ML032480619

Er 05000528-03-301, 05000529-03-301, 05000530-03-301; on 7/21-24/2003; for Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3; Initial Operator Licensing Examinations

ML032480619
Person / Time
Site:	Palo Verde
Issue date:	09/03/2003
From:	Gody A Operations Branch IV
To:	Overbeck G Arizona Public Service Co
References
50-528/03-301, 50-529/03-301, 50-530/03-301
Download: ML032480619 (9)

See also: IR 05000529/2003301

Text

September 3, 2003

Gregg R. Overbeck, Senior Vice

President, Nuclear

Arizona Public Service Company

P.O. Box 52034

Phoenix, Arizona 85072-2034

SUBJECT: PALO VERDE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION, UNITS 1, 2, AND 3 - NRC

EXAMINATION REPORT 05000528/2003-301; 05000529/2003-301;

05000530/2003-301

Dear Mr. Overbeck:

On July 24, 2003, the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed an examination

at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3. The enclosed report documents

the examination findings, which were discussed on July 24, 2003, with Messrs. Mike Shea, Fred

Riedel, and other members of your staff.

The examination included the evaluation of six applicants for reactor operator licenses and

three applicants for senior operator licenses. We determined that all applicants satisfied the

requirements of 10 CFR Part 55, and the appropriate licenses have been issued.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRCs "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its

enclosure 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 at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-

rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

Sincerely,

/RA/

Anthony T. Gody, Chief

Operations Branch

Division of Reactor Safety

Dockets: 50-528; 50-529; 50-530

Licenses: NPF-41; NPF-51; NPF-74

Arizonal Public Service Company -2-

Enclosure:

NRC Examination Report

05000528/2003-301; 05000529/2003-301; 05000530/2003-301

cc w/enclosure:

Steve Olea

Arizona Corporation Commission

1200 W. Washington Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Douglas K. Porter, Senior Counsel

Southern California Edison Company

Law Department, Generation Resources

P.O. Box 800

Rosemead, California 91770

Chairman

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors

301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor

Phoenix, Arizona 85003

Aubrey V. Godwin, Director

Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency

4814 South 40 Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85040

Craig K. Seaman, Director

Regulatory Affairs/Nuclear Assurance

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station

Mail Station 7636

P.O. Box 52034

Phoenix, Arizona 85072-2034

Hector R. Puente

Vice President, Power Generation

El Paso Electric Company

2702 N. Third Street, Suite 3040

Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Terry Bassham, Esq.

General Counsel

El Paso Electric Company

123 W. Mills

El Paso, Texas 79901

Arizonal Public Service Company -3-

John W. Schumann

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

Southern California Public Power Authority

P.O. Box 51111, Room 1255-C

Los Angeles, California 90051-0100

John Taylor

Public Service Company of New Mexico

2401 Aztec NE, MS Z110

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87107-4224

Cheryl Adams

Southern California Edison Company

5000 Pacific Coast Hwy. Bldg. DIN

San Clemente, California 92672

Robert Henry

Salt River Project

6504 East Thomas Road

Scottsdale, Arizona 85251

Brian Almon

Public Utility Commission

William B. Travis Building

P.O. Box 13326

1701 North Congress Avenue

Austin, Texas 78701-3326

Arizonal Public Service Company -4-

Electronic distribution by RIV:

Acting Regional Administrator (TPG)

DRP Director (ATH)

Acting DRS Director (GMG)

Senior Resident Inspector (NLS)

Branch Chief, DRP/D (LJS)

Senior Project Engineer, DRP/D (JAC)

Staff Chief, DRP/TSS (PHH)

RITS Coordinator (NBH)

ADAMS: * Yes * No Initials: ______

• Publicly Available * Non-Publicly Available * Sensitive * Non-Sensitive

SOE:OB SOE:OB SEPI:PSB C:OB C:PBD C:OB

TFStetka/lmb TOMcKernon RLantz ATGody LJSmith ATGody

/RA/ /RA/ /RA/ /RA/ /RA/ /RA/

09/03/03 09/03/03 09/03/03 09/03/03 09/03/03 09/03/03

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY T=Telephone E=E-mail F=Fax

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION IV

Dockets: 50-528, 50-529, 50-530

Licenses: NPF-41, NPF-51, NPF-74

Report : 05000528/2003-301, 05000529/2003-301, and 05000530/2003-301

Licensee: Arizona Public Service Company

Facility: Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3

Location: 5951 S. Wintersburg

Tonopah, Arizona

Dates: July 21-24, 2003

Inspectors: T. F. Stetka, Chief Examiner, Operations Branch

T. O. McKernon, Senior Operations Engineer

R. E. Lantz, Senior Emergency Preparedness Inspector

Approved By: Anthony T. Gody, Chief

Operations Branch

Division of Reactor Safety

-2-

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

ER 05000528/2003-301, 05000529/2003-301, 05000530/2003-301; 7/21-24/2003; Palo Verde

Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3; Initial Operator Licensing Examinations.

NRC examiners evaluated the competency of six applicants for reactor operator licenses and

three applicants for senior operator licenses at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units

1, 2, and 3. The facility licensee developed the examinations using NUREG-1021, "Operator

Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors," Draft Revision 9. Licensee proctors

administered the written examination to all applicants on July 18, 2003, in accordance with the

instructions provided by the chief examiner. The NRC administered the operating tests on

July 21-24, 2003.

