ML111190112

Er 05000335-11-301, 05000389-11-301, on 02/21-03/03/2011, and 03/17/2011, St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, Licensed Operator Examinations

ML111190112
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie
Issue date:	04/29/2011
From:	Widmann M NRC/RGN-II/DRS/OLB
To:	Nazar M Florida Power & Light Co
References
ER-11-301
Download: ML111190112 (12)

See also: IR 05000335/2011301

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION II

245 PEACHTREE CENTER AVENUE NE, SUITE 1200

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-1257

April 29, 2011

Mr. Mano Nazar

Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer

Florida Power & Light Company

P.O. Box 14000

Juno Beach, FL 33408-0420

SUBJECT: ST. LUCIE NUCLEAR PLANT - NRC OPERATOR LICENSE EXAMINATION

REPORT 05000335/2011301 AND 05000389/2011301

Dear Mr. Stall:

During the period of February 21 - March 3 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

administered operating tests to employees of your company who had applied for licenses to

operate the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. At the conclusion of the tests, the examiners discussed

preliminary findings related to the operating tests and the written examination submittal with

those members of your staff identified in the enclosed report. The written examination was

administered by your staff on March 17, 2011.

Two Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) applicants and ten Reactor Operator (RO) applicants

passed both the operating examinations and the written examination. One SRO applicant failed

the written examination. One RO applicant failed the simulator portion of the operating test, and

one RO applicant failed the walk-through portion of the operating test. There were two post-

examination comments concerning the operating test. These comments and the NRC

resolution of these comments are summarized in Enclosure 2. A Simulator Fidelity Report is

included in this report as Enclosure 3.

The initial examination submittal was within the range of acceptability expected for a proposed

examination. All examination changes agreed upon between the NRC and the staff were made

according to NUREG-1021, Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors,

Revision 9, Supplement 1.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs Rules of Practice, 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 the NRCs document

system (ADAMS).

FP&L 2

ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Website at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.adams.html (the

Public Electronic Reading Room).

If you have any questions concerning this letter, please contact me at (404) 997-4550.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Malcolm T. Widmann, Chief

Operations Branch

Division of Reactor Safety

Docket Nos: 50-335, 50-389

License Nos: DPR-67, NPF-16

Enclosures:

1. Report Details

2. Facility Comments and NRC Resolution

3. Simulator Fidelity Report

cc: w/encls. (See page 3)

FP&L 3

cc w/encl: Bryan Koon

Richard L. Anderson Director

Site Vice President Florida Division of Emergency Management

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant Electronic Mail Distribution

Electronic Mail Distribution

Donna Calabrese

Robert J. Hughes Emergency Preparedness Manager

Plant General Manager St. Lucie Plant

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant Electronic Mail Distribution

Electronic Mail Distribution

J. Kammel

Gene St. Pierre Radiological Emergency Planning

Vice President, Fleet Support Administrator

Florida Power & Light Company Department of Public Safety

Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution

Ronnie Lingle Mano Nazar

Operations Manager Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant Officer

Electronic Mail Distribution Nuclear Division

Florida Power & Light Company

Eric Katzman P.O. Box 14000

Licensing Manager Juno Beach, FL 33408

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant

Electronic Mail Distribution Senior Resident Inspector

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant

Larry Nicholson U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Director P.O. Box 6090

Licensing Jensen Beach, FL 34957-2010

Florida Power & Light Company

Electronic Mail Distribution Seth B. Duston, Training Manager

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant

Alison Brown Electronic Mail Distribution

Nuclear Licensing

Florida Power & Light Company Faye Outlaw

Electronic Mail Distribution County Administrator

St. Lucie County

Mitch S. Ross Electronic Mail Distribution

Vice President and Associate General

Counsel Jack Southard, Director

Florida Power & Light Company Public Safety Department

Electronic Mail Distribution St. Lucie County

Electronic Mail Distribution

Marjan Mashhadi, Senior Attorney Mail Distribution

Florida Power & Light Company

Electronic Mail Distribution Florida Power and Light Company

ATTN: Mr. Seth Duston

William A. Passetti, Chief Training Manager

Florida Bureau of Radiation Control St. Lucie Nuclear Plant

Department of Health 6351 South Ocean Drive

Electronic Mail Distribution Jensen Beach, FL 34957

ML111190112 X SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE

OFFICE RII:DRS RII:DRS RII: DRS RII: DRS RII:DRP

SIGNATURE RA RA RA RA RA

NAME G. Laska M. Bates K. Schaaf M. Widmann D. Rich

DATE 04/27/2011 04/27/201 04/27/2011 04/28/2011 04/27/2011

E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION II

Docket No.: 05000335, 05000389

License No.: DPR-67, NPF-16

Report No.: 05000335/2009301, 05000389/2009301

Licensee: Florida Power and Light Company (FP&L)

