ML060540308

Notice of Enforcement Discretion (NOED) for Florida Power and Light Regarding St. Lucie Unit 2

ML060540308
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie
Issue date:	02/22/2006
From:	Travers W Region 2 Administrator
To:	Stall J Florida Power & Light Co
References
NOED 06-2-01, TAC MD0052
Download: ML060540308 (5)

Text

February 22, 2006 Florida Power and Light Company ATTN: Mr. J. A. Stall, Senior Vice President Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer P. O. Box 14000 Juno Beach, FL 33408-0420

SUBJECT:

NOTICE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION (NOED) FOR FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT REGARDING ST. LUCIE UNIT 2 [TAC NO. MD0052, NOED NO. 06-2-01]

Dear Mr. Stall:

By letter dated February 17, 2006, you requested that the NRC exercise discretion to not enforce compliance with the actions required in St. Lucie Unit 2 Technical Specification (TS) 3.6.1.7 Action c, which required a plant shutdown if repair of an 8-inch containment purge supply isolation valve could not be completed within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />. Your letter documented information discussed with the NRC in a teleconference on February 15, 2006 in which you requested a NOED be granted pursuant to the NRC's policy regarding exercise of discretion for an operating facility, set out in Section VII.C, of the NRC Enforcement Policy, and be effective for the period from 4:10 p.m., on February 15, 2006, to March 24, 2006. This letter documents our telephone conversation of February 15, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., wherein the NRC verbally granted discretion from TS LCO 3.6.1.7 Action c. The principal NRC staff members who participated in the telephone conference included: (1) from Region II - Charles Casto, Director, Division of Reactor Projects (DRP); Joseph Shea, Deputy Director, DRP; Son Ninh, Senior Project Engineer, DRP Branch 3; Rudy Bernhard, Senior Reactor Analyst; Tom Morrissey, Acting Senior Resident Inspector - St. Lucie and (2) from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation - Catherine Haney, Director, Division of Reactor Licensing; Michael Marshall, Chief, Plant Licensing Branch 2-2; Brendan Moroney, Project Manager, St. Lucie; Harold Chernoff, lead Project Manager for NOEDs; James Pulsipher, Reactor Systems Engineer, Containment and Ventilations Systems Branch; and Robert Palla, Senior Reactor Engineer.

On February 14, 2006, at 4:10 p.m. Unit 2 inboard 8-inch containment purge supply isolation valve, FCV-25-36, failed a routine local leak rate test (LLRT) required by TS surveillance 4.6.1.7.4, due to the failure of a shear pin that uncoupled the actuator from the valve stem and was declared inoperable. TS 4.6.1.7.4 states at least once per 92 days, each 8-inch containment purge supply and exhaust isolation valve with resilient material seals shall be demonstrated OPERABLE by verifying that the measured leakage rate is less than or equal to 0.05 La when pressurized to Pa. TS 3.6.1.7 Action c was entered that requires With a containment purge supply and /or exhaust isolation valve(s) having a measured leakage rate exceeding the limits of Surveillance Requirements 4.6.1.7.3 and/or 4.6.1.7.4, restore the inoperable valve(s) to OPERABLE status within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />, otherwise be in at least HOT STANDBY within the next 6 hours6.944444e-5 days <br />0.00167 hours <br />9.920635e-6 weeks <br />2.283e-6 months <br /> and in COLD SHUTDOWN within the following 30 hours3.472222e-4 days <br />0.00833 hours <br />4.960317e-5 weeks <br />1.1415e-5 months <br />.

You stated that Unit 2 would violate the allowed outage time for Action c on February 15, 2006

FP&L 2 at 4:10 p.m., because the valve could not be restored to OPERABLE status within the allowed 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />. You verbally requested enforcement discretion to allow the use of a blind flange to satisfy TS 3.6.1.7 Action c requirements during our telephone conference on February 15, 2006. Additionally, you committed to submitting an exigent license amendment request to allow this additional action, which is consistent with the standard Combustion Engineering TS.

Your letter of February 17, 2006, stated that the proposed NOED would avoid an unnecessary transient as a result of compliance with TS 3.6.1.7 Action c; thereby, minimizing the potential safety consequences and operational risks. It also stated that the requested NOED would provide adequate time for completing the necessary engineering and administrative activities for implementing a permanent TS change, which would allow installation of a blind flange to satisfy TS 3.6.1.7 Action c requirements for containment purge penetrations that failed the respective LLRT TS surveillance. In addition, your letter indicated that the impact on containment isolation does not contribute to core damage frequency, only large early release frequency (LERF), however, the impact of loss of the continuous containment purge/hydrogen purge systems functions would be insignificant to the LERF. As such, your letter concluded that the proposed NOED would not be of potential detriment to the public health and safety, because there is no net increase in radiological risk to the public. Moreover, the only compensatory measure implemented is the installation of a passive blind flange. This configuration enhances plant safety.

In your letter of February 17, 2006, you confirmed your commitment to submit a followup license amendment request (LAR) by close of business February 21, 2006, which incorporates a permanent change contained in this NOED into the St. Lucie Unit 2 TS. We plan to complete our review and disposition of your followup license amendment by March 24, 2006.

On the basis of the staff's evaluation of your request, we have concluded that granting this NOED is consistent with the Enforcement Policy and staff guidance, and has no adverse impact on public health and safety or the environment. Therefore, it is our intention to exercise discretion to not enforce compliance with TS 3.6.1.7 Action c for the period from 3:00 p.m. on February 15, 2006, to March 24, 2006.

As stated in the Enforcement Policy, action will be taken, to the extent that violations were involved, for the root cause that led to the noncompliance for which this NOED was necessary.

Sincerely,

/RA by Loren R. Plisco Acting For/

William D. Travers Regional Administrator Docket No.: 50-389 License No.: NPF-16 cc: (See page 3)

FP&L 3 cc:

William Jefferson, Jr. J. Kammel Site Vice President Radiological Emergency St. Lucie Nuclear Plant Planning Administrator Florida Power & Light Company Department of Public Safety Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution G. L. Johnston Douglas Anderson Plant General Manager County Administrator St. Lucie Nuclear Plant St. Lucie County Electronic Mail Distribution 2300 Virginia Avenue Ft. Pierce, FL 34982 Terry L. Patterson Licensing Manager Distribution: (See next page)

St. Lucie Nuclear Plant Electronic Mail Distribution Mark Warner, Vice President Nuclear Operations Support Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Rajiv S. Kundalkar Vice President - Nuclear Engineering Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution M. S. Ross, Managing Attorney Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Marjan Mashhadi, Senior Attorney Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution William A. Passetti Bureau of Radiation Control Department of Health Electronic Mail Distribution Craig Fugate, Director Division of Emergency Preparedness Department of Community Affairs Electronic Mail Distribution

Letter to Mr. J.A. Stall from William D. Travers dated February 22, 2006

SUBJECT:

NOTICE OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION (NOED) FOR FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT REGARDING ST. LUCIE UNIT 2 [TAC NO MD0052, NOED NO. 06-02-01]

Distribution w/encl:

B. Wetzel, OEDO W. Travers, RII, ORAI B. Sheron, ADES C. Haney, DORL E. Hackett, DORL M. Johnson, OE T. Tate, NRR NOED OEWEB J. Munday, RII, DRP C. Evans, RII M. Marshall, NRR B. Moroney, NRR T. Hoeg, RII, DRP RIDSNRRDIPMLIPB PUBLIC

OFFICE NRR RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:ORA RII:EICS SIGNATURE JTM for, by telephone JTM CAC1 LRP CFE NAME CHaney JMunday CCasto LPlisco CEvans DATE 02/22/06 02/22/06 02/23/06 02/22/06 02/22/06 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO