ML20236F658

Informs That NRC Agrees That Millstone Unit 3 Ready for Restart & Provides Authorization for Util to Commence Activities to Restart Unit 3

ML20236F658
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	06/29/1998
From:	Callan L NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:	Kenyon B NORTHEAST NUCLEAR ENERGY CO.
References
NUDOCS 9807020269
Download: ML20236F658 (5)

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• Ju'ne 29, 1998 4

Mr. Bruce Kenyon President and Chief Executive Officer Northeast Nuclear Energy Company P.O. Box 128

.Waterford, CT 06385

Dear Mr. Kenyon:

On June 15,1998, the Commission concurred in the NRC staff's assessment that Northeast Nuclear Energy Company (NNECO) had taken appropriate corrective actions to support the restart of Millstone Unit 3 and provided its restart authorization, subject to satisfactory completion of all remaining issues requiring NRC verification. As I noted in my letter of June 16,1998, the Commission's restart authorization resulted in Unit 3 being categorized as a watch list Category 2 plant instead of a Category 3 plant. As part of its restart authorization, I was designated by the Commission as the NRC's senior manager responsible for verifying that appropriate aspects of Inspection Manual Chapter (MC) 0350, " Staff Guidelines for Restart Approval," are completed and for approving commencement of actions to restart Unit 3. In your June 29,1998, letter, you stated that Millstone Unit 3 was ready for restart. After careful review of the results of your restart-related activities and the staffs assessment of these results, I have concluded that Millstone Unit 3 is ready for restart. A summary of the NRC's review

' ac4vities follows.

Millstone Unit 3 was shutdown on March 30,1996, after it was determined that 4.ontainment isolation valves for the auxiliary feedwater turbine-driven ps p were inoperable because the valves did not meet NRC requirements. On August 14,1996, the NRC issued a Confirmatory Order (Order) directing NNECO to contract with a third-party to implement an Independent Corrective Action Verification Program (ICAVP) to verify the adequacy of your efforts to establish adequate design bases and design controls. On October 24,1996, the NRC issued an Order directing that befare restarting any Millstone unit, NNECO develop and subrait.o the h IO NRC a comprehensive plan for reviewing and dispositioning safety issues raised by your employees and for ensuring that employees who raise safety concerns can do so without fear of retaliation. This Order directed NNECO to retain an independent third-party to oversee I

implementation of your comprehensive plan.

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Y in November 1996, the NRC created a new organization, the Special Projects Office (SPO) within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, to provide a specific management focus on licensing ano inspection activities required to support an NRC decision on restart of the Millstone units. The staffs inspection and assessment efforts were conducted in accordance with MC 0350, including the development of a specific Restart Assessment Plan (RAP) for each Millstone unit. The RAP was revised several times to capture emerging issues and was the major tool used by the Millstone Restart Assessment Panel (Panel) to track Millstone recovery efforts.

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b B.D. Kenyon 2

June 29, 1998 The NRC has performed many inspections since March 1996, to evaluate MECO's progress in resolving performance issues. These activities included oversight and inspections of the ICAVP and employee concems program (ECP), augmented resident inspector staff inspections, specialist reviews of discrete areas by SPO, regional, and headquarters staff, and multi-disciplined team inspections. These efforts included inspection of 86 technical and programmatic restart issues contained in revision 4 of the NRC's RAP, Public meetings were conducted approximately every 6-8 weeks to solicit public input on the Millstone recovery activities, and many pub!!cly observable meetings on both technical and programmatic issues were conducted at the site. An operational safety team inspection was conducted during April 1998, and a public exit was held on May 5,1998. Seven Commission meetings were conducted to provide the status of recovery efforts at Millstone, including the two most recent meetings held on May 1 and June 2,1998, during which the restart readiness of Unit 3 was specifically addressed.