Facility: St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, Units 1 & 2

Location: 6351 S. Ocean Drive

Jensen Beach, FL 34957

Dates: Operating Test - February 21 - March 3, 2011

Written Examination - March 17, 2011

Examiners: G. Laska, Chief Examiner, Senior Operations Examiner

M. Bates, Senior Operations Engineer

K. Schaaf, Operations Engineer

Approved by: Malcolm T. Widmann, Chief

Operations Branch

Division of Reactor Safety

Enclosure 1

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

ER 05000335/2011301, 05000389/2011301, 02/21-03/03/2011, and 03/17/2011; St. Lucie

Nuclear Plant, Licensed Operator Examinations.

The NRC examiners conducted operator licensing initial examinations in accordance with the

guidance in NUREG-1021, Revision 9, Supp.1, Operator Licensing Examination Standards for

Power Reactors. This examination implemented the operator licensing requirements of

10 CFR §55.41, §55.43, and §55.45.

The NRC administered the operating tests during the period of February 21 - March 3, 2011.

Members of the St. Lucie Power Plant training staff administered the written examination on

March 17, 2011. The written examination outline was provided by the NRC. The written

examination, operating test outlines and operating test details were developed by the St. Lucie

Nuclear Plant training staff.

Two Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) and ten Reactor Operator (RO) applicants passed both the

written and operating examinations. One SRO applicant failed the written examination. One

RO applicant failed the simulator portion and one RO failed the walk-through portion of the

operating test, Two SRO applicants and ten RO applicants were issued operating licenses.

There were two post examination comments.

No findings were identified.

Enclosure 1

REPORT DETAILS

4. OTHER ACTIVITIES

4OA5 Operator Licensing Initial Examinations

a. Inspection Scope

The St. Lucie Nuclear Plant training staff developed the written examination and

operating test. NRC regional examiners reviewed the proposed examination material to

determine whether it was developed in accordance with NUREG-1021, Operator

Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors, Revision 9, Supplement 1.

Examination changes agreed upon between the NRC and the licensee were made

according to NUREG-1021, and incorporated into the final version of the examination

materials.

The examiners reviewed the licensees examination security measures while preparing

and administering the examinations to ensure examination security and integrity

complied with 10 CFR 55.49, Integrity of Examinations and Tests. Two near miss

examination security events occurred during exam administration. The first near miss

occurred on February 25, 2011, when one applicant was escorted to the rest room.

After the applicant entered the rest room, the escort went back to the sequester room

leaving the applicant unmonitored. Because all of the other applicants were in the

sequester room, or on the simulator, no portion of the exam was compromised. The

licensee documented this event in AR number 01626098. The second near miss

occurred on February 28, 2011. While administering scenarios on the simulator,

communications were heard on the radio between members of an outage group working

on the turbine deck. Use of the radios was immediately stopped. Examiners determined

that an exam compromise did not take place. Communications over the radio were

limited to event #1, or event # 2 etc. No mention of actual scenario content was ever

transmitted over the radio. The licensee documented this event in AR number

01626119.

The examiners evaluated three SRO and twelve RO applicants who were being

assessed under the guidelines specified in NUREG-1021. The examiners administered

the operating tests during the period of February 21 - March 3, 2011. Members of the

St. Lucie Power Plant training staff administered the written examination on March 17,

2011. The evaluations of the applicants and review of documentation were performed to

determine if the applicants, who applied for licenses to operate the St. Lucie Nuclear

Plant, met requirements specified in 10 CFR Part 55, Operators Licenses.

b. Findings

No findings were identified. The NRC determined, using NUREG-1021 that the

licensees initial examination submittal was within the range of acceptability expected for

a proposed examination.

Enclosure 1

4

Two SRO and ten RO applicants passed both the written and operating examinations.

