ML20249C613

Forwards Two Ltrs from Ja Miller,Regional Director,Fema,Dtd 980615,which Notified States of Nebraska & Missouri of Deficiencies Identified During 980609,Cooper Nuclear Station Biennial Exercise

ML20249C613
Person / Time
Site:	Cooper
Issue date:	06/25/1998
From:	Murray B NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To:	Horn G NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT
References
NUDOCS 9806300408
Download: ML20249C613 (11)

Text

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UNITED STATES Q

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION IV

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[8 611 RYAN PLAZA DRIVE, SUITE 400 ARLINGTON, TEXAS 76011-8064 June 25, 1998 l

G. R. Hom, Senior Vice President l

of Energy Supply Nebraska Public Power District 141415th Street Columbus, Nebraska 68601

SUBJECT:

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY IDENTIFIED

. DEFICIENCIES

Dear Mc,

Horn:

Enclosed are two letters from Mr. John A. Miller, Regional Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region Vil, dated June 15,1998, which notified the States of Nebraska L

and Missouri of deficiencies identified during the June 9,1998, Cooper Nuclear Station biennial exercise.

Two deficiencies were identified: (1) prompt alert and notification of the public (Nemaha county emergency operations center), and (2) pubiic instructions and emergency information (Atchison county emergency operations center).

We request that ;<ou assist offsite officials with corrective actions as necessary and track the state's corrective ections for these deficiencies.' Please keep this office informed of the status of resolution of these issues

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if you have any ate:tstions concerning this letter, please contact Ms. Gail M. Good at (817) 860-8215.

Sincerely, Blaine Murray, Chief dl Plant Support Branch g

Division of Reactor Safety i

Enclosures:

As stated

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Docket No.:

50-298

-4 License No.: DPR-46

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9906300408 990625 PDR ADOCK 05000298 F

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L' Nebraska Public Power District l cc:

John R. McPhail, General Counsel Nebraska Public Power District P.O. Box 499 Columbus, Nebraska 68602-0499 J. H. Swailes, Vice President of Nuclear Energy Nebraska Public Power District l

P.O. Box 98 '

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Brownville, Nebraska 68321 l

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B. L. Houston, Nuclear Licensing I

and Safety Manager Nebraska Public Power District l

. P.O. Box 98 Brownville, Nebraska 68321 l

Dr. William D. Leech MidAmerican Energy 907 Walnut Street P.O. Box 657 Des Moines, Iowa 50303-0657 Mr. Ron Stoddard Lincoln Electric System

.1040 0 Street P.O. Box 80869 Lincoln, Nebraska 68501-0869 Randc!ph Wood, Director Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

P.O. Box 98922 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-8922 i

I Chairman Nemaha County Board of Commissioners Nemaha County Courthouse

= 1824 N Street Auburn, Nebraska 68305 i

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Nebraska Public Power District Cheryl Rogers, LLRW Program Manager

. Environmental Protection Section Nebraska Department of Health 301 Centennial Mall, South j

P.O. Box 95007-Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-5007 R. A. Kucera, Department Director

. ofIntergovemmentalCooperation l

Department of Natural Resources P.O. Box 176 l

. Jefferson City, Missouri 65102 Kansas Radiation Control Program Director Training, Exercises, & Evaluation Branch Chief FEMA Region Vil 2323 Grand Blvd., Suite 900 Kansas City, Missourl 64108-2670 Director Nebraska Civil Defense Agency

- 1300 Military Road Lincoln, Nebraska 68508 i

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1 Nebraska Public Power District - DISTRIBUTION w/ enclosures dated June 15.1998; DCD (A045) -

CNS Resident inspector MIS System RIV File B. Zaleman (NRR/DRPM/PERB) 12 H2 DRS Action item File (98-E-0038)(Hodges) i-DISTRIBUTION w/o enclosures:

Regional Administrator DRS Director DRS Deputy Director DRP Director-DRS-PSB Branch Chief (DRP/C)

Branch Chief (DRP/TSS)

Project Engineer (DRP/C)

C. A. Hackney, RSLO DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\DRSLTRS\\EP.MLD\\FEMADL98.CNS To receive copy of document, indicate in box:"C" = Copy without enclosures "E" = Copy with enclosures "N" = No copy RIV:PSB E. C:DRS\\PSB t GMGood:nh GMV BMurray

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l 06/db8 0(158 i

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY l

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Nebraska PuMcfoner District (

) DISTRIBUTION w/ enclosures dated June 15.1998:

I lEW Ihb CNS Resident inspector MIS System RIV File B. Zaleman (NRR/DRPM/PERB) 12 H2 DRS Action item File (98-E-0038)(Hodges)

DISTRIBUTION w/o enclosures:

Regional Administrator DRS Director DRS Deputy Director DRP Director DRS-PSB l

Branch Chief (DRP/C)

Branch Chief (DRP/TSS)

Project Engineer (DRP/C)

C. A. Hackney, RSLO 4

090269

. DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\DRSLTRS\\EP.MLD\\FEMADL98.CNS To receive copy of hc r.:, Indicate in box: "C" = Copy without enclosures "E" = Copy with enclosures "N" = No copy i

RIV:PSB E. C:DRS\\PSB t GMGood:nh (fW BMurray

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06f)D8 Off)8 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY l

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Federal Emergency Management Agency 5

Region VII

,v 2323 Grand Blvd., Suite 900 Kansas City, MO 64108-2670 JLH I 5 tem Brigadier General Francis A. Laden Nebraska Army National Guard

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Assistant Director Nebraska Emergency Management Agency i

1300 Military Road Lincoln, Nebraska 68508

SUBJECT:

Deficiency Observed During the June 9,1998, Cooper Nuclear Station Full Scale Plume Exercise - Response Due: June 25,1998 I

The purpose of this letter is to officially inform your office of the Deficiency identified during the June 9,1998, full-scale plume exercise of the state and local radiological emergency response plans for the Cooper Nuclear Station. This issue was discussed with participants during the post-exercise briefing on June 10,1998. The Deficiency is being assessed against the Nemaha County Emergency Operations Center.

Nemaha County Emergency Operations Center Objective Number 10, the capability to promptly alert and notify the public, was noj adeauately demonstrated resultine in a Deficiency.

The initial Emergency Alert System (EAS) message to notify the public of a Site Area Emergency at the plant was never broadcast to the public. Therefore, the 15-minute requirement for initial alerting and notification of the public was not met.

At 10:37 a.m. the Nemaha County Sheriff's Communication Center received notification from the utility of the Site Area Emergency. After copying the information, the Dispatcher notified the Sheriff at 10:40 a.m. At 10:41 a.m. the Dispatcher activated the sirens and at the same time the Sheriff contacted the EAS station and read the Initial message into the telephone. However, the Sheriff did not verify that the radio station personnel understood the message.

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l Lp Meanwhile at the radio station, the switchboard received an. unidentified call at 10:43 a.m. (station time). The newsroom personnel could not clearly identify or t

understand the caller. The call was transferred to a "public line"in the

- newsroom. The newsroom personnel did indicate there was some phrasing that sounded like an emergency message; however, after several attempts to communicate with the individual on the phone line the call was terminated.

Therefore, the message was not recorded, nor was it broadcast to the public.

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.As a result, the public in Nebraska was not notified of the emergency situation at the Cooper Nuclear Station in an EAS message until 12:49 p.m. which was two hours and eighteen minutes following the Site Area Emergency declaration.

(NUREG-0654, E.5,6,7.)

' n accordance with 44 CFR 350.9(d)'and the FEMA Radiological Emergency i

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Preparedness Exercise Manual (FEMA-REP-14), we have thoroughly reviewed and discussed this issue with FEMA Headquarters, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and appropriate FEMA Region VII Regional Assistance Committee members. FEMA REP-14, page C.16-1, defines a Deficiency as "...an observed or identified inadequacy of

. organizational performance in an exercise that could cause a finding that offsite l

emergency preparedness is not adequate to provide reasonable assurance that appropriate l

protective measures can be taken in the event of a radiological emergency to protect the health and safety of the public living in the vicinity of a nuclear power platt." Because of

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the potential impact of Deficiencies on the public health and safety, they are required to -

be corrected within.120 days after the exercise through appropriate remedial actions, l

. including remedial exercises, drills, or other actions.

Based on the above, the Nemaha County Sheriff 's Department must be provided I

additional training to emphasize the procedure for and importance of communicating the

. EAS messages to the EAS radio station.-

l Additional training of the Nemaha County Sheriff's Department and demonstration in a remedial exercise must be accomplished no later than October 7,1998.

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. Further, a proposed date for the remedial exercise to correct the Dehciency must be l

submitted to this office by June 29,1998.

Ifyou have any questions or comments regarding the above determination, please contact Tonya Leibold at (816) 283-7085; Sincerely, 4

s D

ohn r

Regional Director Vanessa Quinn/Deborah Pringle, PT-EX-RG.

cc:

Charles Hackney /Gail Good, NRC IV

' Terry Brown, NPPD 1

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L___-_______-____J__-__-

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I g7 Federal Emergency Management Agency t

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Region VII

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2323 Grand Blvd., Suite 900 i

Kansas City, MO 64108-2670 1

i JUN I 51998 Jerry B. Uhlmann, Director State Emergency Management Agency P. O. Box 116 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102

SUBJECT:

Deficiency Observed During the June 9,1998, Cooper Nuclear Station Full Scale Plume Exercise - Response Due: June 25,1998 l

The purpose of this letter is to officially inform your office of the Deficiency identified during the June 9,1998, full-scale plume exercise of the state and local radiological j

emergency response plans for the Cooper Nuclear Station. This issue was discussed with participants during the post-exercise briefing on June 10,1998. The Deficiency is being i

assessed against the Atchison County Emergency Operations Center.

Atchison County Emergency Operations Center Objective Number 11, Public Instructions and Emergency Information, was not adeauately demonstrated resultine in a Deficiency.

The County failed to provide complete information to the public in a timely manner concerning Protective Action Decisions (PADS). The following specific concern was identified:

Atchison County officials made a decision to evacuate subarcas 2 and 5 at 1:01 p.m. following a recommendation from the State. The County Public Information Officer (PIO) misunderstood the PAD and inadvertently omitted subarea 2 from the EAS messages being prepared. The PIO attempted to send the EAS message for subarca 5 to the radio station. However, due to miscommunications between the EOC and the radio station as to whether subarea 5 was sheltered (previous PAD) or was now part of the evacuation PAD, dissemination to the public of the subarea 5 message was delayed. A further delay was caused by facsimile machine problems.

The appropriate EAS message for subarca 5 evacuation was eventually broadcast l

at 1:37 p.m. Meanwhile, the omission of the subarea 2 message was not j

discovered by the PIO until two calls were received: one at 1:32 p.m. and another at 1:37 p.m. from the Joint Information Center inquiring as to why there was no l

evacuation message for subarea 2. Following the second call, the PIO conferred with the County decisionmakers and verified that subarca 2 was in fact included in the evacuation PAD. -The PIO then prepared the EAS message for subarea 2 and provided it to the radio station at 1:40 p.m. The message was broadcast to the public at 1:51 p.m. As a result of the delays noted above, the public in subarcas 5 and 2 would not have been notified for 36 and 50 minutes, respectively, to evacuate from those areas.

In accordance with 44 CFR 350.9(d) and the FEMA Radiological Emergency 1

Preparedness Exercise Manual (FEMA-REP-14), we have thoroughly reviewed and discussed this issue with FEMA Headquarters, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and appropriate FEMA Region VII Regional Assistance Committee members. ' FEMA REP-14, page C.16-1, defines a Deficiency ns "...an observed or identified inadequacy of organizational performance in an exercise that could cause a finding that offsite emergency preparedness is not_ adequate to provide reasonable assurance that appropriate protective measures can be taken in the event of a radiological emergency to protect the health and safety of the public living in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant. Because of

- the potential impact of Deficiencies on the public health and safety, they are required to be corrected within 120 days after the exercise through appropriate remedial actions, including remedial exercises, drills, or other actions.

Based on the above, the Atchison County EOC staff must be provided additional training to. emphasize the importance of communicating internally so that the PIO will be provided accurate, timely, and complete information, and further, that decisionmakers

verify information in the EAS messages that the PIO actually sends to the EAS radio station.

Additional training of the Atchison County EOC staffin the coordination, preparation, communication, and verification of EAS messages, and demonstration in a remedial exercise must be accomplished no later than October 7,1998.

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Further, a proposed date for the remedial exercise to correct the Deficiency must be l

-submitted to this office by June 29,1998.

Ii you have any questions or comments regarding the above determination, please contact Tonya Leibold at (816) 283-7085.

l Sincerely, i-ohn A.Mi er Regional Director cc:

Vanessa Quinn/Deborah Pringle, PT-EX-RG Charles Hackney /Gail Good,NRC IV Dan Trokey, SEMA Terry Brown,NPPD l

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