ML20247D841

Forwards Insp Rept 50-423/98-01 on 980223-26 & Notice of Violation.Violation Involved Failure to Maintain Adequate PASS Program That Ensured Capability to Obtain & Analyze Samples Under Post Accident Conditions

ML20247D841
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	05/06/1998
From:	Wiggins J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Bowling M, Loftus P NORTHEAST NUCLEAR ENERGY CO.
Shared Package
ML20247D844	List: IR 05000423/1998001 ML20247D841 ML20247D856
References
50-423-98-01, 50-423-98-1, EA-98-179, NUDOCS 9805180121
Download: ML20247D841 (6)

See also: IR 05000423/1998001

Text

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May 6,1998

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EA 98-179

l Mr. M. L. Bowling, Recovery Officer - Technical Services

C/o Ms. Patricia Loftus, Director - Regulatory

Affairs for Millstone Station

NORTHEAST NUCLEAR ENERGY COMPANY

l PO Box 128

l Waterford, CT 06385

SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION, EXERCISE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION, AND 4

NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 50-423/98-01  ;

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Dear Mr. Bowling:

This letter refers to the inspection conducted on February 23-26,1998, at the Millstone

Unit 3 facility, the findings of which were discussed with your staff during an exit meeting

on February 26,1998. During the inspection, apparent violations were identified related to

the failure to maintain the post accident sampling system (PASS) operational within

technical specification (TS) requirements. The inspection report addressing the findings of

that inspection, with the exception of the findings related to the PASS, was previously

forwarded to you on April 1,1998. On April 3,1998, we sent you a letter providing the

preliminary results of the PASS inspection. In a telephone conversation between you and

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Mr. J. Durr of the NRC on April 6,1998, Mr. Durr informed you that the NRC was

considering escalated enforcement action relative to the PASS. You also elected to waive

a predecisional enforcement conference to which Mr. Durr agreed.

Based on the information developed during the inspection, the NRC has determined that a

violation of NRC requirements occurred. The violation involved failure to maintain an

adequate PASS program that ensured the capability to obtain and analyze samples under

post accident conditions. The violation is cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice)

and the circumstances surrounding it are described in detail in the subject inspection

report.

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in November 1997, you identified during an internal audit that the PASS may not have

been capable of obtaining and analyzing reactor coolant system (RCS), containment )

atmosphere and containment recirculation sump samples during a design basis accident as

required by TS. You reported this condition in a Licensee Event Report (LER) on January 8,

1998. During the February,1998 inspection, the NRC confirmed that the PASS had not

been fully operational since 1988. Specifically: (1) PASS maintenance was ineffective '

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resulting in continual system problems; (2) procedures lacked sufficient detail and were

missing steps; (3) technicians were unfamiliar with the sampling procedure and; (4) PASS

drills were ineffective in that the routine surveillance procedure was used instead of the

emergency procedure and post accident sampling was only simulated during emergency

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M. Bowling 2

exercises. Based on these findings, the inspector concluded that your staff would not

have been able to obtain and analyze samples under post accident conditions within 3

hours as specified in the Updated Final Safety Report (UFSAR). Additionally, the

containment sump portion of the liquid sample module was not tested periodically to

ensure system availability as specified in the UFSAR and the procedure steps to take a

sump sample were deleted from the chemistry surveillance test procedure.

The failure to adequately maintain the PASS and the failure to provide adequate procedures

and training for operation of the PASS under post accident conditions could have resulted

in the inability to collect and effectively analyze samples following an accident. The

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information obtained from the PASS is necessary to accurately reflect plant radiological I

conditions in order to make the appropriate mitigation and protective action

recommendations following an accident. It appears that the failure to maintain an

adequate PASS program was caused by ineffective management oversight. Prior to 1995,

engineering staff turnover and lack of expertise and training contributed to the deficiencies

in the PASS program. Although, a dedicated system engineer was assigned to the PASS

program in 1995, the problems with the program were not resolved. The failure to

maintain an effective PASS program represents a significant lack of attention toward

licensed responsibilities; therefore, this violation has been categorized at Severity Level lli l

in accordance with the General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement  ;

Actions" (Enforcement Policy), NUREG-1600. l

In accordance with the Enforcement Policy, a base civil penalty in the amount of $55,000

is considered for a Severity Level lli violation. Since escalated enforcement action has

been issued to Northeast Nuclear Energy Company within the last 2 years, the NRC

considered whether credit was warranted for /denti// cation and Corrective Action in

accordance with the civil penalty assessment process in Section VI.B.2 of the Enforcement

Policy. Although you began to identify problems with the PASS program in 1995, you did

not take comprehensive action to prevent recurring failure of the system. You performed

an audit in November 1997, which identified some of the deficiencies in the PASS program

and concluded that the PASS may not have been capable of obtaining and analyzing the

required samples during an accident in accordance with TS. The NRC identified additional

deficiencies in the PASS program, including the inadequate drills and the inability to report

sample results within three hours. in your January 8,1998 LER, you indicated that you i

had incorporated the PASS into the Maintenance Rule program as a system that requires a

higher level of attention and established a corrective action plan. You also indicated that

you had revised the PASS preventive maintenance (PM) schedule and committad to

perform the PM procedures prior to entry into Mode 3. You also committed to provide

training for all personnel performing PASS sampling and analysis activities prior to entry

into Mode 3. However, as stated in our letter dated April 3,1998, the corrective actions

documented in your LER did not fully address the weaknesses the NRC and your staff

identified with the PASS. In particular, you did not include emergency preparedness

l corrective actions to address the training and procedural weaknesses associated with

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operation of the PASS under emergency conditions.