A copy of the final written RO, SRO examinations, and answer keys with all changes

incorporated may be accessed not earlier than March 17, 2013, in the ADAMS system

(ADAMS Accession Number(s) ML111090206 and ML111090212).

Copies of all individual examination reports were sent to the facility Training Manager for

evaluation and determination of appropriate remedial training.

4OA6 Meetings

Exit Meeting Summary

On March 3, 2011, the examination team discussed generic issues associated with the

operating test with Mr. R. Anderson, Site Vice President, and members of the St. Lucie

Nuclear Plant staff. The examiners asked the licensee whether any materials examined

during the inspection should be considered proprietary. No proprietary information was

identified.

PARTIAL LIST OF PERSONS CONTACTED

Licensee personnel

R. Anderson - Site Vice President

R. Lingle - Operations Manager

J. Klauck - Operations Shift Manager

S. Duston - Training Manager

T. Benton - Operations Training Supervisor

D. Lanyi - Operations SRO

J. Willsey- Operations Class Mentor

F. Dennis - ILT Training Supervisor

K. Frehafer - Licensing

NRC personnel

T. Hoag, SRI

S. Sanchez, RI

Enclosure 1

Facility Comments and NRC Resolution

A complete Text of the licensees post examination comments can be found in ADAMS under

Accession Number ML111090216.

Licensee Comments:

Items:

(1) JPM S-3, Perform Control Room Actions for Loss of Safety Related AC Bus-Unit 2

Facility Comment:

Step 3 and Step 4 of the JPM S-3 are incorrectly designated as Critical Steps.

Basis:

The aforementioned steps require the applicant to place the 2A and 2C Charging pump control

switches to STOP and place Letdown Isolation valves to close. This is directed in accordance

with 2-AOP-47.01A, Loss of A Safety Related AC Bus.

The basis for these steps is to establish a known configuration for subsequent power

restoration. Based upon the conditions established by the JPM, the loss of power automatically

isolated letdown and secured charging. In the event these actions are not completed, if an auto

action of the charging pump resulted in a pump start, the size of the load would not damage or

potentially overload a bus. There is no safety significance by not completing these steps;

therefore these steps are not critical for these conditions.

The immediate actions of 2-AOP-02.03, Charging and Letdown, which apply to this event,

require that Charging be secured and control switches placed in auto. This is not consistent

with the steps of 2-AOP-47.01A, Loss of A Safety Related AC Bus.

The initial conditions of this JPM has letdown isolated due to loss of the 2A5 480V Load center.

Immediate Operator actions of 2-AOP-02.03, Charging and Letdown requires the Operator to

STOP the Charging pumps and RETURN the control switches to AUTO in the event of loss of

letdown.

If the applicant stopped the Charging pumps and placed the switches to auto, the backup

Charging pump would cycle in response to lowering Pressurizer level of -3% deviation from

setpoint and stop at +3.6% deviation from setpoint. These setpoints are such that the Tech

Spec limits for high/low Pressurizer level are not exceeded. The simulator setup for this JPM

requires the Pressurizer Pressure and Level channels be selected to Y channel. By doing so,

the automatic response of the Charging pumps to Pressurizer level deviation is not affected by

the loss of 2A5 480V LC.

2-AOP-47.01A, Loss of A Safety Related AC Bus, directs the Operator to ENSURE the Train A

Charging pump control switch is placed in STOP. This step is based on possible cycling of the

backup charging pump due possible failure of selected Pressurizer level channel from loss of

power. That is not the case for this JPM as stated in the above paragraph. Therefore, not

placing the control switches in STOP is NOT critical.

Enclosure 2

2

This step is an action step, therefore, in accordance with the stations procedure writers guide,

the step is capitalized and bolded. This is consistent with all action statements in PSLs

upgraded procedures.

Facility Recommendation:

Revise JPM S-3, Perform Control Room Actions for Loss of Safety Related AC Bus - Unit 2,

steps 3 and 4, to remove the critical step designation.

NRC RESOLUTION:

The NRC agrees with the licensees recommendation. After reviewing the licensees contention

and supporting documentation, it appears steps 3 and 4 are not critical to the completion of the

task.

Based on the above discussion, the licensees recommendation was accepted; JPM S-3 steps 3

and 4 were changed to remove the critical step designation.

