ML20237B115
| ML20237B115 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palo Verde  |
| Issue date: | 08/07/1998 |
| From: | James M. Levine ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE CO. (FORMERLY ARIZONA NUCLEAR |
| To: | Lieberman J NRC OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT (OE) |
| References | |
| 102-04157-JML-A, 102-4157-JML-A, EA-98-131, NUDOCS 9808180054 | |
| Download: ML20237B115 (11) | |
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FM Jarnes M. Levine TEL (602)393-5300 Mail Station 7602
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Palo Verde Nuclear Senior Vice President FAX (602)393-6077 P O. Box 52034 Generating station Nuclear Phoenix, AZ 65072-2034 102-04157-JML/AKK/ RAS August 7,1998 Mr. James Lieberman Director, Office of Enforcement U. S. Nuclear Regulatmy Commission One White Flint North,11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-2738 Refe ence:
NRC letter dated July 10,1998, NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY - $50,000 (NRC Investigation Report Nos. 4-97-022S and 4-1998-014)
Dear Mr. Lieberman:
Subject:
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS)
Units 1,2 and 3 Docket Nos. STN 50-528/529/530 Reply to Notice of Violation and Payment of Civil Penalty (EA 98-131) l in a letter dated July 10,1998 (Reference), the NRC concluded that a Severity Level 111 violation occurred at PVNGS in March 1993, and proposed the imposition of a civil penalty in the amount of $50,000. In particular, the violations relate to not performing a time-dependent surveillance within the required Technical Specification interval, the falsification of control room logs, and the failure to submit an Licensee Event Report (LER) in accordance with 10 CFR 50.73.
Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, Enclosure 1 to this letter is a restatement i
l of the NOV and APS' response to the NOV is provided in Enclosure 2.
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APS admits that each of the three violations occurred and in accordance with 10 CFR 2.205, APS has elected to pay the proposed civil penalty in the amount of $50,000.
l Payment is being made in the form of a check made payable to the Treasurer of the United States. However, APS would like to clarify one point made in the NRC's July 10, 1998 letter. Although all of the individuals involved were removed from their jobs upon discovery of the event, and all of them now hold different positions, only the two supervisors were demoted.
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9808180054 980807 PDR ADOCK 0500o528 G
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Director, Office of Enforcement U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reply to Notice of Violation and Payment of Civil Penalty (EA 98-131)
Page 2 Should you have any questions, please contact Ms. Angela Krainik at (602) 393-5421.
Sincerely, f
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i JMUAKK/ RAS /rth Restatement of Notice of Violation Reply to Notices of Violation Gnclosure APS check made payable to Treasurer of the United States, in the amount of $50,000.
cc:
E. W. Merschoff M. B. Fields J. H. Moorman l
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ENCLOSURE 1 j
1 RESTATEMENT OF NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC INVESTIGATION REPORT NOS.
4-97-022S AND 4-1998-014 i
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RESTATEMENT OF NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC Investigation Report Nos. 4-97-022S and 4-1998-014 I
Dyring an, NRC investigation completed on February 13,1998, violations of NRC requirements were identified. In accordance with the " General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions," NUREG-1600, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposes to impose a civil penalty pursuant to Section 234 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (Act),42 U.S.C. 2282, and 10 CFR 2.205. The particular violations and associated civil penalty are set forth below:
A.
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 Technical Specification 3.8.1.1, Action b, requires that when an emergency diesel generator is out of service, operators must demonstrate the operability of the operable offsite power circuits within 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> and once per 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> thereafter.
Contrary to this requirement, on or about March 10,1993, Unit 3 operators failed to demonstrate the operability of the operable offsite power circuits. The verification was performed several hours later. (01013) 8.
10 CFR 50.9 requires, in part, that information required by the Commission's regulations or license conditions to be maintained by the licensee shall be complete and accurate in all material respects.
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 Technical Specification 6.8.1 requires that written procedures shall be established, implemented, and maintained covering the applicable procedures recommended in Appendix A of Regulatory Guide 1.33, Revision 2, February 1978.