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' A Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty - $2,100,000 was issued on

December 10,1997, for multiple Severity Level ll and Severity Level 111 problems and violations

involving design issues and Technical Specification violations.

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A civil penalty could be proposed for your failure to take corrective action to prevent

recurring failure of the PASS and your failure to fully identify and correct the weaknesses

in the PASS program during your intemal audit. However, I have been authorized, after

consultation with the Director, Office of Enforcement, and the D actor, Special Projects

Office, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, to exercise enforcement discretion pursuant

to Section Vll.B.2 of the Enforcement Policy and not propose a civil penalty in this case.

The decision to exercise discretion was made because_your facility has been in an

extended shutdown, the NRC has taken significant enforcement action for the performance

issues that led to the shutdown and considering that the violation was: (1) bosed on

NNECo practices prior to the shutdown; (2) not classified higher than Severit) Leven ll; and

(3) not willful. Although some of the weaknesses in the PASS program were identified by

the NRC, the NRC has in place a formal restart plan that will confirm that you are taking

corrective action for these issues before restart is authorized. Therefore, further

enforcement action is not necessary to achieve remedial action. '

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter,

its enclosure and your response will be place d in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR).

Sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:

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James T. Wiggins, Director

Division of Reactor Safety

Docket No. 50-423

License No. NPF-49

Enclosure: Notice of Violation and Inspection Report No. 50-423/98-01

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M. Bowling 4

cc w/enci:

B. Kenyon, President and Chief Executive Officer - Nuclear Group

M. H. Brothers, Vice President - Operations

J. McElwain, Unit 1 Recovery Officer

J. Streeter, Recovery Officer - Nuclear Oversight

G. D. Hicks, Unit Director - Millstone Unit 3

J. A. Price, Unit Director - Millstone Unit 2

D. Amerine, Vice President - Human Services

E. Harkness, Director, Unit 1 Operations

.

J. Althouse, Manager - Nuclear Training Assessment Group

F. C. Rothen, Vice President, Work Services

J. Cantrell, Director - Nuclear Training  !

S. J. Sherman, Audits and Evaluation

L. M. Cuoco, Esquire

J. R. Egan, Esquire

V. Juliano, Waterford Library

J. Buckingham, Department of Public Utility Control

S. B. Comley, We The People

State of Connecticut SLO Designee

FEMA, Region i

D. Katz, Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) l

R. Bassilakis, CAN I

J. M. Block, Attorney, CAN

S. P. Luxton, Citizens Regulatory Commission (CRC)

Representative T. Concannon

E. Woollacott, Co-Chairman, NEAC

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Distribution w/ encl:

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Region l Docket Room (with gggy of concurrences) ,

Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC) J

PUBLIC

FILE CENTER, NRR (with Oriainal concurrences) j

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SPO Secretarial File, Region I  !

NRC Resident inspector

J. Wiggins, DRS

L. Nicholson, DRS

OE (2)

H. Miller, RA/W. Axelson, DRA

D. Barss, NRR

B. Jones, PIMB/ DISP ,

W. Lanning, Deputy Director of Inspections, SPO, RI j

W. Travers, Director, SPO, NRR j

C. Miskey, DRS

SECY-  !

OCA

L. Callahan, EDO

A. Thadani, DEDO

l C. Marco, OGC

S. Collins, NRR

l B. Boger, NRR

W. Dean, NRR l

l R. Perch, NRR, SPO

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Enforcement Coordinators

l RI, Rll, Rill, RIV

l B. Beecher, OPA

, G. Caputo, 01

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D. Bangart, OSP

H. Bell, OlG

l T. Martin, AEOD

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Distribution w/enci (VIA E-MAIL):

J. Andersen, PM, SPO, NRR

t, M. Callahan, OCA

j R. Correia, NRR

! B. McCabe, OEDO

l S. Dembek, PM, SPO, NRR

E. Imbro, Deputy Director of ICAVP Oversight, SPO, NRR

D. Mcdonald, PM, SPO, NRR

P. McKee, Deputy Director of Licensing, SPO, NRR

H. Pastis, SPO, NRR (Employee Concems Only)

S. Reynolds, Chief, ICAVP Oversight, SPO, NRR

D. Screnci, PAO

Inspection Program Branch (IPAS)

DOCDESK

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M. Bowling 6

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DOCUMENT NAME: G:\EP&SB\MCNAMARA\ MILL 9801.lNS

Ta receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box: "C" = Copy without attachment / enclosure "E' = Copy with attachment / enclosure "N" =

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