(2) Admin JPM A-6, Respond to Security Event

Facility Comment:

Step 14 and 16, of the JPM A-3, is incorrectly designated as a Critical Step.

Basis:

The aforementioned steps requires the applicant to annotate on the Florida Nuclear Plant

Emergency Notification Form that This is a Drill, and selection of the affected unit. These

steps are procedurally directed per EPIP-08, Off-site Notifications and Protective Action

Recommendations.

The basis for these steps is to identify that this is a drill rather than documentation of an actual

emergency, and specify the affected unit. In accordance with EPIP-08, Attachment 1A, step 1,

during exercises, drills or tests, each message shall be checked THIS IS A DRILL. Additionally,

selection of the affected unit is required to be only one with additional information provided if

both units are impacted. These are asterisked steps on Attachment 1, of the Florida Nuclear

Plant Emergency Notification Form, which states, items are evaluated for NRC Performance

Indicators. During development of the JPM, the standards for NRC performance indicators

acceptance criteria were used to define the critical steps for the applicants exam.

In accordance with ADM-25.02, Appendix L, Drill/Exercise Performance step C, source

documents for the NRC performance indicators are; Drill Reports, LOCT Simulator Evaluation

Critique Sheets, and Actual Event Reports. This applicant JPM does NOT fall under this criteria

and is not used for NRC performance indicators. Therefore the asterisk step on Attachment 1,

of the Florida Nuclear Plant Emergency Notification Form does not apply.

The JPM initial condition does not inform the applicant that this is a drill or simulated condition.

Applicant confusion can arise as to the condition to which they respond to this step. Emergency

Drills and LOCT Simulator evaluations conduct a pre-exercise drill brief.

Enclosure 2

3

There is no safety significance for selecting either this is a drill or actual emergency. The state

watch office was not actually contacted. Selecting both units as being affected again has no

safety significance. These issues are solely with procedural compliance. Since the stations

administrative procedures do not apply, the stations position is that these two steps should be

designated as NOT Critical.

Facility Recommendation:

Revise JPM A-6, Respond to Security Event, steps 14 and 16, to remove the critical step

designation.

NRC RESOLUTION:

The NRC agrees with the licensees recommendation. After reviewing the licensees contention

and supporting documentation, it appears that step 14 and 16 were not critical steps required to

complete the task.

Based on the above discussion, the licensees recommendation was accepted, Administrative

JPM A-6 was changed, and the critical step designation was removed from steps 14 and 16.

Enclosure 2

SIMULATOR FIDELITY REPORT

Facility Licensee: St. Lucie Nuclear Plant

Facility Docket Nos.: 05000335/2011301, 05000389/2011301

Operating Test Administered: February 21 - March 3, 2011

This form is to be used only to report observations. These observations do not constitute audit

or inspection findings and, without further verification and review in accordance with Inspection

Procedure 71111.11 are not indicative of noncompliance with 10 CFR 55.46. No licensee

action is required in response to these observations.

While conducting the simulator portion of the operating test, examiners observed the following:

Item Description

Instabilities were observed When performing a JPM that had operators align a flowpath from

on the charging system. the charging pump to the A HPSI header using Appendix T of

EOP-99, extremely violent flow oscillations were observed. AR

number 01626092 was written to document this issue.

An Invalid Request was During scenario 7, operators received an Invalid Request on the

received while attempting DEH system while attempting to roll the main turbine to rated

to roll the main turbine. speed. AR number 01626089 was written to document this issue.

Select Yokogawa chart During one scenario select Yokogawa chart recorders failed to

recorders fail to clear and clear when the next simulator scenario was loaded.

reset. Approximately 15 minutes of exam time was lost. AR number

01624555 was written to document this issue.

RCP shaft seizure did not During the administration of Simulator JPM f, RESTART RCPs

occur following a loss of oil DURING EOP IMPLEMENTATION Unit 2 the RCP failed to seize

level. and trip following a loss of oil from the lower oil reservoir and high

thrust bearing temperature alarms. AR number 01626016 was

written to document this issue.

High Pressure Safety During the administration of Simulator JPM e Establish Alternate

Injection flow was Charging Flowpath to RCS Through A HPSI Header, HPSI flow

indicated with pump was indicated on flow transmitters with charging pump discharge

discharge pressure less pressure less than RCS pressure. AR number 01626099 was

than RCS pressure written to document this issue.

Enclosure 3