ML103430660

Audit of the Licensee'S Management of Regulatory Commitments

ML103430660
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	02/09/2011
From:	Richard Guzman Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:	Entergy Nuclear Operations
Guzman R, NRR/DORL, 415-1030
References
TAC ME5023
Download: ML103430660 (9)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555*0001 February 9,2011 Site Vice President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station 600 Rocky Hill Road Plymouth, MA 02360-5508

SUBJECT:

PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NO. ME5023)

Dear Sir or Madam:

An audit of the Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) commitment management program was performed at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim) site during the period December 14 and 15, 2010. The NRC staff concludes that, based on the audit: (1) Entergy has implemented an effective program for managing NRC commitments and changes to those commitments, and (2) has implemented NRC commitments in a timely manner at Pilgrim.

Details of the audit are set forth in the enclosed audit report.

The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by your staff for performing the audit. If you have any questions, I may be reached at (301) 415-1030.

Sincerely, Richard V. Guzman, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-293

Enclosures:

1. Audit Report

2. List of Commitments Reviewed cc w/encls: Distribution via Listserv

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PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION DOCKET NO. 50-293

1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

In Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees that the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) document NEI99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments and encouraged licensees to use the NEI guidance or similar administrative controls to ensure that regulatory commitments are implemented and that changes to the regulatory commitments are evaluated and, when appropriate, reported to the NRC.

NEI-99-04 defines a "regulatory commitment" as an explicit statement to take a specific action agreed to, or volunteered by, a licensee and submitted in writing on the docket to the NRC.

NRR guidelines direct the NRR Project Manager to audit the licensee's commitment management program by assessing the adequacy of the licensee's implementation of a sample of commitments made to the NRC in past licensing actions (amendments, relief requests, exemptions, etc.) and activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc). The audit is to be performed every 3 years.

2.0 AUDIT PROCEDURE AND RESULTS An audit of the Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the licensee) commitment management program for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim) was performed at the plant site during the period December 14 and 15, 2010. The audit consisted of two major parts: (1) verification of the licensee's implementation of NRC commitments that have been completed and (2) verification of the licensee's program for managing changes to NRC commitments.

2.1 Verification of Licensee's Implementation of NRC Commitments The primary focus of this part of the audit is to confirm that the licensee has implemented commitments made to the NRC as part of past licensing actions/activities. For commitments not yet implemented, the NRC staff determines whether they have been captured in an effective program for future implementation.

Enclosure 1

-2 2.1.1 Audit Scope The audit addressed a sample of commitments made during the review period. The audit focused on regulatory commitments (as defined above) made in writing to the NRC as a result of past licensing actions (amendments, exemptions, etc.) or licensing activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.). Before the audit, the NRC staff searched the NRC's official recordkeeping system, Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) for the licensee's submittals since the last audit in January 2007, and selected a representative sample for verification (Enclosure 2). The selection of the sample list covered a variety of systems, disciplines, and licensing actions important to NRC staffs decision-making process.

The audit excluded the following types of commitments that are internal to licensee processes:

(1) Commitments made on the licensee's own initiative among internal organizational components.

(2) Commitments made as an internal reminder to take actions to comply with existing regulatory requirements such as regulations, Technical Specifications (TSs), and Updated Final Safety Analysis Reports (UFSARs). Fulfillment of these commitments was indicated by the licensee having taken timely action in accordance with the subject requirements.

2.1.2 Audit Results The licensee's Commitment Management Program is described in the Entergy corporate procedure, "Commitment Management Program," EN-Ll-110, Revision 2, dated June 2,2010.

This fleet procedure is applicable to all the licensee nuclear power plants including Pilgrim. The licensee utilizes the Entergy Fleet Commitment Management System (CMS) which is implemented by Pilgrim using a computer-based database called the "Licensing Research System (LRS)." LRS is used to capture the regulatory commitments made to the NRC and track the status of those commitments, including description and origin of the commitment, changes to the commitment, responsible department for actions, and due dates, as applicable.

The NRC staff reviewed documentation generated by the licensee related to the sample items listed in Enclosure 2. For the commitments selected, the NRC staff found that the licensee's commitment tracking program had adequately captured all of the audited regulatory commitments.

2.2 Verification of the Licensee's Program for Managing NRC Commitment Changes The primary focus of this part of the audit is to verify that the licensee has established administrative controls for modifying or deleting commitments made to the NRC. The NRC staff compared the licensee's process for controlling regulatory commitments to the guidelines in NEI-99-04, which the NRC has found to be an acceptable guide for licensees to follow for managing and changing commitments. The Entergy commitment management system is described in the Entergy Corporate Procedure EN-Ll-11 O. EN-Ll-110 is based on, and implements, the recommendations of NEI 99-04. The audit reviewed a sample of commitment changes that included changes that were or will be reported to the NRC, and changes that were

- 3 not or will not be reported to the NRC. The audit also verifies that the licensee's commitment management system includes a mechanism to ensure traceability of commitments following initial implementation. This ensures that licensee personnel are able to recognize that future proposed changes to the affected design features or operating practices require evaluation in accordance with the commitment change control process.

2.2.2 Audit Results The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's procedure EN-Ll-110, against NEI 99-04, Revision O.

This corporate fleet procedure follows the NEI guidance and implements the Entergy Fleet CMS at Pilgrim using LRS as its computer-based database to track the history of specific commitment changes and deletions if applicable. Regulatory commitment changes are processed and tracked by the Pilgrim Plant Licensing Personnel (Site Licensing) and are approved by the Site Management. A Commitment Change Evaluation Form (CCEF) is used to document the evaluation of the commitment change or deletion. This procedure also includes a mechanism for notifying the NRC on a periodic basis regarding commitment changes.

The NRC staff found that the licensee's procedure for handling commitment changes, in general, is consistent with the guidance in NEI 99-04. However, the NRC staff noted during the audit that the licensee, in its last periodic notification letter dated October 14, 2009, only transmitted its update of the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) per 10 CFR 50.71 (e), TS Bases changes, and 10 CFR 50.59(d) changes. The letter, however, did not provide a list of completed CCEFs or any indication of whether any commitment changes were completed during the prior operating cycle in accordance with the NEI guidance.

Per the licensee's procedure EN-U-110, Step 5.7[2]:

A report of completed CCEFs should be submitted to the NRC on a periodic basis. This may be the same frequency as the UFSAR/10 CFR 50.59 summary report, or once per operating cycle. Commitment changes reported to the NRC elsewhere need not be duplicated in this report.

The licensee acknowledged that the October 14,2009, summary report was not consistent with its intended procedure for following NEI guidance. This inconsistency was discussed with the Pilgrim licensing staff during the exit meeting on December 15, 2010. The licensee has documented the discrepancy in its corrective action program as CR-PNP-2011-00352. As stated, the licensee's corrective action for this discrepancy is to: (1) track and report changes made to the commitments during the prior operating cycle in accordance with the NEI guidance, (2) include the list of changes with the 50.71 (e) report, as part of the FSAR and 50.59 report, and (3) to submit this report within 6 months from the end of its next refueling outage (RFO-18).

Aside from this staff-identified discrepancy, the NRC staff found that the Entergy corporate procedure for managing regulatory commitments, EN-U-110, acceptably implements the NEI 99-04 guidelines pertaining to commitment changes. The Entergy staff at Pilgrim are following the guidance of EN-Ll-11 0 in regard to commitment changes.

-4

3.0 CONCLUSION

The NRC staff concludes, based on the above audit, that Entergy has implemented an effective program for managing NRC commitments and changes to those commitments, and has implemented NRC commitments in a timely manner at Pilgrim.

4.0 LICENSEE PERSONNEL CONTACTED FOR THIS AUDIT Walter Lobo Joseph Lynch Robert Byrne Francis McGinnis Principal Contributor: Richard Guzman Date: February 9, 2011

LIST OF REVIEWED COMMITMENTS - PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION Related Documentation of Item Pilgrim Submittal/Source Summary of Commitment Licensee Number Document(s) and Description Action/Implementation 1 05/17/2007 2.07.029 Commitment completed by Entergy will submit to the NRC an action plan to improve benchmarking Entergy letter dated data to support approval of new P-T curves for Pilgrim on or before License Renewal Application 09/12/2007 September 15, 2007.

Amendment 17 (ML072700723)

2 Entergy will complete activities associated with implementation of the licensing action:

05/01/2009,

• Weld overlay examination results including.a listing of indications 2.09.032 detected Commitment completed by Entergy letter dated Pilgrim Relief Request (PRR)

• Disposition of indications using the standards of ASME Section XI, 05/15/2009 19, Jet Pump Instrumentation Subsection IW8-3514-2 andlor IW8-3514-3 completing the final (ML091470152)

Nozzle Weld, RPV-N9A-1 criteria and, if possible, the type and nature of the ultrasonic Repair Plan indications

• A discussion of any repairs to the weld overlay material andlor base metal and the reason for the repairs.

