ML20246Q030

Insp Repts 50-029/89-14 & 50-271/89-10 on 890717-21.No Violations or Deviations Noted.Major Areas Inspected: Corporate Engineering & Offsite Support for Plants & Implementation of Mods

ML20246Q030
Person / Time
Site:	Vermont Yankee, Yankee Rowe, 05000000
Issue date:	08/10/1989
From:	Rebelowski T, Strosnider J, Winters R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
Shared Package
ML20246Q018	List: ML20246Q012 ML20246Q030
References
50-029-89-14, 50-271-89-10, 50-29-89-14, NUDOCS 8909110311
Download: ML20246Q030 (11)

See also: IR 05000029/1989014

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U.S.-NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION I

Report N'os. ~50-029/89-14

50-271/89-10

, Docket Nos.50-029

50-271

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. License Nos'.- DPR-3

DPR-28-

'Licen see s': . . Yankee Atomic Electric Company -

580 Main Street-

Bolton, Massachusetts 01740-

Vermont-Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation

~RD 5, Box 169, Ferry Road

Brattleboro, Vermont 05301

, , . Facility Names:' Yarikee Nuclear' Power Statdon

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Vermont Yankee Nuclear power Station

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Inspection At: Bolton, Massachusetts-

Rowe, Massachusetts

.Brattleboro, Vermont-

Vernon, Vermont-

' Inspection Dates: July, 17-21, 1989

Inspectors: d M ~

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T. Rebeloyski, Senior Reactor Engineer, OPS, / date '

OB, DRS, Region I

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R.'W. Winters, Reactor Engineer, MPS, EB,

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date

'DRS, Region If

LApproved by: YM,mMN t1

. J. R. M osnider, Chief, MPS, date

Engineering Branch, DRS, RI

. Inspection Summary: Routine announced inspection on July 17-21, 1989 (Report

Nos. 50-029/89-14 and 50-271/89-10)

1 Areas Inspected: Corporate engineering and offsite support for the plants and

implementation of modifications.

. Results: No violations or deviations were identified.

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DETAILS

1.0L Persons Contacted i

Yankee Atomic' Electric Company, Bolton, Massachusetts

R. Berry, Assistant to Vice President Operations

B. Drawbridge, Vice President and Manager of Operations

D. Hansen, Director, Plant Engineering Department

(1) J. Haseltine, Project Director, Yankee Project

(1) J. Hoffman, Engineering Manager, Vermont Project

'(1) W. Jones, Engineering' Manager, Yankee Project

(1) A. Kadak, President, Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation

G. Mcdonald, Manager, Quality Service Group

(1) S. Miller, Project Manager, Vermont Project

J. Robinson, Director, Environmental Engineering

A. Shepard, Director, Quality Assurance

(1) J. Thayer, Project Manager, Yankee Project

Yankee Atomic Electric Company, Rowe, Massachusetts

J. Falconieri, Maintenance Engineer

(2) T. Henderson,-Assistant Plant Superintendent

(2) J. Kay, Technical Services Manager

(2) D. King,-Maintenance Support Supervisor

(2) R. Mellor, Technical Director

(2) R. Mitchell, Maintenance Manager

(2) N. St. Laurent, Plant Superintendent'

' Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation

K. Casey, Manager, Employment and Compensation

R. Grippardi, Supervisor, Vermont Yankee Quality Assurance (YAEC)

R. Lopriore, Maintenance Supervisor

M. Mete 11. Engineering Support Supervisor

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(1,3)J.'Pelletier, Plant Manager, Vermont Yankee

D. Reid, Manager, Operations Support

T. Schimelpfenig, Director, Procurement and Information Systems

D. Stafford,' Technical Training Supervisor

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(2) M. Markley, Resident Inspector, Yankee Rowe,

______________________..__________ .__________________________________

(1) ' Denotes those attending the exit meeting July 19, 1989 in Bolton,

Massachusetts

(2) Denotes those attending the exit meeting July 21, 1989 in Rowe,

Massachusetts

(3) Denotes those attending the exit meeting July 21, 1989 in

Brattleboro, Vermont

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The inspectors also contacted other administrative and technical personnel-

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during the inspection. (

2.0 Objectives

The objectives of this inspection were to assess the adequacy of the

licensee's program for engineering support of plant operations including

design and configuration control, interfaces with other internal and

external organizations, management-support, staffing levels and experience,

o training, procurement, Quality Assurance, and responses to NRC requirements

and requests.

