ML113260611: Difference between revisions
StriderTol (talk | contribs) (Created page by program invented by StriderTol) |
StriderTol (talk | contribs) (StriderTol Bot change) |
||
| (7 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
| number = ML113260611 | | number = ML113260611 | ||
| issue date = 12/28/2011 | | issue date = 12/28/2011 | ||
| title = | | title = Audit of the Licensee'S Management of Regulatory Commitments | ||
| author name = Sanders C | | author name = Sanders C | ||
| author affiliation = NRC/NRR/DORL/LPLI-2 | | author affiliation = NRC/NRR/DORL/LPLI-2 | ||
| addressee name = Heacock D | | addressee name = Heacock D | ||
| addressee affiliation = Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc | | addressee affiliation = Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc | ||
| docket = 05000336, 05000423 | | docket = 05000336, 05000423 | ||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
=Text= | =Text= | ||
{{#Wiki_filter:UNITED NUCLEAR REGULATORY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 28, 2011 Mr. David A. Heacock President and Chief Nuclear Officer Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. Innsbrook Technical Center 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060-6711 MILLSTONE POWER STATION, UNIT NOS. 2 AND 3 -AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NOS. ME7222 AND ME7223) Dear Mr. Christian: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000, that the Nuclear Energy Institute document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments. RIS 2000-17 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. The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform a periodic audit of licensees' commitment management programs to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented. The previous audit of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (licensee) commitment management program was performed at the Millstone Power Station (MPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3 in Waterford, Connecticut on May 20, 2008.1 The subsequent audit was performed at the site on November 15 and November 16, 2011. As discussed in the enclosed audit report, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. However, although the procedure itself is adequate, there have been numerous problems with adherence to the procedure. As such, the licensee's commitment management program has not been effective with respect to: tracking regulatory commitments; reporting to the NRC; and managing changes to commitments. The licensee is addressing deficiencies in tracking regulatory commitments and reporting to the NRC through the corrective action process. At the time of this audit, deficiencies in managing changes to commitments had not been addressed. The NRR staff has discussed the results of the audit with NRC Region I staff. Further follow-up on the issues discussed in the audit report may be considered as part of the reactor oversight 1 Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082400045 D. Heacock -2 baseline inspections. The NRR staff has also discussed the results of the audit with the licensee staff. The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by Millstone Station staff during the audit If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1603. Sincerely, Carleen J. S ers, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 Division of Operating Reactor licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-336 and 50-423 Enclosure: Audit Report cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv UNITED NUCLEAR REGULATORY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 AUDIT REPORT BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION LICENSEE MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS MILLSTONE POWER STATION, UNIT NOS. 2 AND 3 DOCKET NOS. 50-336 AND 50-423 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff;' dated September 21, 2000, that the Nuclear Energy Institute document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes;' contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments. RIS 2000-17 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. The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform a periodic audit of licensees' commitment management programs to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented. The previous audit of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (DNC or, the licensee) commitment management program was performed at the Millstone Power Station (MPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3 in Waterford, Connecticut on May 20, 2008.' NEI-99-04 defines a 'regulatory commitmenf 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 perform a periodic audit of 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, reliefs, exemptions, etc.) and activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.). 2.0 AUDIT PROCEDURE AND RESULTS An audit was performed at MPS on November 15 and 16, 2011. The audit reviewed commitments made since the previous audit which was conducted May 20, 2008. The audit consisted of two 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. 1 Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082400045. Enclosure | {{#Wiki_filter:UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 28, 2011 Mr. David A. Heacock President and Chief Nuclear Officer Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. | ||