These NRC activities, inspections, and I!:ensing reviews led to additional issues that had to be addressed before Unit 3 could restart.' The staff provided the Commission with its final assessment of key Unit 3 RAP issues in SECY 98-090, " Selected issues Related to Recovery of Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3," dated April 24,1998, and in SECY 98-119,

" Remaining issues Related to Recovery of Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3," dated May 28,1998. In SECY 98-119, the staff concluded that Northeast Nuclear Energy Company (NNECO) had taken appropriate corrective actions to support restart of Millstone Unit 3. Over

. the past month, the Panel has met frequently to review NNECO's efforts to resolve the remaining restart-related issues at Unit 3 and they have concluded that the issues have been

. adequately addressed to support the safe restart of Millstone Unit 3.

As noted in the Director of SPO's letter dated June 16,1998, the NRC will formally monitor your restart and power ascension program. This letter was written in response to Mr. Martin Bowling's letter of May 20,1998, in which he detailed NNECO's restart and power ascension program and provided several commitments, including the identification of four specific hold points during the ascension to full power. The commitments indicate that NNECO will assess plant and organizational performance at each of these hold points, review the results of each of these assessments with the NRC, and disposition any NRC concerns before increasing power.

These assessments should be coordinated with the NRC resident inspectors.

In summary, the NRC agrees that Millstone Unit 3 is ready for restart. I am hereby providing my authorization for NNECO to commence activities to restart Unit 3. If you have any questions regarding this matter, do not hesitate to call me.

Sincerely,

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allan Ex ive Director for Operations Docket No. 50-423 cc: See next page -

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B.D. Ksnyon 2

June 29, 1998 The NRC has performed many inspections since March 1996, to evaluate NNECO's progress in I

resolving performance issues. These activities incbded oversight and inspections of the ICAVP and employee concerns program (ECP), augmented resident inspector staff inspections, specialist reviews of discrete areas by SPO, regional, and headquarters staff, and multi-disciplined team inspections. These efforts included inspection of 86 technical and programmatic restart issues contained in revision 4 of the NRC's RAP. Public meetings were l

conducted approximately every 6-8 weeks to solicit public input on the Millstone recovery activities, and many publicly observable meetings on both technical and programmatic issues were conducted at the site. An operational safety team inspection was conducted during April 1998, and a public exit was held on May 5,1998. Seven Commission meetings were conducted to provide the status of recovery efforts at Millstone, including the two most recent meetings held on May 1 and J!.ne 2,1998, during which the restart readiness of Unit 3 was specifically addressed.

These NRC activities, inspections, and licensing reviews led to additional issues that had to be addressed before Unit 3 could restart. The staff provided the Commission with its final assessment of key Unit 3 RAP issues in SECY 98-090, " Selected Issues Related to Recovery of Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3," dated April 24,1998, and in SECY 98-119,

" Remaining issues Related to Recovery of Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3," dated May 28,1998. In SECY 98-119, the staff concluded that Northeast Nuclear Energy Company (NNECO) had taken appropriate corrective actions to support restart of Millstone Unit 3. Over the past month, the Panel has met frequently to review NNECO's efforts to resolve the l

remaining restart-related issues at Unit 3 and they have concluded that the issues have been adequately addressed to support the safe restart of Millstone Unit 3.

1 As noted in the Director of SPO's letter dated June 16,1998, the NRC wil formally monitor your restart and power ascension program. This letter was written in response to Mr. Martin Bowling's letter of May 20,1998, in which he detailed NNECO's restart and power ascension program and provided several commitments, including the identification of four specific hold points during the ascension to full power. The commitments indicate that NNECO will assess plant and organizational performance at each of these hold points, review the results of each of these assessments with the NRC, and disposition any NRO concerns before increasing power.

These assessments should be coordinated with the NRC resident inspectors.

In summary, the NRC agrees that Millstone Unit 3 is ready for restart. I am hereby providing my authorization for NNECO to commence activities to restart Unit 3. If you have any questions regarding this matter, do not hesitate to call me.

MSignedby L. Joleph Cjlggga Executive Director for Operations Docket No. 50-423 Distribution:

Docket File PUBLIC SPO R/F WDean cc: See next page SCollins Elmbro WLanning PMcKee DOCUMENT NAME: G: dean \\ restart.itr:

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NAME.