Cornerstone: Human Performance

No findings of significance were identified (Section 40A4.1).

Report Details

4. OTHER ACTIVITIES (OA)

4OA4 Initial Operator License Examination

.1 Operator Knowledge and Performance

a. Examination Scope

On July 18, 2003, the licensee proctored the administration of the written examinations

to all nine applicants. The licensee staff graded the written examinations, analyzed the

results, and presented their analysis to the NRC on July 24, 2003.

The NRC examination team administered the various portions of the operating

examination to all nine applicants on July 21-24, 2003. The six applicants for reactor

operator licenses and the three upgrade applicants for senior operator licenses

participated in two dynamic simulator scenarios. The six applicants for reactor operator

participated in a control room and facilities walkthrough test consisting of 11 system

tasks, and an administrative test consisting of 4 administrative tasks. The three

applicants for upgrade to senior operator participated in a control room and facilities

walkthrough test consisting of 5 system tasks, and an administrative test consisting of

5 administrative tasks.

b. Findings

All nine of the applicants passed all parts of the examinations. The applicants

demonstrated good 3-way communications, alarm response, and peer checking.

For the written examinations, the reactor operator applicants average score was

91 percent and ranged from 88 to 96 percent, the senior operator applicants average

score was 95 percent and ranged from 92 to 98 percent. The overall written

examination average was 93 percent. The text of the examination questions may be

accessed in the ADAMS system under the accession numbers noted in the attachment.

The licensee conducted a performance analysis for the written examinations, submitting

them to the chief examiner on July 24, 2003. The analysis identified no common

knowledge deficiency. No remediation training was determined to be necessary

following the examinations.

No findings of significance were identified.

.2 Initial Licensing Examination Development

The licensee developed the examinations in accordance with NUREG-1021, Draft

Revision 9. All licensee facility training and operations staff involved in examination

preparation and validation were on a security agreement.

-2-

.2.1 Examination Outline and Examination Package

a. Examination Scope

The facility licensee submitted the integrated examination outlines on March 24, 2003.

The chief examiner reviewed the submittal against the requirements of NUREG-1021,

Draft Revision 9, and provided comments to the licensee. The facility licensee

submitted the final draft examination package on May 23, 2003. The chief examiner

reviewed the draft submittal against the requirements of NUREG-1021, Draft Revision 9,

and provided comments to the licensee on the examination on June 12, 2003. The NRC

conducted an onsite validation of the operating examinations and provided further

comments during the week of June 30, 2003. The licensee satisfactorily completed

comment resolution on July 14, 2003.

b. Findings

The NRC approved the initial examination outline and advised the licensee to proceed

with the operating examination development.

The examiners determined that the written and operating examinations initially

submitted by the licensee were within the range of acceptability expected for a proposed

examination.

No findings of significance were identified.

.3 Simulation Facility Performance

a. Examination Scope

The examiners observed simulator performance with regard to plant fidelity during the

examination validation and administration.

b. Findings

No findings of significance were identified.

.4 Examination Security

a. Examination Scope

The examiners reviewed examination security both during the onsite preparation week

and examination administration week for compliance with NUREG-1021 requirements.

Plans for simulator security and applicant control were reviewed and discussed with

licensee personnel.

-3-

b. Findings

While the examination team considered examination security to be adequate, one event

occurred that had the potential to compromise examination security. The NUREG 1021,

Draft Revision 9, allows examination material to be sent via e-mail if it is password

protected. The NUREG further states that the Chief Examiner be notified of the

password via telephone or regular mail. The intent of this process is to use a different

sending method for the password to further assure examination security. However,

when the licensee e-mailed the final examination to the NRC, they also e-mailed the

password immediately after the examinations in a separate e-mail.

The examination team reviewed this occurrence to determine if examination security

was compromised. The team noted that the licensee took the following actions during

transmittal of the examinations and password:

• The messages were sent from the examination room, a secure location;

• No one had access to the messages;

• There were no ccs or bccs sent with the messages; and,

• The messages were immediately deleted from all mailboxes following completion

of the transmittal.

In addition, the licensee developed a sign-up sheet for the candidates to provide

certification that the candidates had no prior knowledge of the examination material.

Based on these activities, the team concluded that an examination security compromise

did not occur. No other findings of significance were identified.

4OA5 Management Meeting

.1 Exit Meetings

The chief examiner presented the examination results to Messrs. Mike Shea, Training

Director, Fred Riedel, Operations Training Manager, and other members of the

licensee's management staff on July 24, 2003. The licensee acknowledged the findings

presented.

The licensee did not identify as proprietary any information or materials examined during

the examination.

ATTACHMENT

KEY POINTS OF CONTACT

Licensee

F. Riedel, Operations Training Manager

W. Potter, Simulator Support-Section Leader

P. Capehart, Nuclear Training Instructor

T. Stahler, Nuclear Training Instructor

L. Wilhelm, Nuclear Training Instructor

W. Drey, Nuclear Training Instructor

NRC

N. Salgado, Senior Resident Inspector

ADAMS DOCUMENTS REFERENCED

Accession No. ML032260469 - Written examination for reactor operators

Accession No. ML032260479 - Written examination for senior reactor operators

Accession No. ML032260490 - Written examination performance analysis