-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 those 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. 2.1.1 Audit Scope Before the audit, the NRC staff searched ADAMS for the licensee's licensing actions and licensing activity submittals dated since the previous audit. The NRC staff requested that the licensee provide a list of current open and closed regulatory commitments. From these lists, the NRC staff chose a sample of items to ensure that the items had been captured in an effective program for implementation. Criteria from the NRC staff's guidance documents were used to select a sample of regulatory commitments to review. All of the commitments DNC made to the NRC during the audited time frame were reviewed, however the area of focus and the level of detail of the review varied. The commitments selected for review from inception to closure (or current status) are shown in Table 1 entitled, "Selected Audited Commitments." 2.1.2 Commitment Tracking Database Program The licensee's commitments are tracked in a computer database named the Commitment Tracking System (CTS). CTS is defined as "a repository for information associated with specific commitments and actions taken to implement each commitment." DNC's Administrative Procedure number U-AA-11 0, Revision 0, "Commitment Management," describes the licensee's regulatory commitment management process. The procedure defines who on DNC's staff has the authority to make commitments to the NRC. Once commitments are identified, items are entered into the CTS. Following identification, the licensee enters committed due dates (Le., those committed in formal documentation) or establishes a due date, as appropriate. These items are then assigned to the appropriate functional area manager for implementation. The CTS maintains a record of the required action(s), responsible party, status, due dates, and comments. The NRC staff found that CTS: (1) is capable of tracking commitments; and (2) provides an adequate method of linking together a summary of the issue, action type, the lead department, the responsible individual, due date, and extensions when used in accordance with the procedure. The NRC staff identified 7 commitments not captured in the CTS. The licensee has entered this into their corrective action program as CR452814. DNC confirmed that these 7 commitments have been closed. Several of these commitments were selected for review from inception to closure (or current status) and are captured in Table 1. | Innsbrook Technical Center 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060-6711 | ||
-Table 1 -Selected Audited Commitments Commitment not Spent fuel pool criticality captured in the CTS responses to a request for additional information 11/23/2009 Steam Generator (SG) Closed Interim Alternate Repair RCR-42997 Criteria (IARC) for MPS3 commitments RCR-42998 04/26/2010 Remove seven MPS3 SG Working tubes from service RCR-43000 12/06/2010 Response to a Notice of Closed Violation: Identify resolution of 0 manual actions 2 commitments not | |||
-5 Evaluation form is completed and reviewed. NRC notification is provided as necessary, as determined by the commitment change evaluation process. For changes that do not require immediate NRC notification, notification is to be made annually in the Annual Summary Report. CTS items tracking the commitment are then updated, as appropriate, to document the regulatory commitment change. The NRC staff noted that no Annual Summary Report was provided for 2010. The licensee has entered this into their corrective action program as CR452855. The licensee determined that none of the changes made in 2010 met the threshold for reporting to the NRC. NRC staff also reviewed the changes made during 2010 as part of this audit and agreed that none of the changes made in 2010 met the threshold for reporting to the NRC. The NRC staff concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments is appropriate. The NRC staff reviewed the 11 commitment changes. The licensee followed U-AA-11 0 and completed the associated commitment change form. The 11 commitments were originally made to the NRC as part of an exemption request. Upon granting the exemption, the NRC staff's statements in the exemption elevated 10 of the 11 commitments to limitation/conditions of the exemption.3 Limitations or conditions of an exemption are obligations, not commitments. Procedure U-AA-110 defines an obligation as "[a]ny condition or action that is a legally binding requirement imposed through rule, regulation, Order, and NRC approved relief or alternative from regulation or ASME Code, an exemption from a regulation or Order, Technical Specification, or license condition." NEI 99-04 contains similar language. Therefore, the 10 limitations/conditions contained in the NRC exemption should not have been altered using the commitment change process. This was initially brought to ONC's attention during a review of the commitment change Annual Summary Report in June 2011. ONC has taken no action, as of the time of the commitment audit, to correct this issue. The NRR PM has provided this information to the NRC, Region I staff for further disposition. The NRC staff concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments is appropriate. However, the licensee misused the commitment management process to alter 10 obligations. 3.0 CONCLUSION The NRC staff concludes, based on the above audit, that the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. However, although the procedure itself is adequate, there have been numerous problems with adherence to the procedure. As such, the licensee's commitment management program has not been effective with respect to: tracking regulatory commitments; reporting to the NRC; and managing changes to commitments. 3 ADAMS Accession No. ML050420058 | ==SUBJECT:== | ||
