ML20215E229

Informs of 860821 2.206 Petition Filed by Rl Anthony Seeking Suspension of License NPF-39.Petition Questions NRC Conclusions in to Licensee Re Failure to Keep NRC Informed of Valve Testing Plans.Draft Ltr Encl

ML20215E229
Person / Time
Site:	Limerick
Issue date:	09/29/1986
From:	Lieberman J NRC OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL (OGC)
To:	Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML20215E218	List: ML20215E213 ML20215E229
References
2.206, NUDOCS 8610150150
Download: ML20215E229 (4)

Text

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%...../ September 29, 1986 MEMORANDUM FOR: THUnid'RFDentonf Director 1

(%gpuoles(Remototgg@{p FROM: James Lieberman. Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement Office of the General Counsel

SUBJECT:

PETITION OF R. L. ANTHONY OF AUGUST 21, 1986 CALLING FOR SUSPENSION OF OPERATION OF

, LIMERICK UNIT 1

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On August 21, 1986, R. L.' Anthony filed a " Petition" with the Commission

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seeking suspension of operation of Limerick Unit No. 1 of- the Philadelphia Electric. Company (Licensee). The " Petition" questions NRC staff conclusions made -in an August 5,--1986 letter to the Licensee regarding the failure of the

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Licensee to keep the NRC staff current as to its planned valve-testing. In

. the absence of any new information, and given that the matter has already been specifically addressed by your staff, you need not consider this

" Petition" pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206. Rather, a letter response would be appropriate and. a draft letter is attached for your use. On the other hand, you can use this. opportunity to reevaluate this matter.

Please ensure that I am provided copies of all correspondence related to the Petition and that I concur on all such correspondence.

d James Lieberman Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement Office of the General Counsel

Attachment:

As stated cc: JTaylor, IE TMurley, RI EChristenbury, OGC CONTACT: Richard Hoefling, x27013 g ga t' '.!d p('

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Mr. Robert L. Anthony P.O. Box 186 Moylan, Pennsylvania 19065

Dear Mr. Anthony:

Your " Petition To The Commission From Anthony / FOE For Immediate Suspension of Op. Lic . NPF-39 Under 10 CFR, Sec. 50.100..." dated August 21, 1986 (Petition) has been referred to my office for a response.

The Petition was in regard to a letter dated August 5,1986 from the NRC staff to the Philadelphia Electric Company (licensee) which concerned the continued validity of statements made by the licensee in its application for an amendment to the Limerick Unit 1 operating license. Amendment No. 1 allowed the licensee to defer, by up to 14 weeks, the surveillance tests for operability of certain instrumentation line excess flow check valves . The amendment granted the deferral of testing for all of these valves based on information provided by'the licensee that testing of all of the valves required the plant to be shutdown. Following the issuance of the amendment, the licensee revisited this issue, developed testing methods, and tested some of the valves with the plant at -power but did not inform the appropriate NRC staff 'in a timely manner of this change of status. In its letter of 3'

August 5,1986, the NRC staff noted its concern to the licensee that it wasn't kept current on this matter and also noted that the licensee had initiated steps to prevent recurrence. Based on this correspondence, the Petition requests a - variety of actions including suspension of the license which authorizes operation of Limerick Unit 1, a hearing on revocation of the

, license, the imposition of civil penalties on the licensee and " sanctions"

against the licensee's counsel.

The subject matter of the Petition has been fully considered by the staff.

License Amendment No. I was issued based on information from the licensee which was correct given the considerations it involved. Only later, based upon additional considerations including new information, did the licensee determine some valves could be tested at power. The license amendment would still have been required for the remaining valves. Thus, the concern is not the truth or falsity of the information provided by the licensee but the failure on the part of the licensee to keep the staff current.

With respect to the several requests for action contained in the Petition, i there is no basis, rationale or new information provided by the Petition which

would support these requests. As was indicated in the staff's letter to the licensee, the staff did not identify any further need for corrective action related to this issue and did not require a response from the licensee.

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Accordingly, I do not believe it is appropriate to consider the Petition pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206. This regulation requests that the Petition "...

set forth the facts that constitute the basis for the request." A corollary of the requirement is that the Petition must show something more than merely recite portions of documents prepared by the staff or the license. In this instance, in the absence of some specific showing to the contrary, it may be presumed that the staff's earlier response to this issue was adequate. What this Petition signals _ is disagreement with NRC over handling of the issues raised. Such disagreement, without more, is an insufficient basis for staff action pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 A copy of this letter will be filed with the Secretary of the Commission.

