ML20248C447
| ML20248C447 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/29/1998 |
| From: | Mace M NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM), SCIENCE & ENGINEERING ASSOCIATES, INC. |
| To: | |
| References | |
| CON-NRC-02-98-005, CON-NRC-2-98-5 NUDOCS 9806020155 | |
| Download: ML20248C447 (2) | |
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wuclear Regulatory Commission 4
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SUBJECT:
Support for Restart of Millstone Unit 3.
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Dear Dr. Jackson,
Dr. Diaz, Ms. Dieus and Mr. McGaffigan:
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As you are aware, the Millstone employee Ad Hoc Group has asked many employees to write to you, on behalf of Millstone Station, to support the safe restart of Millstone Unit 3.
To that end, I have elected tc write to you directly, and to provide you my thoughts on Millstone and Northeast Utilities.
Before I share m3 thoughts, I feelits appropriate for me to give you a brief overview of my education & career background. I have been a MP3 Startup Engineer and a Senior Engineer in the Technical Support arena here at the Station for the past 14 years. Prior to this, I worked at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, CT in the construction and design areas for the Trident Submarine Construction program for 9 years. I hold a Masters Degree in Nuclear Science &
Engineering from Columbia University, as well as an undergraduate Physics degree.
' As you can gather, I have been " attached" to the nuclear world for many years. I learned a lot of things from many different people. From the John Helm's, the George Lucas's, the Jim Burn's and Dr. Smyth's of Electric Boat, to the Wayne Romberg's, Don Miller's, Mike Brother's and Jack Macelwain's of Millstone, I learned a lot about people and a lot about the Nuclear Industry, both in the Navy and in the Commercial world.
From my perspective, I feelit is time to let Millstone get MP3 up and running. The
' Unit is in real good physical shape than when startup testing was completed back in 1984. (Have one of your people look over the plant identified and unidentified leakage rates, LLRT and ILRT results - I think you will come up with a similar conclusion). The Corrective Action prograin is beginning to work, and we are really beginning to take our 3.ygnderful AITTS tracking system seriously.
- But there is something else I need to share. When I was a Ship Superintendent on the Trident Submarine SSBN 720 Michigan, while in dry-dock back in 1980, I can remember an episoda with the Ship's Captain. He was very concerned about a bad pipe joint found by his crew on one of the ship's critical systems, after the system had been tested and turned over to the ships force... He asked,"How can I be sure this is the only bad joint? You would think the Electric Boat Management folks would try to ' snow' him? Come up with plenty of meatless arguments to convince him he didn't have a problem? Nope! We went back to the pipe joint qual cards for all the high pressure systems - thousands or records - to be sure there were no others. Ironically, the one joint he had a problem with was the only one where its I
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i qual card ~was hard to read - leadiag to misinterpretation us to the joints construction status the weld inspection had been missed by all - and it was the only one! Then we fixed the matrix on the qual cards to make sure it didn't happen again.
We had our own safety conscience culture there, in that many of us would be going to sea with the crew...and there was always the potential our kids might enlist in the Navy and Ride the ship 15 years from now!
When I came to Millstone, I kept that experience close to my heart...that it wet the right thing to do when you find a problem. During startup, I uncovered a similar episode on the MP3 Emergency Diesels and followed it through. "IfI have a bad
. pipe joint on the A diesel Salt Water heat Exchanger, what about joints in the other heat exchangers here and on the B diesel?" And I went off and checked every single one.
Through the late 1980's and early 90's, however, I sensed a " chilling" affect whenever comething like this would surface. I felt as if some of the management would praise your actions one mirc.ite, but then talk behind your back the next. At one point, I too felt I wasn't a team player. But I never gave up in what I was taught at EB. And I can say that many of us that came from Electric Boat during the MP3 startup years, who are still here at Millstone, have the same cultural slant to plant safety.
It was not surpassing to me that the plants were shut down in 199G. Since then a lot of management changes have occurred. A lot of cultural and process changes have occurred. I feel now that that same questioning attitude the Michigan's skipper had back in 1980 has clearly been "found" by the management here at i
Millstone.
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l There are many reasons why I am confident the plants will be run safely and will be l
run more than adequately, so to ensure the health and safety of the public is maintained. The Operations folks are some of the smartest people I have ever met
- kind oflike those successful pilots described in "The Right Stuff". I know that if there was ever a problem, the Shift Managers' have the smarts to do what is right.
Even during the " chilling" years, these guys knew the plant and would protect it -
regardless.
I have lived 10 miles downwind of Millstoke and 5 miles downwind of Electric Boat for the past 20 years. I never worried about this fact back then, and I do not worry about it now...and I can feel proud that if my neighbor asks me what I think,1 can tell them, " Hey, believe me, the guys went though a lot, but they've got their act back together". I haven't felt this confident about Millstone for some time. I certainly feel confident about it now.
Sincerely,
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William A. Ioweth Senior Engineer Millstone Station 2
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