-4.0 LICENSEE PERSONNEL CONTACTED FOR THIS AUDIT | MILLSTONE POWER STATION, UNIT NOS. 2 AND 3 - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NOS. ME7222 AND ME7223) | ||
==Dear Mr. Christian:== | |||
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000, that the Nuclear Energy Institute document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments. RIS 2000-17 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. | |||
The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform a periodic audit of licensees' commitment management programs to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented. The previous audit of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (licensee) commitment management program was performed at the Millstone Power Station (MPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3 in Waterford, Connecticut on May 20, 2008. 1 The subsequent audit was performed at the site on November 15 and November 16, 2011. | |||
As discussed in the enclosed audit report, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. However, although the procedure itself is adequate, there have been numerous problems with adherence to the procedure. As such, the licensee's commitment management program has not been effective with respect to: tracking regulatory commitments; reporting to the NRC; and managing changes to commitments. The licensee is addressing deficiencies in tracking regulatory commitments and reporting to the NRC through the corrective action process. At the time of this audit, deficiencies in managing changes to commitments had not been addressed. | |||
The NRR staff has discussed the results of the audit with NRC Region I staff. Further follow-up on the issues discussed in the audit report may be considered as part of the reactor oversight 1 Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082400045 | |||
D. Heacock -2 baseline inspections. The NRR staff has also discussed the results of the audit with the licensee staff. | |||
The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by Millstone Station staff during the audit If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1603. | |||
Sincerely, | |||
~ | |||
Carleen J. S ers, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 Division of Operating Reactor licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-336 and 50-423 | |||
==Enclosure:== | |||
Audit Report cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv | |||
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 AUDIT REPORT BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION LICENSEE MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS MILLSTONE POWER STATION, UNIT NOS. 2 AND 3 DOCKET NOS. 50-336 AND 50-423 | |||
==1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND== | |||
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff;' dated September 21, 2000, that the Nuclear Energy Institute document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes;' contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments. RIS 2000-17 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. | |||
The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform a periodic audit of licensees' commitment management programs to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented. The previous audit of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (DNC or, the licensee) commitment management program was performed at the Millstone Power Station (MPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3 in Waterford, Connecticut on May 20, 2008.' | |||
NEI-99-04 defines a 'regulatory commitmenf 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 perform a periodic audit of 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, reliefs, exemptions, etc.) and activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.). | |||
2.0 AUDIT PROCEDURE AND RESULTS An audit was performed at MPS on November 15 and 16, 2011. The audit reviewed commitments made since the previous audit which was conducted May 20, 2008. The audit consisted of two 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. | |||
1 Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082400045. | |||
Enclosure | |||
- 2 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 those 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. | |||
2.1.1 Audit Scope Before the audit, the NRC staff searched ADAMS for the licensee's licensing actions and licensing activity submittals dated since the previous audit. The NRC staff requested that the licensee provide a list of current open and closed regulatory commitments. From these lists, the NRC staff chose a sample of items to ensure that the items had been captured in an effective program for implementation. Criteria from the NRC staff's guidance documents were used to select a sample of regulatory commitments to review. All of the commitments DNC made to the NRC during the audited time frame were reviewed, however the area of focus and the level of detail of the review varied. The commitments selected for review from inception to closure (or current status) are shown in Table 1 entitled, "Selected Audited Commitments." | |||