3.0. Licensee Commitments

The licensee's commitments and documents reviewed are listed in

Attachment "A" to this report.

4.0 Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC)

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The Yankee Rowe plant is operated by YAEC and is located on the Deerfie.d

River in Rowe. Massachusetts. The plant was placed in commercial oper.O Jn

in 1961 and has been in full operation since that time except for maintenance

and refueling shutdowns. The unit is rated at 185 megawatts (gross).

The Vermont Yankee plant is operated by the Vermont Nucleae Power Corporation

and is located on the Connecticut River in Vernon, Vermont. The plant was

placed in commercial operation in 1972. In 1988 the plant operated with a

capacity factor of 93%. The unit is rated at 626 megawatts (gross).

In 1968, the Securities and Exchange Commission authorized YAEC to organize

a Nuclear Services Division (NSD) under the Company's corporate structure.

The Nuclear Services Division has a staff of approximately 400 engineers

who provide engineering services in all aspects of nuclear power plant

construction and operation including Nuclear Engineering, Environmental

Engineering, Operations, Quality Assurance, Plant Engineering and Fuel

Management. Services are performed on a cost basis for the Yankee Rowe

plant, Vermont Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Seabrook. YAEC is a small utility

with total employment of approximately 700 people including the 200 assigned

to the operation of Yankee Rowe.

5.0 YAEC Organization

YAEC is_ organized into two Divisions, one is Plant Operations Divisinn

consisting of the Yankee Rowe plant, the other is Yankee Nuclear Services

Division (YNSD) that includes the balance of the organization. YNSD

consists of eight major functions that provide services to the operating

plants. These services include the following:

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• Projects - Reporting to a Vice President

Yankee Rowe

Vermont Yankee

Maine Yankee

Seabrook

• Quality Assurance

Quality Services

Audits

Vendors

• Plant Engineering

• Nuclear Engineering

• Environmental Engineering

• Computer Services

• Material Management and Control

Purchasing

Fuel Management

Cost Control

Legal

• Finance and Administration

Accounting

Administration

Finance

6.0 Projects Organization

The inspectors interviewed YAEC management and staff personnel and reviewed

personal qualification records to determine that individuals were qualified

to perform the assigned functions. In the YNSD organization a Project is

defined as the engineering section assigned responsibility for engineering

services to a plant. Each Project is organized with a Project Manager and

Engineering Manager. The Projects are further divided into disciplines,

e.g. systems, mechanical, instrumentation and control, and electrical that

com,nlement the requirements of the plants. The performance of the work is

controlled by individual Project Manuals that encompass both administrative

and engineering functions.

Requests for support from the plants are received by the Project Manager

and may include design changes, safety evaluations, contractor services,

and other engineering support required. When a request is received by the

Project Manager it is initially reviewed to determine the safety significance, I

cost, schedule, and impact on the plant. After initial review, meetings

are held with the requester to establish the priority, scope, and schedule I

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for each request. Engineering support is followed by the assigned Project

personnel from inception through final acceptance by the plant operating

personnel. )

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The inspectors determined that the engineers in the Project organizations

were qualified in accordance with ANSI 18.1 in the appropriate disciplines.

For example,.in the Vermont Yankee Project organization the 27 engineers

held 39 engineering degrees and had an average of approximately 11 years

of nuclear experience. Personnel turnover was very low (approximately 1%)

in the YAEC organization indicating a stable workforce and continuity of

, engineering services.

