ML20248E584
| ML20248E584 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Millstone  |
| Issue date: | 05/26/1998 |
| From: | Lanning W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Bowling M, Loftus P NORTHEAST NUCLEAR ENERGY CO. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20248E588 | List: |
| References | |
| 50-245-98-206, 50-336-98-206, 50-423-98-206, NUDOCS 9806030375 | |
| Download: ML20248E584 (4) | |
See also: IR 05000245/1998206
Text
- - _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ - - _ _ - _
1
,
,, 4
May 26,1998
Mr. M. L. Bowling, Recovery Officer - Technical Services
C/o Ms. Patricia Loftus, Director - Regulatory
Affairs for Millstone Station
Northeast Nuclear Energy Co~npany
r
P.O. Box 128
Waterford, Connecticut 06385
Dear Mr. Bowling:
,
SUBJECT:
NRC COMBINED INSPECTION 5')-245/98-206;50-336/98-206; 50-423/98-
206 and NOTICE OF VIOLATION
.
On February 28,1998, the NRC completed an inspectiori st Millstone Units 1,2 & 3
reactor facilities. The enclosed report presents the results of that inspection.
During the 8-week period covered by this inspection, your conduct of activities at the
i
Millstone facilities was generally characterized by safety-conscious operations with a focus
on controlling shutdown risk. However, cur inspection identified three violations of NRC
'
requirements. In the first instance, NRC inspectors identified the failure to establish a
process or procedure for the control of revisions to plant system valve lineups at Unit 1.
The second violation involves several examples of nons ifety-related electrical equipment at
Unit 3 whose failure under postulated environmental conditions could prevent the
satisfactory accomplishment of safety functions. Lastly, corrective actions were not
prompt regarding a nonconformance with assumed operator performance time to isolate a
steam generator tube rupture on Unit 3.
These violations are cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation, and the circumstances
surrounding the violations are described in detail in the enclosed report, Please note that
you are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the
enclosed Notice when preparing your response. The NRC will use your response, in part,
to determine whether further enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with
regulatory requirements. Fur'thermore, in addition to the enciesed enforcement ac'tions,
your attention ic directed to specific areas in each of the three units.
The NRC has reviewed the problems associated with the use of nonsafety-related controls
on safety-related equipment at Unit 3 that you identified in LERs 50-423/96-06-01 and 96-
f
06-02, and has determined that a violation of NRC requirements occurred. This violation
(
was c.onsidered for escalated enforcement and subject to a civil penalty. However, I have
,
,
been authorized, after consultation with the Director, Office of Enforcement, and the
Director, Special Projects Office, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, to exercise
4
enforcement discretion pursuant to Vll.B.2 of the NRC's Enforcement Policy and not issue
JD;
.
.
9906030375 MO526
s
.
ADOCK 05000245
i
G
R
1
I
J
.
..
Mr. M. L. Bowling
2
a formal Notice of Violation because the violation was (1) based on licensee activities prior
to the events leading to the shutdown; (2) not classified higher than a Severity Level ll;
(3) not willful; and, (4) plant restart requires NRC concurrence. Discretion is appropriate
because the NRC has in place a formal restart plan that is currently providing a broad-based
evaluation of Millstone readiness for restart that confirmed that you have taken corrective
action for this issue and further enforcement action is not necessary to achieve remedial
i
action.
!
At Unit 3, several significant items list (SIL) issues were closed during this period, as
documented in the attached inspection report. Our review has confirmed SIL package
quality, and noted generally sound corrective actions for individual technical problems. The
remaining licensee challenges appear to reside with corrective action closure of the
programmatic SIL areas, where both resident and specialist team inspection efforts have
identified the need to conduct follow-up inspections. As one example, our review of the
l
implementation NUREG-0737 TMl Action Plan Requirements (SIL ltem 38) continues to
identify Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) compliance issues or other licensing-basis
questions. To date, while the NRC has reviewed and closed 27 NUREG-0737 items,9
other items were reviewed and kept open pending additional actions by your staff. Such
I
results suggest a need for a comprehensive review on your part to ensure an ramaining and
open TMl Action Plan items are ready for restart. Therefore, we requested during the
management exit meeting for this inspection that you submit to the NRC docketed
correspondence that your staff is prepared for renewed inspection of Sllitem 38.
Additionally, the continued NRC inspections of your submittal in response to the NRC
50.54(f) request identified several items on the deferred issues list that were not
appropriate. Additional management attention appears to be necessary to ensure that all
items to be deferred until after restart meet the criteria that you have estab!ished.
At Unit 2, your efforts in providing the NRC acceptable closure packages to address the
i
!
remaining Unit 2 SIL items have diminished significantly with only three packages being
provided in the last three months. Additionally, we have continuing concerns that
corrective actions specified in the Sll closure package are frequently incomplete. For
example, this inspection report describes that a closure package was provided to address
two FSAR discrepancies that were documented in a 1996 inspection report, but the FSAR
has not yet been updated to disposition the discrepancies. Management attention to
address this issue is warranted.
Also at Unit 2, we found that the safety parameter display system (SPDS) displays were
inconsistent with your licensing basis in that there are no red and green indicators that
reflect safety function status, and the SPDS has not been displayed during normal
operations. At the exit meeting held on March 16,1998, you committed to review the
SPDS licensing basis for Unit 2 and provide a letter to the NRC by May 29,1998, that
provides your plans for dispositioning identified deviations.
l
._______________a
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _
. _ _ _ _ - _ _
.
l
t
. .
Mr. M. L. Bowling
3
l
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter
l
and its enclosures will be placed in the NPC Public Document Room (PDR).
Sincerely,
1
l
'
ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:
Wayne D. Lanning
Deputy Director for
inspections
Special Projects Office, NRR
,
Docket Nos. 50-245
50-336
.
.
50-423
Enclosures:
1.
-
2.
NRC Combined Inspection Report 50-245/98-206; 50-336/98-206;50-423/98-206
.
.
cc w/ encl:
B. Kenyon, President and Chief Executive Officer
M. H. Brothers, Vice President - Operations
l
J. McElwain, Unit 1 Recovery Officer
j
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 for Engineering and Support Services
E. J. Harkness, Director, Unit 1 Operations
j
F. C. Rothen, Vice President, Work Services
1
J. Cantrell, Director - Nuclear Training
S, J. Sherman, Audits and Evaluation
!
!
L. M. Cuoco, Esquire
J. R. Egan, Esquire
V. Juliano, Wate'rford Library
'
J. Buckingham, Department of Public Utility Control
i
S. B. Comley, We The People
State of Connecticut SLO Designee
D. Katz, Citizens Awareness Network (CAN)
R. Bassilakis, CAN
J. M. Block, Attorney, CAN
l
,
.
,
,
S. P. Luxton, Citizens Regulatory Commission (CRC)
Representative T. Concannon
E. Woollacott, Co-Chairman, NEAC
.
.
.
.
.
. . . _ _ _ . . _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
U
_
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _
- - _ - _ -
.
l
..
l
Mr. M. L. Bowling
4
Distribution w/ encl:
Region I Docket Room (with rapy of concurrences)
l
Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)
l
PUBLIC
FILE CENTER, NRR (with Oriainal concurrences)
i
SPO Secretarial File, Region i
NRC Resident Inspector
B. Jones, PIMB/ DISP
W. Lanning, Deputy Director of inspections, SPO, RI
D. Screnci, PAO
l
W. Travers, Director, SPO, NRR
l
Distribution w/enci (VIA E-MAIL):
'
M. Callahan, OCA
R. Correia, NRR
B. McCabe, OEDO
E. Imbro, Deputy Director of ICAVP Oversight, SPO, NRR
P. McKee, Deputy Director of Licensing, SPO, NRR
S. Reynolds, Chief, ICAVP Oversight, SPO, NRR
D. Screnci, PAO
Inspection Program Branch (IPAS)
DOCDESK
'
DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\ BRANCH 6\\98-206.all
To receive a copy of this document, Indicate in the box: "C" = Copy without attachment / enclosure "E" = Copy with
attachment / enclosure "N" = No copy
0FFICE
RI/RC
lE RI/EP,h ,
lE
NAME
DURR f; D -
LAN d G'
DATE
04Ed98
05/ 'Q/98
OF ICIAL RECORD COPY
_ _ _ _ _ - _ - _ - _ _ _ _ -