2.1.2 Commitment Tracking Database Program The licensee's commitments are tracked in a computer database named the Commitment Tracking System (CTS). CTS is defined as "a repository for information associated with specific commitments and actions taken to implement each commitment." | |||
DNC's Administrative Procedure number U-AA-11 0, Revision 0, "Commitment Management," | |||
describes the licensee's regulatory commitment management process. The procedure defines who on DNC's staff has the authority to make commitments to the NRC. | |||
Once commitments are identified, items are entered into the CTS. Following identification, the licensee enters committed due dates (Le., those committed in formal documentation) or establishes a due date, as appropriate. These items are then assigned to the appropriate functional area manager for implementation. The CTS maintains a record of the required action(s), responsible party, status, due dates, and comments. | |||
The NRC staff found that CTS: (1) is capable of tracking commitments; and (2) provides an adequate method of linking together a summary of the issue, action type, the lead department, the responsible individual, due date, and extensions when used in accordance with the procedure. The NRC staff identified 7 commitments not captured in the CTS. The licensee has entered this into their corrective action program as CR452814. DNC confirmed that these 7 commitments have been closed. Several of these commitments were selected for review from inception to closure (or current status) and are captured in Table 1. | |||
- 3 Table 1 - Selected Audited Commitments Commitment not Spent fuel pool criticality captured in the CTS responses to a request for additional information 11/23/2009 Steam Generator (SG) Closed Interim Alternate Repair RCR-42997 Criteria (IARC) for MPS3 commitments RCR-42998 04/26/2010 Remove seven MPS3 SG Working tubes from service RCR-43000 12/06/2010 Response to a Notice of Closed Violation: Identify resolution of 0 manual actions 2 commitments not 08/19/2011 Temporary relief request for Closed captured in the CTS leak on the SW system 2.1.3 Audit Results The NRC staff reviewed reports generated by the tracking programs and closure documentation to evaluate the status of commitments as reported in the CTS. The NRC staff confirmed that the commitments selected for the sample had been appropriately implemented in station procedures, design change programs and other station administrative processes as appropriate. | |||
2.2 Verification of the Licensee's Program for Managing NRC Commitment Changes 2.2.1 Audit Scope 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 process used at MPS is contained in U-AA-110. | |||
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. By letter dated June 30,2010,2 DNC informed the NRC that changes had been made to 11 commitments during calendar year 2009. These changes were included 2 ADAMS Accession No. ML101940335 | |||
-4 in the audit scope. These commitments are shown in Table 2, "Audited Commitment Changes from 2010 Letter." | |||
The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's commitment change process to: (1) evaluate the licensee's methodology for proposed changes to regulatory commitments with particular consideration given to the intent of the original commitment and the safety and regulatory significance of the proposed change; and (2) evaluate the licensee's method of communicating commitment changes to the NRC when reports are warranted due to either safety or regulatory considerations. The NRC staff also evaluated the licensee's administrative controls for maintaining commitment "traceability" (e.g., markings or notations within procedures) to ensure that licensee personnel are able to recognize that future changes to the affected design features or operating practices require evaluation of the proposed change in accordance with the commitment change control process. | |||
Table 2 - Audited Commitment Changes from 2010 Letter CommitmentJr,cking OOll1i~!on Nuplear .,* Licftl1$ee | |||
*******Num~r.. \**** Connecti . . **c. ..* Implem.,tation | |||
"'SY~mittar 'te' StatU$ | |||
RCR-42920 11/05/2004 Closed RCR-42921 RCR-42922 RCR-42923 RCR-42924 RCR-42925 RCR-42931 01/25/2005 Exemption from 10 CFR Closed RCR-42932 50.68(b)(1) request for RCR-42933 additional information RCR-42934 response commitments RCR-42935 2.2.2 Audit Results The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's procedure U-AA-11 0 against NEI 99-04. In particular, Section 5.4 of the procedure lists NEI 99-04 as a source reference. In general, the NRC staff found that U-AA-110 follows closely the guidance of NEI 99-04, as it sets forth the need for identifying, tracking and reporting commitments, and it provides a mechanism for changing commitments. Attachment 2 of U-AA-11 0 provides detailed instructions regarding making changes to a commitment. | |||
U-AA-110 provides instructions for modification, revision or deletion of a regulatory commitment. A Regulatory Commitment Change Evaluation form is used to perform an applicability determination for any proposed commitment change. This evaluation process will determine if the proposed commitment change is covered by another codified process (e.g., 10 CFR 50.59, "Changes, tests and experiments," or 10 CFR 50.54, "Conditions of licenses"). Once commitment changes are identified, a Regulatory Commitment Change | |||