Plant Life Extension Program (PLEX)

The inspectors discussed the PLEX program with management personnel and

determined that the initial studies indicate that obtaining data for the

reactor pressure vessel is the first priority. The operating license for

the Yankee Rowe plant is scheduled to expire July 9, 2000. YAEC was awarded

a combined Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Pepartment of Energy

(DOE) contract to participate as the lead PWR to demonstrate the feasibility

of operating nuclear plants beyond their 40 year operating licenses. As a

result, the licensee has established a group of approximately 20 engineers

supplemented by an equal number of contracted engineers to establish the

feasibility of extending the plant life for another 20 years.

Conclusions

The ' organization of engineering services into Projects, each responsible

for service to a specific plant prc,vides continuity for the plants. Each

Projects group was organized by engineering discipline and was well staffed

with experienced and knowledgeable engineers. The low turnover of engineer-

ing talent assures continuity of the services provided to the plants and

reduces the training required to maintair. proficiency in the YAEC methods.

The establishing of e.he PLEX program is a major undertaking for.a utility

the size of YAEC. While the contract with EPRI and DOE is valuable, YAEC

will be required to fund approximately half the total cost.

7.0 Quality Assurance

The Quality Assurance (QA) organization reports through a Director to the

YAEC President. The inspectors reviewed selected audit reports and inter-

viewed individuals to determine the quality and adequacy of audits and the

YAEC's program as defined in the Operational Quality Assurance Manual.

The Operational Quality Assurance Manual, YOQAP-1-A was approved by NRC

letter dated August 3, 1988. Tnere are three groups in the QA section

with responsibilities as follows:

Quality Services Group

The Quality Services Group provides QA/QC services to the plants. These

services include plant surveillance, NDE training and certification,

inspections, inspection agency interface, corrective action verification,

nonconformance report reviews, and staff training coordination. The QA/QC

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personnel located at the piants report to the Quality Services Group thus

maintaining the required independence and providing flexibility of having

experience personnel that can be transferred from one plant to another as

the workload changes.

Vendor QA Group

The Vendor QA group is responsible for maintaining the approved vendor

list, performing vendor surveillance, auditing vendors, performing design

change and procurement reviews, and reviewing vendor nonconformance reports.

Audit Group

The audit group is responsible for the development of the QA program,

inplant audits, YNSD audits, technical procedure reviews, preparation of

QA procedures, and NRC commitment tracking. The inspectors reviewed an

internal audit of the Vermont Yankee Project and additional audits of the

Vermont Yankee plant were reviewed. These audits included radiation

protection, local leak rate testing, housekeeping, fire protection, and

Technical Specifications. The audits were found to be thorough, and included

significant attributes. The audit findings reflected meaningful concerns.

A review of the May 22, 1989, Plant Audit Discrepancy Status Report indicated

that two of thirteen findings listed were overdue for corrective action.

In the case of the two overdue items both were observations that did not

indicate program deficiencies.

8.0 Plant Engineering Organization

The Plant Engineering section reports to the Vice President and Manager of

Operations and has three sections. The responsibilities of these sections

are as follows:

Engineering Services

The Engineering Services group is responsible for maintaining the corporate

procedures, Engineering Manuals, Engineering Instructions, and Topical

Reports for the four operating plants. This includes assuring the biannual

review of these procedures for inclusion of industry and regulatory require-

ments, and the inclusion of user comments.

Mechanical Services

The Mechanical Services group provides the corporate NDE services including

certification of NDE examiners and inspectors. In addition this group

provides corporate fire protection engineers, inservice inspection program

review and contracted inspection services. Engineering support is provided

for welding in the form of procedure qualification records. The infrared

thermography engineer also reports to this group.

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Drafting

The Drafting group is responsible for servicing the various Projects for

new and' revised drawings. .This group is also. responsible for maintaining

- the drawings at. the operating plants.

9.0 Nuclear Engineering Organization

The Nuclear Engineering organization reports to a Vice President and YAEC

maintains a staff of' engineers concerned with'the engineering associated

with core physics, transient analysis, LOCA analysis, and safety assessment.

'These~ engineers.are concerned with the four plants and perform their: duties

as requested by the plant.

10.0 Environmental Engineering

The environmental engineers supply services in the areas of radiological

engineering, radiation protection, environmental sciences, emergency

planning, and environmental laboratories for analytical and dosimetry

services.

11.0 Computer Services

The computer engineers provioe user services, network operations, computer

operations, and computer applications.

12.0 Material Management and Control

The Material Management and Control.section reports to the President of

YAEC. This section is responsible for fuel procurement and limited

procurement non safety related expendable supplies for the plants.

13.0 Finance and Administration

The inspectors reviewed selected background checks to determine that

educational' qualifications and personal data as reported by the employee

was. correct. YAEC retained a contractor to provide investigation services

for these verifications. Other aspects of the Finance and Administration

section were beyond the scope of this inspection.

14.0.YAEC Support of Industry Organizations

Participation in industry related groups and societies is encouraged to

assure the company is abreast of the latest information. The company

compensates employees for attendance at various meetings. The company is

well represented on various groups. In 1989 there were 99 YAEC personnel

involved in 174 industry organizations. This resulted in a commitment of

approximately five man years of effort. Typical organizations include .

EPRI, IEEE, Owners Groups, NUMARC, SGOG, ASME, and other professional i

societies. In addition, the Vermont Yankee plant had 34 individuals-in 43

organizations representing another man year of effort.

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Conclusions i

YAEC is very active in the various industry, professional societies and

owners groups. The commitment of five man years to this effort is very

high considering a total employment of 400 engineers.

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15.0 Communications i

f During the. performance of Project tasks the Project engineers work closely

with the plant engineers. This is accomplished by frequent plant visits

l by the Project Manager, Project Engineering Manager and the discipline  !

1 engineers. During plant operations the discipline engineers spent approxi-

l mately 10% of their time at the plant. During outages these engineers are

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-responsible for the installation of modifications and' spend the major

l portion of their time at the plant. Management control is maintained

through regularly scheduled project meetings that review the progress of

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each request in the areas of design change status, open items, schedules

and priorities, licensing updates, and.various other efforts.

A post outage Lessons Learned Workshop is held to asses the performance of

.all parties.' This workshop includes engineering, expediting, construction,

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and interfaces between project management, design, use of contracted

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personnel and improvements in interfaces. In this meeting each cognizant

l engineer is required to present comments, and recommendations for improvements

i to be incorporated into the next outage planning. The report of the workshop

for cycle 20 at Yankee Rowe contained approximately 100 suggestions for

improvement.

l The inspectors determined that communications are well established at all

l 1evels between YAEC'and the plants.

i 16.0 Vermont' Yankee Corporate Functions

The inspector interviewed corporate management and staff personnel to

determine technical qualifications and responsibilities in the departments

of Procurement and Information Systems, Operations Support, and Technical

Training. In addition the inspector interviewed the plant manager and

members of his staff and YAEC Quality Assurance personnel.

Procurement and Information Systems

The inspector interviewed the management personnel concerning the department

! realignment that is intended to decrease the time required for procurement,

l consolidate ' plant purchases, provide engineering supervision for dedication

l. of commercial grade items', and coordinate purchasing with YNSD. New pro-

cedures have been developed, reviewed and approved for implementation in

August 1989. Standard material requirements have been developed for outage

requirements to reduce the need for emergency purchases.

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Contracts

A' report describing all existing contracts and anticipating' future needs

has been developed to provide timely information for planning and to provide.

3, more effective inventory control.

Corporate Administrative Computer' Systems

Presently several computer systems are functioning in the plant and at'the

corporate office. This section .in conjunction with YNSD is investigating

the consolidation of these systems. This area was beyond the scope of

this inspection.

Operation Support

The Operations Support organization of. the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Corporation

supports plant operations infmaintenance, technical services, and modifica-

tions. The Operations Support organization also provides corporate oversight

of the Vermont. Yankee plant.

The inspector interviewed menagement personnel and reviewed records of the

Operations Support organization and determined that this organization

provides the services. described above. The Operations Support organization

provides the interface between.YAEC and the Vermont-Yankee plant. .The

monthly oversight report includes plant perf ormance indicators and summaries

significant activities such as: operations,! environmental, engineering and

NRC licensing activities. The status of YAEC activities 'is reported through '

status meeting held approximately biweekly or more frequently as an outage

approaches. Technical services include safety evaluations.

Vermont Yankee Technical Trainino Program

The inspector reviewed the training procedure and interviewed personnel to

determine the extent and quality of training provided by the Vermont Yankee

Nuclear Power Corporation to the technical staff and managers. The Technical

Staff and Managers Training Program consists of a central technical core

training program, position specific codes and standards lessons, and eight

subsections of department specific training programs. 1he training within

the programs consists of classroom, simulator, on-the-job (0JT) training,

and self study. The simulator and OJT type instruction are accomplished

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17.0 Vermont Yankee Plant I

The inspector held discussions with management and maintenance personnel

to determine the adequacy of offsite support from YNSD. In all cases the

plant personnel were satisfied with the technical content, timeliness of ,

the support of both the VY and YAEC organizations. Based on interviews i

with YAEC, VY Corporate and plant management personnel engineering super-

vision of major modifications and interfaces with the plant engineering

staff were excellent. The functional assignment of YNSD engineers to the j

plant contributes significantly to the quality of engineering support.

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_18.0 Yankee Rowe Modification Installation

The inspector reviewed the modification design package developed by YNSD

and the records developed by the plant during installation of the new 'C'

emergency battery. This battery was installed in two stages. The first

stage was the installation and temporary connection of the batteries in a

, new location adjacent to the diesel generators. The final stage wos the

permanent connection of the batteries into the emergency system. The

inspector noted that the project was well controlled and the documentation

reflected the actual installation during both phases. The inspector observed

that there was an emergency, battery operated light fixture, wall mounted

adjacent to the new installation. The licensee established that this fixture

and the installation was seismically qualified. -

Conclusions:

The design package furnished by YNSD was complete and considered the needs

of the plant. Consideration was given to the area in that the emergency

light was seismically qualified, and an electric space heater not seismically

qualified was moved to a location away from the battery. In addition a

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fence was placed adjacent to the batteries to prevent them from inadvertent

damage when maintenance was preformed on the battery charger.

19.0 Management Meetings-

l- Licensee management was informed of the scope and purpose of the inspection

.at the-beginning of the inspection. The findings of the inspection were

discussed with licensee. representatives during the course of the inspection

and. presented to. licensee management at the exit interviews (see paragraph

1.0 for attendees).

At no time during the inspection was written material provided to the

licensee by the inspectors. The licensee did not indicate that proprietary

information was involved within the scope of this inspection.

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ATTACHMENT A I

DOCUMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS REVIEWED

Document No. Revision Title

Yankee Atomic Electric Company

Audit 89-03 Feb 20, 1989 Radiation Protection

Audit 89-6B Feb 21, 1989 Local Leak Rate Testing

Audit 89-09 Feb 9, 1989 Radwaste

Audit 89-10 Mar 13, 1989 Housekeeping and Fire Protection

Audit 89-15 May, 8, 1989 Technical Specifications

Audit VY88-06 Maintenance

VYPP-4 3 Service Requests

VYPP-6 3 Engineering Design Change Requests

VYPP-7 3 Plant Design Change Requests

VYPP-11 3 Personnel Training

YPP-4 7 Control of Service Requests

YPP-6 6 Engineering Design Change Requests

YPP-7 7 Plant Design Change Requests

YPP-11 4 Documentation of Personnel Training

Memorandum YRP I!,1/89 Results of Cycle 19 Lessons Learned

Summary Report Jan 9, 1989 Participation on Industry-Related Committees,

Groups, and Societies

Jur. 26,1989 Vermont Yankee Status Report

1989 Calendar of Training Programs, Nor, technical

Inh 3use Programs

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation

VY-OSD-106 1 Operations Support Department Training

VY-OSD-112 0 Service Request Procedure

TSMPD 5 Technical Staff and Managers Training Program

VYP:317 Aug 7, 1989 Purchase Order Processing Procedure

AP-6025 1 Quality Control / Independent Inspection