Regulatory Guide 1.33, Revision 2, Appendix A, Section 1.h., requires administrative
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procedures for log entries, record retention, and review procedures.
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Palo Verde's Nuclear Administrative and Technical Manual Procedure 40DP-90P22, j
" Operations Logkeeping," Revision 00.00, Step 3.2.9 required that the Unit log shall include entries documenting completion of required actions to comply with a limiting condition for operation (LCO).
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Palo Verde's Nuclear Administrative and Technical Manual Procedure 43ST-3ZZ02, "knoperable l
Power Sources Action Statement Surveillance 3.8.1.1," Revision 01.04, provided for actions l
and verifications required to be performed by the action statements of LCO 3.8.1.1, in the event that an emergency diesel generator is declared inoperable. Step 7.3 directed that Sections 8.1 and 8.2 be performed to verify that two offsite power sources are operable within 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> and at least once every 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> thereafter, and that the indicated sections of the procedure be completed.
Contrary to these requirements, on or about March 10,1993, information contained in a required record was not complete and accurate in all material respects. Specifically, i
Unit 3 operators failed to demonstrate the operability of the operable offsite power service within one hour as required by Technical Specification 3.8.1.1, Action b, as described in Violation A; however, the Unit log was completed so as to indicate that the action statement of LCO 3.8.1.1 was satisfactorily completed. Also, the required sections of Procedure 43ST-3ZZ02 were completed so as to reflect the action was completed within the required 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> time period. (01023) i 1
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RESTATEMENT OF NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC Investigation Report Nos. 4-97-022S and 4-1998-014 i
C.
10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(1)(B), requires that the licensee shall submit a Licensee Event I
Report (LER) within 30 days after discovery of the event for any operation or ccadition prohibited by the plant's Technical Specifications.
t Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 Technical Specification 3.8.1.1 requires that when an emergency diesel generator is out of service, operators must demonstrate the operability of the operable offsite power circuits within 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> and once per 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> thereafter.
Contrary to this requirement, the licensee failed to submit an LER within 30 days of the discovery of an event for a condition prohibited by the plant's Technical Specifications.
Specifically, on March 10,1993, Unit 3 operators failed to demonstrate, with.in 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> of removing an emergency diesel generator from service, the operability of the operable offsite power circuits, as required by Action b. of Technical Specification 3.8.1.1; however, as of April 9,1993,30 days following this event, the licensee had not submitted an LER. (01033)
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These violations represent a Severity Level lli problem (Supplements I and Vil). Civil Penalty -
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$50,000.
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ENCLOSURE 2 REPLY TO NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC INVESTIGATION REPORT NOs.
4-97-022S AND 4-1998-014 i
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REPLY TO NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC Invrstig tion R port Nos. 4-97-022S and 4-1998-014 VIOLATION "A" Admission or Denial APS admits the alleged violation occurred.
Reason For the Violation This violation involved the failure to comply with Technical Specification 3.8.1.1, which requires that when an emergency diesel generator is out of service, operators must verify the availability of offsite power sources within one hour and every eight hours thereafter.
- On March 9,1993 at approximately 2010 MST, Unit 3 Control Room personnel removed the "B" train Emergency Diesel Generator (EDG-B) from service for inspection. At approximately 2358 MST, on March 9,1993 the EDG-B was returned to an operable status. Between 0200 MST and 0400 MST on March 10,1993, Control Room personnel recognized that surveillance test 43ST-3ZZ02 had not been performed within one hour of declaring EDG-B inoperable, as required by the Technical Specification.
The cause of the ovent (missed surveillance requirement) was personnel error. The root cause of the missed surveillance was indeterminate due to the limited information available five years after the event.
Corrective Steos That Have Been Taken and Results Achieved APS took significant disciplinary actions against the individuals involved. The specific details of the disciplinary action taken by APS were presented to the NRC ouring the i
predecisional enforcernent conference held on March 31,1998.
Corrective Steos That Will Be Taken to Avoid Further Violations None required.
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REPLY TO NOT!CE OF VIOLATION NRC Investigation Report Nos. 4-97-022S cnd 4-1998-014
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Date when Full Compliance Will Be Achieved i
F0b compliance was achieved on March 10,1993, by 0400 MST, when the Technical l
Specification surveillance was successfully completed.
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REPLY TO NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC Investigation R: port Nos. 4-97-022S cnd 4-1998-014 VIOLATION "B" Admission or Denial
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. APS admits that the' alleged violation occurred.
Reason For the Violation -
l This violation involved the falsification of control room logs to reflect that a required surveillance requirement had been conducted within the required time frame.
. The cognizant personnel recognized that they had not verified the availability of offsite power within one hour, and entered an erroneous time in the Control Room logs and Surveillance Test procedure to make it appear that the surveillance had been performed as required and did not document that the surveillance test had been performed late.
I The individuals involved in this incident were experienced operations personnel who understood the requirements to document the mis. sed time-dependent surveillance.
Nonetheless, as they discussed the situation, the operators developed a rationale that they had been performing the surveillance test continuously, since they knew offsite power sources had been available throughout the diesel generator outage. Based on the plant conditions that existed for the duration of the diesel generator outage the responsible control room personnel believed, as a practical matter, they had essentially performed the equivalent of the surveillance requirements. Their judgment in this matter was also clouded by the fact that missing the surveillance had no safety significance because the offsite sources were available, had they been needed.
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7 REPLY TO NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC Inysstigation Report Nos. 4-97-022S and 4-1998-014 Corrective Steos That Have Been Taken and Results Achieved APS took significant disciplinary actions against the individuals involved. The specific details of the disciplinary action taken by APS were presented to the NRC during the predecisional enforcement conference held on March 31,1998.
In addition to the personnel actions taken by APS, the responsible individuals have participated in industry events training wherein certain Palo Verde departments, including operations, have been briefed on the event. The individuals also participated in writing a special Palo Verde News Bulletin entitled " Compromising our Personal Integrity" on their lessons learned from this event. This article was distributed to all Palo Verde employees, and a copy was provided to the NRC at the predecisional
- enforcement conference.
Based on the facts that the individuals admitted their involvement and appeared J
penitent, the significant disciplinary actions taken, the additional oversight of the
-individuals, and their desire to remain productive members of the PVNGS team, APS l
has concluded that there is reasonable assurance that the individuals will conduct current and future duties in compliance with NRC requirements.
Corrective Steos That Will Be Taken To Avoid Further Violations None required.
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Date when Full Compliance Will Be Achieved Compliance was achieved on March 31,1998, when a late entry was made to the Unit j
3 " Unit Log" to correct the previous March 9,1993 entry for the surveillance test completion time.
Correction of the surveillance test procedure completion time itself was not practical since it had been archived several years prior to the investigations of these events and a correction would serve no useful purpose.
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REPLY TO NOTICE OF VIOLATION NRC Inv stigition R: port Nos. 4-97-022S cnd 4-1998-014 VIOLATION "C" Admission or Denial 1
APS admits the alleged violation occurred.
Reason For the Violation This violation involved the failure to report the missed surveillance requirement in
.accordance writh 10 CFR 50.73, i
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l Information that the surveillance test had not been performed in the required time was not made known to persons outside those individuals involved until almost five years l
' after the event occurred.
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Corrective Steos That.Have Been Taken and Results Achieved LER 50-530/93-005-00 was submitted to the NRC on March 5,1998.
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APS took significant disciplinary actions against the individuals involved. The specific l
. details of the disciplinary action taken by APS were presented to the NRC during the
' predecisional enforcement conference held on March 31,1998.
Corrective Steos That Will Be Taken To Avoid Further Violations None required.
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Date when Full Compliance Will Be Achieved Full compliance was achieved on March 5,1998, when LER 50-530/93-005-00 was submitted to the NRC.
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