3 Commitment completed by

• Submit to the NRC a stress analysis summary demonstrating that the Entergy letter dated N-9A nozzle to safe-end DMW will perform its intended design function 08/13/2009 after weld overlay installation (ML092320124)

Enclosure 2

-2 Related Documentation of Item Pilgrim SubmittallSource Summary of Commitment Licensee Number Document(s) and Description ActionlImplementation 4 04/27/2009,

• ENOC-09-00009 Removal of the plant-specific Technical Specification requirements will LAR accepted by NRC staff License Amendment Request; be performed by Entergy concurrently with the implementation of the 10 letter dated 08/04/2009 Proposed Adoption of TSTF CFR 26, Subpart I requirements. This commitment will be completed no (ML091680321 )

511 Regarding Elimination of later than October 1,2009.

Technical Specification Work Hour Restrictions 5 11/22/2009 2.09.066 NRC Letter dated Entergy provided a list of 4 regulatory commitments made in support of License Amendment Request 05/17/2010 (ML101310513) the CSP (description of specific commitments are not provided in this

- Request for NRC approval of requested revised LAR table due to security related nature of information under 10 CFR 2.390).

the Pilgrim Station Cyber within 60 days.

Security Plan (CSP) 6 07/15/2010 Entergy submitted 1 of the 4 previously listed commitments (from 2.10.034 11/22/2009 submittal) as a regulatory commitment supporting the CSP implementation; the 7/1512010 LAR supersedes the 11/22/2009 letter. Status of commitment is License Amendment Request A separate list of milestone actions with best-estimate completion dates Open.

- Revised Pilgrim Nuclear were provided in the 711512010 letter (the milestones actions and target Power Station CSP Submittal dates were not submitted as regulatory commitments).

-3 Related Documentation of Item Pilgrim Submittal/Source Summary of Commitment Licensee Number Document(s) and Description ActionlImplementation 7

Entergy letter dated 11/30/2010 (ML103360039) states that based on North American Entergy will supplement its CSP submittal to clarify the scope of systems Electric Reliability described in Section 2.1, "Scope and Purpose" to include the following Corporation information, language, "The scope of 10 CFR 73.54 includes, in part, balance-of Entergy defers the proposed plant equipment that, if compromised, could cause a reactivity event." supplement to its CSP until 9/22/2010 after the NRC has provided 2.10.042 direction on how to revise the CSP to reflect the Entergy Letter designating inclusion of balance-of-plant Pilgrim Balance-of-Plant equipment. Status of Systems within the Cyber commitment is Open.

Security Rule Scope 8

In accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 73.54 (b)(1), a comprehensive identification of systems, structures, and components (SSCs) subject to the requirements of 10 CFR 73.54 will be developed Status of commitment is during the implementation of the cyber security program. This Open.

identification of SSCs will be available for inspection upon completion and will contain, at a minimum, those SSCs as identified in Attachment 1 of the Bright-Line Survey.

February 9, 2011 Site Vice President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station 600 Rocky Hill Road Plymouth, MA 02360-5508 SUB~IECT: PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NO. ME5023)

Dear Sir or Madam:

An audit of the Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) commitment management program was performed at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim) site during the period December 14 and 15, 2010. The NRC staff concludes that, based on the audit: (1) Entergy has implemented an effective program for managing NRC commitments and changes to those commitments, and (2) has implemented NRC commitments in a timely manner at Pilgrim.

Details of the audit are set forth in the enclosed audit report.

The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by your staff for performing the audit. If you have any questions, I may be reached at (301) 415-1030.

Sincerely,

/raJ Richard V. Guzman, Senior Project Manager Plant licensing Branch 1-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-293

Enclosures:

1. Audit Report

2. List of Commitments Reviewed cc w/encls: Distribution via Listserv DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC RidsNrrDorlLpl1-1 RidsNrrPMPilgrim RidsOGCRp LPL1-1 Reading File RidsNrrLASLittle RidsAcrsAcnw_MailCTR SMeighan RidsNrrDorlDpr RidsRgn1 MailCenter ADAMS ACCESSION NO.: ML103430660 OFFICE LPL 1-1/PM LPL 1-1/LA LPL 1-1/BC NAME RGuzman SLittle NSalgado DATE 2/9/11 2/9/11 2/9/11 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY