ML25246C403
| ML25246C403 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palo Verde  |
| Issue date: | 09/08/2025 |
| From: | Michael Bloodgood NRC/RGN-IV/DORS/EB1 |
| To: | Heflin A Arizona Public Service Co |
| Thomas F | |
| References | |
| IR 2026011 | |
| Download: ML25246C403 (1) | |
See also: IR 05000528/2026011
Text
September 08, 2025
Adam C. Heflin, Executive Vice President
and Chief Nuclear Officer
Arizona Public Service
P.O. Box 52034, MS 7602
Phoenix, AZ 85072-2034
SUBJECT:
PALO VERDE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION - NOTIFICATION OF
COMPREHENSIVE ENGINEERING TEAM INSPECTION (05000528/2026011
AND 05000529/2026011 AND 05000530/2026011) AND REQUEST FOR
INFORMATION
Dear Adam Heflin:
The purpose of this letter is to notify you that U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff
will conduct the comprehensive engineering team inspection at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station, Units 1, 2, and 3 beginning on January 27, 2026. The inspection team will be composed
of six personnel from the NRC Region IV office. The inspection will be conducted in accordance
with NRC inspection procedure (IP) 71111.21M, Comprehensive Engineering Team
Inspection, dated June 27, 2025.
The objectives of the inspection are to verify that risk-significant structures, systems, and
components (SSCs) have been maintained and will operate within their design and licensing
bases requirements; modifications to risk-significant SSCs did not introduce conditions that
adversely impact the ability of SSCs to perform their design and licensing bases functions; the
design basis, licensing basis, and performance capability of SSCs have not been adversely
impacted by changes introduced through degraded conditions and other activities; and that
requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.59 have been
appropriately implemented.
The inspection will include an onsite information gathering visit by the team lead and two weeks
of onsite inspection by the team. The schedule for the inspection is as follows:
Onsite Information Gathering Visit: December 2 - 5, 2025
Offsite Preparation Week: January 19 - 23, 2026
Onsite Inspection Weeks: January 27 - 30, 2026, and February 10 - 13, 2026
The purpose of the information gathering visit is to meet with your staff to become familiar with
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Stations SSCs, programs, processes, and procedures and to
ensure the resources needed to support the team, as necessary, to conduct an effective and
efficient inspection. This visit may include a tour of installed plant SSCs associated with
potential inspection samples. During the visit, the team lead will also review the information
A. Heflin
2
provided in the initial information request to select a list of potential inspection samples. The
team lead may also identify other information needed to support the inspection during this visit.
To minimize the impact on your staff and to ensure an effective and efficient inspection, we
have enclosed two separate requests for information needed prior to the onsite information
gathering visit and offsite inspection preparation week. The first request (Enclosure 1) is
generally for information that will be used to choose the inspection samples or information that
will be applicable to all inspection samples throughout the inspection. This information should be
made available to the team lead prior to the information gathering visit. The second request
(Enclosure 2) is for information that is specific to an individual sample and should be made
available prior to the offsite preparation week.
Additional information requests, interviews with your staff, and/or tours of facilities or plant
components installed will be made by the team throughout the inspection to complete their
review of the selected inspection samples. It is important that all documentation provided to the
team is complete and up to date to minimize the number of additional documents requested
during the preparation and/or the onsite portions of the inspection. Additionally, to facilitate an
efficient inspection, we request that a contact individual be assigned to each inspector to ensure
information requests, questions, and concerns are addressed in a timely manner.
We understand that Ms. Tracy Rychlyk from your Regulatory Affairs organization is our contact
for this inspection. If there are any questions about the inspection or the information requested,
please contact the team lead, Mr. Fabian Thomas, by telephone at 817-200-1126 or by e-mail at
Fabian.Thomas@nrc.gov. Enclosure 3 contains additional contact information for the inspection
team.
