The inspectors identified a noncited violation of
Technical Specification 3.4.15,
RCS Leakage Detection Instrumentation, after the Unit 1 containment atmosphere gaseous radioactivity monitor
reactor coolant leak detection system was
inoperable for greater than the allowed out of service time. On August 13, 2008, the inspectors identified that the source term assumed in the leak detector design basis was not present in the
reactor coolant system. Pacific Gas and Electric personnel performed an operability evaluation of the degraded condition and concluded that the detector was
operable. The inspectors identified that the licensees evaluation did not consider the effect of the current
reactor coolant conditions on the functionality of the detector. The inspectors subsequently concluded that the detector was
inoperable from August 16 through September 18, 2008. The licensee declared the leak detector
inoperable on September 23, 2008, and entered the condition into their corrective action program as Action Request A0737958. This finding was more than minor because less than adequate operability evaluations, if left uncorrected, would become a more significant safety concern. The inspectors determined this finding affected the
Barrier Integrity Cornerstone. The inspectors used
Inspection Manual Chapter 0609, Appendix A, Determining the Significance of Reactor Inspection Findings for At-Power Situations, to analyze the significance of this finding. The inspectors concluded that the finding is of low safety significance because the condition was not related to pressurized thermal shock, loss of cooling to the spent fuel pool, or fuel handling errors or the loss of spent fuel pool inventory. This finding has a crosscutting aspect in the area of problem identification and resolution, associated with the corrective action program component, because Pacific Gas and Electric personnel failed to perform an adequate operability evaluation of a degraded
reactor coolant leak detection system
P.1(c)