ML20244D335
Text
-
tut /m\\wsow V c9 U3 h M k p rarog$0 i
UNITED STATES
. d %L NC) $ l'd,
[$
+ )c(
g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
\\..... j r,,
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
(
'O May 13. 1985 MEMORANDUM FOR:
- N F W 9 es M a str e d e &9 " -
Incident Response & Development Branch, DEPER, IE FROM:
James R. Miller, Chief Operating Retstors Branch #3 Divisdon of Licensing
SUBJECT:
VARIABLE LIST FOR EMERGENCY FACILITIES Mr. J. Randazza of Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company has informally requested a copy of the 67 variables IE is using at the incident response center. We would appreciate a copy from your office. Thank you.
r James R. Mill f
Operating Re ctor ranch #3 Division of Licensing i
85$5234f8 10 l
CONTACT:
j i
/
K. L. Heitner
(]
X27364 i
i
/
g f,
dk N
S N5 l
-M:
xW
%+
O How oes the Federal government get no'ified of an event at a nuclear t
{
power plant?
The NRC's regulations require licensees to report events.
The required promptness of that report depends on the actual or potential safety significance of the event (give example).
How does the event get reported to the NRC?
1 I
Each licensee has a specific telephone in the control rcom that upon O
lifting the receiver automatically rings the NRC Operations Center in i
Washington, D.C.
l The dedicated telephone lines used for reporting events, and subse-quently for communicating reactor information, is called the Emergen-cy Notification System or ENS).
How does the NRC handle these reports?
The NRC' Operations Center is manned around the clock by qualified I
engineers and scientists, i.e., Operations Officers, who receive the event reports and perform an initial evaluation of their safety O
significance.
One of the considerations is the licensees classifica--
tion of the events (refer to slide to emergency classifications).
1
~
Where the Operations Officer determines thet a is actual or potential ad * " Mc W ^W safety significance, he contacts NRC regional and headquarters management who are on call, and discusses the event with ther.
l Where the safety significance warrants higher levels of NRC manage-p ment are advised and a decision is made regarding the appropriate mode of NRC's response (refer to slide of Modes and describe only.
Standby and Activation).
~
What is the NRC's role in responding to an event?
NRCrecognizesthatthe"primarydecisionmakers[arethelicenseeand
- the-State and local authorities.
1 O
NRC will' monitor the licensee to assure appropriate protective action is being taken with respect to offsite recommendations.
NRC will support the licensee with needed technical analysis-and
)
I logi.stic support.
NRC will be the licensee's single point of contact
)
i for obtaining this support from any Federal agency.
NRC will support offsite authorities by providing NRC's assessment of the situation and, where appropriate,p.c'., recommendation for protective
's n
action _ of fsite.
This may include confirming the licensee's recommendation.
O 2
a NRC will keep other Federal agencies and entities inforrid of the status of the incident.
This is (1) to help shield the licensee fros' a barrage of Federal information requests, which would distract him
' from his primary mission of mitigating the consequences of the event and (2) to help coordinate the information flow to the Federal family.
NRC will keep the media informed of the NRC's knowledge.of the status of the incident, including coordination with other public affairs
^ ~ ~
groups, e.g., licensee, State, and other Feds.
How does the NRC's role fit with other Federal Agency's Roles under the
- Federal, Plan %.b eveh ak L*emal 4% mms ?
O under the Federal Plan, NRC is the Cognizant Federal Agency, CFA, i.e., we have,the onsite and technical lead, for any incident at a licensed nuclear facility.
1
)
6 aofeA mWk nWd b % @ WRe.4 If activated, the Department of Energy 4 acts :: : Ort of " prime c& -
a tracter" to a:; for coordinating, compiling, and assessing all radio-
+
j logical monitoring information collec~ted by DOE, the licensee, the State, the NRC, etc. 3 c.w6 9md6c Oe Te54 b MRc..
i NRC cortsiders this information in conjunction with its knowledge of the status of the facility in any formulation of protective action.
recommendations.
O 3
sd Where recomme'ndations are necessary provides the3 h time ~
4 g
permits,[hFEMAlotheState.
The NRC also may seek the support of other Federal agencies through FEMA, e.g., NRC may ask. FEMA to get 000 transportation assistance for j
a shipment of lead bricks or a spare diesel generator.
With respect to the licensee, the NRC acts as the conduit for infor-mation exchange between the. licensee and the Federal family, and as l
the licensee's single point of contact for requesting logistic support from the Federal family.
. With respect to the State, the NRC acts as the' source for coordinated Federal protective action recommendations, which NRC presents with O
~
i FEMA to the State.