Sincerely, Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

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, U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION COLPCILL RE: PHILA. ELEC. CO. Umr Limerick Gen.Sta. Units 1 & 2 DOCKET # 50-352,353 W E 25 P f"JPat 21,1986 PETITION OP.LIC. NPF-39TO THE underCOMMISSION FROM 100FR,SEC. 50.100 ANTHONY /F0E FOR IMMEDIATE SUSPE BECAusE , FALSE STATEMENTS RY PECO REVEALED IN 8/5/86 LETTER OF DIRECTOR BWR p' SIXG;ANDipBTITION FOR A HEARING ON REY 0 CATION OF T33 LICENSE ON EMR3SiOF FALSE STATEVENTS.

R.L. Anthony /F0E,intervenors,were served a copy of a letter dated 8/5/86 from Robert M. Bernero,Dir. Div. of But Licensing,to E.G.Bauer, Gen, Counsel, PEco, which questions the basis on which Lic. Amendment # 1 was issued on 2/6/86 and which further challanges the validity of Lio. NPF-39 in that the letter concerns the continuing operability of statements previously made by the Philadelphia Electric Company (PEco) in support of licess-ing gotivities for the Limerick Generating Station, Units 1 and 2.

(Hermero 8/5/86)

The letter explaims that PECo applied for and was granted the amend-meat on the basis that the plant w4uld have to be shut down for the test-tag of excess flow check v alves under Tech.Spoo. 4 6 3 4 Contrary to this:

The issue that concerns us here is that from late February through May 2, 1986 the potential for testing a subset of the excess flow check valves in Technical Specifications 4 6 3 4 while at power was explored,proced-ures were developed and testing was carried out on this subset of valver while the unit was at power.

(Bernero8/5/86) i

1. As set forth in the Director's letter (Bemero 8/5/86) Amendment #1 was secured and utilized by PEco under falso pretenses and om falso infor-metion. We show below that this deception by PECo was deliberate and will-ful. We,therefore, invoke the authority of thg Commission under 10 CFR 50.100 to suspend and revoke Lic.NPF-39 and4 apply under the procedure in 10 CFR Subpart 3,as prescribed in Sec. 2.200 (a):

..upon a request by any person,to impose requirements by order.or to modify, suspend or revoke a license,or to take other action as may be proper,against any person subject to the jurisdiction of the Consission.

WethusavailourselveEh$ceduresassignedtousinSec.2.200(above)to request an immediate suspension of Lio.NPF-39,a hearing on permanent re-vocation of the license and its revocation,iustituting of procedures to impose civil penalties on PEco,and sanctions a'ainst g PECo's lawyers for par *icipating in the use of falso inforsqtion and deception of NRC.

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2. Since the Director's letter (Bernero 8/5/86) already oc .stitutes a written motice of violation we request the Director under 10 CFR 2.205 to l

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- innitute proceedings to impose civil penalties on PEco for utilising falso information to secure Amendment # 1 and operating under it while contradicting its basis,i.e. that the plant had to be shut down before the excess flow check valves could be tested.

3. We request that tuo Director under 10 CFR 2.201 (c) find that the above violation,1.e. the use of falso information, was done knowingly on PECo's part and was a willful violation and,therefore, must be designated as willful,and an order to show cause why the license should not be sus-pended should immediately be issued as provided in paragraph (c) above.

4. We further request the Director to additionally expedite the sus-pension order by finding under Sec. 2.202 (f) that the violation was will-ful and that a permanent revocation of the license is required because of the use of falso information and that the revocation be made temporarily -

effective pending the finding of the Director for revocation of Lic.NPF-39

5. We request a hearing for the purpose of establishing a public re-cord on the evidence in NRC's possession as to falso information from PEco to which Mr.Bernero refers (8/5/86) infThis letter concerns the continuing operability of statements previously made by the Philadelphia Electric Con-pany(PECo) in support of licensing activities for the Limerick Station.."

6. We request the Director under the proceedings to impose civ 1 pen-alties under Seo 2.205 (Para.2 above) to add penalties for the Er ha$d*

communications between PECo and NRC which have been withheld from the par-ties,but which were referred to in Mr.Berero's letter (8/5/86)

Based on our conversations with members of your staff we understand that your staff is now fully appraised of the events surrounding this issue and is sensitive to the need to maintain the high standards of communication in these matters.

7. We request that the NRC Legal Counsel invoke sanctions against Mr.

Troy Conner and the members of Conner & Wetterhahn for their part la the use of falso information in the securing and use of Amendment #1 as typified byMr. Conner's letter of 5/5/86 to Judges Moore,Wilber and Gotchy:

Limerick Unit 1 was shut down on May 2,1986. 'he reactor will be shut down for approximately six weeks during which all of the tests on the excess flow check valves,which were the subject of the captioned pro-coedings,will be performeed.

This is obviously a falso statement since a subset of check valves had already been tested during plant operation according to Mr.Bernero(8/5/86) e I certify copies by mail to: NRC Gen. Counsel Docketin Respectfull y R.Bernero, Staff Counse udges,LB Judges,donner & ys L ,

Wetterhahn 7/S.2/4 L,#7 Box 6 Moylan,P .19065

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