Technical Specification (TS) 3.5.3,
Emergency Core Cooling Systems (
ECCS) and
Reactor Core Isolation Cooling (
RCIC) System, Condition A.1, required that when the
RCIC system is
inoperable, it must be verified within one hour, by administrative means,that
HPCS system is
operable. Condition B.1 of
TS 3.5.3 requires that when the Required Action and associated Completion Times of Condition A are not met the plant must be in Mode 3 within
12 hours1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br />. Contrary to this requirement, on December 11, 2007, the
HPCS was declared
inoperable for maintenance and the plant remained in Mode 1. Specifically, on January 14, 2008, the licensee discovered that the
RCIC flow controller output voltage did not meet operability requirements and this condition previously existed since December 10, 2007. Not knowing that TS
LCO 3.5.3was not met, licensee personnel did not make the required mode changes. Upon discovery, the licensee took immediate actions to restore
RCIC operability. The finding was determined to be of very low safety significance because the system
inoperable time was less than 30 days (CR 08-38443)