This letter does not contain new or amended information collection requirements subject to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing information collection
requirements were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, under Control Number
3150-0011. The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a
request for information or an information collection requirement unless the requesting document
displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC rules and practices, a copy of this letter and its
enclosures will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC public document
room or from the publicly available records (PARS) component of NRCs document system
(ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site.
Sincerely,
Michael Bloodgood, Chief
Engineering Branch 1
Division of Operating Reactor Safety
Signed by Bloodgood, Michael
on 09/08/25
A. Heflin
3
Docket Nos. 05000528; 05000529; 05000530
License Nos. NPF-41; NPF-51; NPF-74
Enclosures:
1.
Documents Requested Prior to
Information Gathering Visit
2.
Documents Requested Prior to
Inspection Preparation Week
3.
Inspection Team Contact Information
cc w/ encl: Distribution via LISTSERV
SUNSI Review
By: FDT
Non-Sensitive
Sensitive
Publicly Available
Non-Publicly Available
OFFICE
SRI:DORS/EB1
BC:DORS/EB1
NAME
FThomas
MBloodgood
SIGNATURE
/RA/
/RA/
DATE
09/04/25
09/08/25
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 1
Documents Requested Prior to Information Gathering Visit
The documents and information requested below should generally be made available to the
inspection team for the team's use both on-site and off-site during the information gathering
visit. Electronic format is the preferred media. If electronic media is made available via an
internet based remote document management system, then the remote document access must
allow inspectors to download, save, and print the documents in the NRC's regional office.
Electronic media on compact disc or paper records (hard copy) are acceptable. At the end of
the inspection, the documents in the team's possession will not be retained.
This document request is based on typical documents that a generic plant might have. As such,
this document request is not meant to imply that any specific plant is required to have all of the
listed documents. In addition, your plant specific document titles may vary from the document
titles listed below. We also request that the information provided be sorted by the list below.
Documents requested by November 24, 2025:
1.
Sortable list of SSCs with known low analytical, operating, maintenance, or
complexity margin, if available.
2.
From your PRA model(s), component importance measures from your one-top model
for components with a RAW of 1.3 or greater or a Birnbaum of 5E-7 or greater (CDF
and LERF).
3.
Sortable list of top 20 risk significant operator actions (by RAW) for CDF and LERF.
4.
PRA summary document.
5.
Sortable list of temporary or permanent modifications that were implemented within
the past four years/since the last triennial NRC design bases inspection, including a
brief description, modification type, and whether the modification is safety-related.
Implemented means accepted or placed into service and declared
functional/operable, as applicable. Modifications may include, but are not limited to,
equivalency evaluations, commercial grade dedications, and changes to SSCs,
procedures, set points, calculations, designs, and/or the licensing bases.
6.
Sortable list of 10 CFR 50.59 applicability determinations of implemented changes,
tests, and experiments that did not result in a screening within the past four years.
7.
Sortable list of 10 CFR 50.59 screenings of implemented changes, tests, and
experiments that did not result in an evaluation within the past four years.
8.
Sortable list of 10 CFR 50.59 evaluations of implemented changes, tests, and
experiments that did not result in an application for a license amendment within the
past four years.
9.
Sortable list of implemented changes, tests, and experiments where an alternate
process or screening criteria was applied within the past four years. (An example of
E1-2
alternate screening criteria is use of the 50.59 screening questions in the standard
design process.)
10.
Sortable list of operating experience evaluations performed within the past four
years/since the last triennial NRC design bases inspection, including whether the
operating experience was applicable. Operating experience sources may include, but
are not limited to, NRC generic communications, licensee event reports, plant
operating experience, 10 CFR Part 21 reports, previous NRC inspection findings,
and vendor communications.
11.
Sortable list of corrective action program documents associated with issues identified
during the last NRC design bases inspection.
12.
Copy of implementing/program procedures, as applicable, for performing
modifications, time critical/sensitive operator actions, 10 CFR 50.59 activities,
operating experience evaluations, and the corrective action program.
13.
Copy of any self-assessments or audits in preparation for this inspection or related to
activities associated with this inspection (i.e., design, modifications, 10 CFR 50.59,
operating experience) performed within the past four years.
14.
Copy of technical requirements manual, surveillance frequency control program,
quality assurance program.
15.
Sortable list of normal, abnormal, or emergency procedures.
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 2
Documents Requested Prior to Inspection Preparation Week
For the samples identified by the team lead, the documents and information requested below
should generally be made available to the inspection team for the team's use both on-site and
off-site during the inspection. Electronic format is the preferred media. If electronic media is
made available via an internet based remote document management system, then the remote
document access must allow inspectors to download, save, and print the documents in the
NRC's regional office. Electronic media on compact disc or paper records (hard copy) are
acceptable. At the end of the inspection, the documents in the team's possession will not be
retained.
This document request is based on typical documents that a generic plant might have. As such,
this document request is not meant to imply that any specific plant is required to have all of the
listed documents. In addition, your plant specific document titles may vary from the document
titles listed below. We also request that the information provided be sorted by the list below for
each sample. If possible, please provide samples in individual zip files.
Documents requested for each sample type by January 12, 2026:
1.
Structure, System, and Component (SSC) Samples
a.
Copy of relevant design bases document, system description, etc.
b.
Copy of relevant vendor manuals (i.e., installation, operation, maintenance).
c.
Copy of relevant design calculations, diagrams, and drawings.
d.
Copy of relevant normal, abnormal, or emergency procedures.
e.
List of relevant preventive maintenance activities, including a brief
description, and frequency. Include procedures/instructions and most recently
completed work order/job for each activity.
f.
List of relevant inspections and tests, including a brief description, and
frequency. Include procedures/instructions and most recently completed work
order/job for each inspection/test.
g.
Copy of the relevant PRA system notebook.
h.
Copy of the relevant system health notebook.
i.
Sortable list of relevant corrective action program documents, including a
brief description, within the past four years. Alternatively, if the number of
documents is few, provide complete copies of these documents with any
attachments.
2.
Modification Samples
a.
Copy of the complete change package.
E2-2
b.
Copy of the completed implementing work order.
c.
Copy of any post-modification tests, etc.
d.
Copy of any relevant corrective action program documents.
e.
Copy of relevant vendor manuals (i.e., installation, operation, maintenance).
f.
Copy of affected procedures, training materials, preventive maintenance or
inspection/testing activities, calculations, design specifications, drawings,
updated final safety analysis report, technical specifications, etc.
3.
10 CFR 50.59 Samples
a.
Copy of the relevant 10 CFR 50.59 applicability determination, screening, or
evaluation.
b.
Copy of training/qualification record/status of personnel who performed the
10 CFR 50.59 activity.
c.
Copy of any relevant corrective action program documents.
d.
Copy of any affected procedures, training materials, preventive maintenance
or inspection/testing activities, calculations, design specifications, drawings,
updated final safety analysis report, technical specifications, etc.
4.
Operating Experience Samples
a.
Copy of the complete operating experience evaluation.
b.
Copy of any relevant corrective action program documents.
c.
Copy of any affected procedures, training materials, preventive maintenance
or inspection/testing activities, calculations, design specifications, drawings,
updated final safety analysis report, technical specifications, etc.
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 3
Inspection Team Contact Information
Reactor Inspector
817-200-1126
Fabian.Thomas@nrc.gov
Senior Reactor Inspector
817-200-1563
Wes.Cullum@nrc.gov
Dustin Bryen
Reactor Inspector
817-200-1078
Dustin.Bryen@nrc.gov
Beatrice Nwafor
Reactor Inspector
817-200-1462
Beatrice.Nwafor@nrc.gov
Diana Stagner
Reactor Inspector
817-200-1278
Diana.Stagner@nrc.gov
Joshua Talavera
Reactor Inspector
817-200-1435
Joshua.Talavera@nrc.gov
Mailing Address:
U.S. NRC, Region IV
Attn: First Last Name
1600 East Lamar Blvd.
Arlington, TX 76011-4511