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k Millston) Nucla:r Pow;r Gration Unit 3 i

cc:

Lillian M. Cuoco, Esquire Joseph R. Egan, Esquire 1

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. Senior Nuclear Counsel Egan & Associates, P.C.

' Northeast Utilities Service Company 2300 N Street, NW P. O. Box 270 Washington, DC 20037 Hartford, CT 06141-0270 Mr. F. C. Rothen j

l Mr. Kevin Ti A. McCarthy, Director Vice President -Work Sennees l

Monitoring and Radiation Division Northeast Utilities Service Company l

~ Department of Environmental Protection P. O. Box 128 79 Elm Street Waterford, CT 06385 l

~ Hartford, CT 06106-5127 l

Emest C. Hadley, Esquire Regional Administrator, Region i 1040 B Main Street U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.O. Box 549 475 Allendale Road-West Wareham, MA 02576 i

, King of Prussia, PA 19406 Mr. John Buckingham l

First Selectmen Department of Public Utility Control i

Town of Waterford.

Electric Unit l

-Hall of Records 10 Liberty Square l

200 Boston Post Road New Britain, CT 06051 L

.Waterford, CT.06385 l

Mr. James S. Robinson, Manager l

Mr. Wayne D. Lanning.

Nuclear investments and Administration j

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' Deputy Director of Inspections New England Power Company 1

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-Special Projects Office 25 Research Drive l-475 Allendale Road Viestborough, MA 01582 King of Prussia, PA 19406-1415 Mr. John Streeter Mr. M. H. Brothers Recovery Officer - Nuclear Oversight.

.. Vice President - Millstone Unit 3 Northeast Utilities Service Company Northeast Nuclear Energy Company P. O. Box 128 i

P.O. Box 128 Waterford, CT 06385 Waterford, CT 06385 Deborah Katz, President L

Mr. M. R. Scully, Executive Director Citizens Awareness Network l

Connecticut Municipal Electric P.O. Box 83 Energy Cooperative Shelburne Falls, MA 03170 30 Stott Avenue Norwich, CT 06360 Mr. Allan Johanson, Assistant Director Office of Policy and Management Mr. David Amerine Policy Development and Planning Vice President-Human Services Division Northeast Utilities Service Company 450 Capitol Avenue - MS# 52ERN P. O. Box 128 P. O. Box 341441 Waterford, CT 06385 Hartford, CT 06134-1441

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Millstone Nuclear Power Station Unit 3

-cc:

The Honorable Terry Concannon Mr. William D. Meinert -

Nuclear Energy Advisory Council Nuclear Engineer Room 4035 Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Legislative Office Building Electric Company Capitol Avenue P.O. Box 426 Hartford, CT 06106 Ludlow, MA 01056 Mr. Evan W. Woollacott' Attorney Nicholas J. Scobbo, Jr.

Co-Chair Ferriter, Scobbo, Caruso, Rodophele, PC Nuclear Energy Advisory Council 1 Beacon Street,11th Floor 128 Terry's Plain Road Boston, MA 02108 Simsbury, CT 06070 Citizens Regulatory Commission Mr. John W. Beck, President ATTN: Ms. Susan Perry Luxton Little Harbor Consultants, Inc.

180 Great Neck Road '

Millstone -ITPOP Project Office Waterford, CT 06385 P.O. Box 0630-Niantic, CT 06357-0630-Mr. B.' D. - Kenyon (Acting)

~ Chief Nuclear Officer-Millstone Northeast Nuclear Energy Company P.O. Box 128

- Waterford, CT 06385 Mr. Daniel L. Curry Project Director,.

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Parsons Power Group Inc.

2675 Morgantown Road 1

Reading, PA 19607 l

-- Mr. Don Schopfer I

Verification Team Manager Sargent & Lundy 55 E. Monroe Street Chicago,IL 60603 Mr. G.- D. Hicks 1

Director-Unit 3 Northeast Nuclear Energy Company.

P.O. Box 128 4

Waterford, CT 06385 l:

Senior Resident inspector 4

i Millstone Nuclear Power Station

. c/o U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.~ O. Box 513 -

Niantic, CT 06357

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