How dpes the NRC respond to carryout its role?
l l
l Init.ially the NRC responds from headquarters-while a Regional Site Team, headed by the Regional Administrator, travels to the site, M W
usually fu 2 to 6 hours6.944444e-5 days <br />0.00167 hours <br />9.920635e-6 weeks <br />2.283e-6 months <br />.
The response is lead by the Rhairman who acts as Director of an j '
Executive Team comprised of the Executive Director of Operations and the Directors of Nuclear' Reactor Regulation, Inspection and Enforce-1 ment, and Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards.
O 4
~
The Executive Team is supported by teams of experts in the areas of O
Reactor Safety, Protective Measures, Public Affairs, State and 1
Federal Liaison, and Congressional Affairs.
These teams receive information from the site,'the St' ate, and other sources; v.erify the a
information; perform their assessment;-and, where appropriate, i
l propose recommendations to the Executive Team.
Based on the information provided, the Chairman and Executive Team approve a " Status Summary" of the agency's understanding of the situation, which is used as the basis for all communications out of the agency.
. Dur.ing this period, Federal press releases are coordi.nat.ed.through NRC at the Operations Center.
O Where recommendations are proposed, the Chairman, with the advice of 1
l the Executive Team, makes the decision whether to communicate the recommendations to the licensee or State.
I What happens when the Regional Administrator and Site Team arrives on l
site?
l l
l The Regional Administrator is brought up to speed by the Chairman by phone.and then is briefed by the NRC Resident Inspector and Senior Licensee Manager.
O-s 1
Once briefed, the Regional Administrator again phones the Chairman -
l q and states that he is prepared to assume responsibilities as the U
Director of Site Operations, DSO.
The Chairman then delegates his authority to the Regional Administra-tor to act as the single agency spokesman, to make suggestions and recommendations to the licensee and the State, and to issue pren
\\
releases. (Remember that order issuing authority is usually held back for a case-by-case decision. )
i At this point, the NRC lead.shif ts from headquarters to the site, and q
l headquarters teams turn to supporting the site team.
Problems are
- passed to headquarters for assessment and solutions are -then provided to the Site Team.
4 How many people comprise the. NRC Site Team?
J l
)
The first group / wave will be about 15 people covering the Regional Administrator, Emergency Response Coordinator, and the areas of I
l Reactor Safety, Protective Measures, Public Affairs, Federal and j
State Liaison.
1 Subsequently, depending on the nature of the event and the number.of other Federal agencies responding, there may be as many as 50-55 NRC l
personnel on the Site Team per shift to fully address the areas mentioned above.
O 6
Where will these additional NRC Site Team members be. located?
~
A.few may need to be located at the licensees Technical Support i
Center or Emergency Operations Fa'cility, but where that might require backfitting, we'll be looking for more innovative solutions like L
improved or good quality data coramunications to other areas.
Some Site Team personnel will be assigned as liaison to FEMA's Federal Response Center to assist in interpreting information re-ceived and in coordination with the other Federal agencies housed there.
-Some Site Team personnel will be' assigned to the Department of l
Energy's Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Coordinating l O Center to essist in interpreting information on conditions at the plant and to facilitate providing the consolidated monitoring and assessment. information back to the ' Director of Site Operations, i.e.,
the Regional Administrator.
s Some Site Team personnel will report to the State Emergency Operations i
1 Center (s) to interpret or put in context any information or recommen-dations provided by the NRC.
s Some Site Team member will report to the Joint Information Center to assure coordination of NRC's and other parties' press releases.
4
..(/
7
~
I Og QUESTION.
What will be the impact of cutting FY 1986 ERDS O
funding from st.coox to ssoox?
ANSWER.
l This reduction will mean a delay in upgrading the NRC's ability to receive data in an emergency.
Errors of potentially significant proportions have occurred during all exercises and most actual events since and including the accident at Three Mile Island, five years ago.
Voice communication of manually acquired data has caused errors in numerical value transcription, improper units, wrong parameters, and loss of collection' time information.
These inevitable data errors may cause the NRC to provide offsite officials with improper advice regarding appropriate measures to
- O protect the public.
This could ultimately result in adverse health effects on the public and in loss of agency credibility.
This reduction will prolong the agency's inability to reliably satisfy its role during nuclear emergencies, it will delay I
implementation of a system (Emergency Response Data System. ERDS) which in an emergency will correct this situation by electronically transmitting a small set of select parameters via modem or other similar means off the licensee's data stream to the Operations 1
Center.
t
'/
W (y W A d d t(;
' O
]ho LE-i O
'l l
J
Document Name:
r CONGRESSIONAL QUESTION O
aequestor s iD:
JACKIE Author's Name:
1 ABarnold 1
Document Comments:
)
4 i
i 1
'O l
I l
\\
l l
I l
6 l
. O i
I t