

On August 9,1999, the NRC completed an inspection at Millstone Units 1,2, and 3 reactor

facilities. The enclosed report presents the results of that inspection.

During the eight-week period covered by this inspection, your staff conducted activities at the

Millstone Station with an appropriate focus on safe plant operations. Unit 3 operators performed

the reactor and plant startup from the sixth refueling outage in a deliberate and conservative

manner. Equipment performance posed few operational challenges to the operators and to the

Unit 2 and 3 plants. Our inspection activities at Unit 3 identified acceptable controls and priority

for maintenance activities, an appropriate understanding of the risk impacts on the plant, and

good coordination among departments. We also understand that Unit 3 management initiated

actions to review for potential improvements of those process controls affecting work flow and

equipment outage times, and to review the resultant impact upon the operational focus of the

plant.

.

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- However, our inspectors identified several instances at Unit 2 where your staff failed to initiate

condition reports for degraded equipment and take adequate corrective actions. Although we

consider the overall corrective action processes to be effective, we are concerned with the

number of corrective action issues 'recently identified by the NRC and the potential for some of

these issues to render safety-related systems inoperable. One example was the failure to

initiate a condition report and take timely corrective actions in response to evidsnce that there

,

was air trapped in one train of emergency core cooling system piping. The prompt verification

that the line was filled with water was required to ensure that there was no potential to air-bind

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the associated high pressure safety injection and containment spray pumps. A second example

was the failure to initiate a condition report and implement effective corrective actions when a

,

significant amount of water was identified in the oil removed from the outboard bearing of the "B"

auxiliary feed water pump during a scheduled oil change on April 12,1999. Although the

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bearing oil was replaced at that time, the lack of additional actions resulted in the recurrence of

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the condition on June 1,1999. Two other examples where a condition report was not initiated

involved excessive reactor building closed cooling water flow to the "B" containment air cooler

and a leaking safety injection tank isolation valve.

,

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Mr. R. P. Necci

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' Also during this period, we observed your staff performing a comprehensive review and

evaluation to understand the cause of a seven rem exposure to an individual's personal

radiation monitoring device. Based on available evidence, your staff determined that an actual

personnel exposure was not likely. Consequently, your staff is actively investigating the

possibility of tampering with the individual's dosimeter.

Based on the results of this inspection, the NRC has determined that four Level IV violations of

NRC requirements, which were associated with the above corrective actions issues, occurred.

The NRC has also determined that seven Level IV violations of NRC requirements, which were

associated with conditions described in Licensee Event Reports (LERs), occurred. Six of the

seven LERs concerned issues identified before 1999. These violations are being treated as

Non-Cited Violations (NCVs), consistent with the NRC Enforcement Policy. These NCVs are

described in the subject inspection report. If you contest the violation or severity level of these

NCVs, you should provide a response within 30 days of the date of this inspection report, with

the basis for your denial, to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Document Control

Desk, Washington DC 20555-0001; with copies to the Regional Administrator, Region 1; the

Director, Office of Enforcement, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,

DC 20555-0001; and the NRC Resident inspector at the Millstone facility,

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

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

Sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:

James C. Linville, Director

Millstone Inspection Directorate

Office of the Regional Administrator

Region l

Docket Nos. 50-245,50-336 and 50-423

Enclosure:

NRC Combined inspection Report 50-245/99-08,50-336/99-08 and 50-423/99-08

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..

Mr. R. P. Necci

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cc w/ encl:

B. D. Kenyon, President - Generation Group

L. J. Olivier, Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer

M. H. Brothers, Vice President - Operations

F. C. Rothen, Vice President - Nuclear Work Services

D. Amerine, Vice President - Engineering Services

J. T. Carlin, Vice President - Human Services

G. D. Hicks, Director - Nuclear Training Services (CT)

C. J. Schwarz, Director - Unit 3 Operations

J. A. Price, Director- Unit 2 Operations

D. Landeche, Director - Unit 1 Operations

L. M. Cuoco, Senior Nuclear Counsel

J. R. Egan, Esquire

N. Burton, Esquire

V. Juliano, Waterford Library

J. Buckingham, Department of Public Utility Control

State of Connecticut SLO Designee

First Selectmen, Town of Waterford

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D. Katz, Citizens Awareness Network (CAN)

T. Concannon, Co-Chair, NEAC

R. Bassilakis, CAN

J. M. Block, Attorney, CAN

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G. Winslow, Citizens Regulatory Commission (CRC)

E. Woollacott, Co-Chair, NEAC

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Mr. R. P. Necci

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Distribution w/ encl:

Region i Docket Room (with.g_opy of concurrences)

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Nuclear Safety information Center (NSIC)

PUBLIC

NRC Resident inspector

H. Miller, RA/J. Wiggins, DRA

B. Davis, PiMB/ DISP

J. Linville, Millstone inspection Directorate, RI

M. Oprendek, DRP

D. Screnci, PAO

Distribution w/enci(VIA E-MAIL):

R. Eaton, PM, NRR

T. Madden, OCA

R. Correia, NRR

M. Tschiltz, OEDO

J. Nakoski, PM, NRR

W. Dean, Chief, inspection Programs Branch, NRR

inspection Program Branch <lPAS>

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"E" = Copy

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"N" = No copy

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