-5 Evaluation form is completed and reviewed. NRC notification is provided as necessary, as determined by the commitment change evaluation process. | |||
For changes that do not require immediate NRC notification, notification is to be made annually in the Annual Summary Report. CTS items tracking the commitment are then updated, as appropriate, to document the regulatory commitment change. The NRC staff noted that no Annual Summary Report was provided for 2010. The licensee has entered this into their corrective action program as CR452855. The licensee determined that none of the changes made in 2010 met the threshold for reporting to the NRC. NRC staff also reviewed the changes made during 2010 as part of this audit and agreed that none of the changes made in 2010 met the threshold for reporting to the NRC. | |||
The NRC staff concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments is appropriate. | |||
The NRC staff reviewed the 11 commitment changes. The licensee followed U-AA-11 0 and completed the associated commitment change form. The 11 commitments were originally made to the NRC as part of an exemption request. Upon granting the exemption, the NRC staff's statements in the exemption elevated 10 of the 11 commitments to limitation/conditions of the exemption. 3 Limitations or conditions of an exemption are obligations, not commitments. | |||
Procedure U-AA-110 defines an obligation as "[a]ny condition or action that is a legally binding requirement imposed through rule, regulation, Order, and NRC approved relief or alternative from regulation or ASME Code, an exemption from a regulation or Order, Technical Specification, or license condition." NEI 99-04 contains similar language. Therefore, the 10 limitations/conditions contained in the NRC exemption should not have been altered using the commitment change process. This was initially brought to ONC's attention during a review of the commitment change Annual Summary Report in June 2011. ONC has taken no action, as of the time of the commitment audit, to correct this issue. The NRR PM has provided this information to the NRC, Region I staff for further disposition. | |||
The NRC staff concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments is appropriate. However, the licensee misused the commitment management process to alter 10 obligations. | |||
==3.0 CONCLUSION== | |||
The NRC staff concludes, based on the above audit, that the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. However, although the procedure itself is adequate, there have been numerous problems with adherence to the procedure. As such, the licensee's commitment management program has not been effective with respect to: tracking regulatory commitments; reporting to the NRC; and managing changes to commitments. | |||
3 ADAMS Accession No. ML050420058 | |||
- 6 4.0 LICENSEE PERSONNEL CONTACTED FOR THIS AUDIT | |||
* W.Brown, Licensing Department | * W.Brown, Licensing Department | ||
* M. Calderone, Licensing Department | * M. Calderone, Licensing Department | ||
* G. Closius, Licensing Department | * G. Closius, Licensing Department | ||
* W. Bartron, Licensing Department Principal Contributor: C. Sanders Date: December 28, 2011 D. Heacock -The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by Millstone Station staff during the audit. If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1603. Docket Nos. 50-336 and 50-423 Enclosure: Audit Report cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv DISTRIBUTION: PUBLIC RidsAcrsAcnw_MailCTR Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl1-2 Resource RidsNrrLAABaxter Resource RidsRgn1 MailCenter Resource Accession No.:ML113260611 | * W. Bartron, Licensing Department Principal Contributor: C. Sanders Date: December 28, 2011 | ||
}} | |||
D. Heacock - 2 The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by Millstone Station staff during the audit. If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1603. | |||
Sincerely, | |||
/ra! | |||
Carleen J. Sanders, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-336 and 50-423 | |||
==Enclosure:== | |||
Audit Report cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv DISTRIBUTION: | |||
PUBLIC LPLI-2 RIF RidsAcrsAcnw_MailCTR Resource RidsNrrDorlDpr Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl1-2 Resource RidsNrrPMMilistone Resource RidsNrrLAABaxter Resource RidsOgcRp Resource RidsRgn1 MailCenter Resource Accession No.:ML113260611 OFFICE LPL 1-2/PM LPL 1-2/LA LPL 1-2/BC HChernoff NAME CSanders ABaxter (w/comment) | |||
DATE 12/20/11 12/09/11 12/28/11 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY}} | |||
Latest revision as of 20:39, 20 March 2020
| ML113260611 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Millstone  |
| Issue date: | 12/28/2011 |
| From: | Sanders C Plant Licensing Branch 1 |
| To: | Heacock D Dominion Nuclear Connecticut |
| Sandeers, Carleen, NRR/DORL, 415-1603 | |
| References | |
| TAC ME7222, TAC ME7223 | |
| Download: ML113260611 (9) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 28, 2011 Mr. David A. Heacock President and Chief Nuclear Officer Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.
Innsbrook Technical Center 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060-6711
SUBJECT:
MILLSTONE POWER STATION, UNIT NOS. 2 AND 3 - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NOS. ME7222 AND ME7223)
Dear Mr. Christian:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000, that the Nuclear Energy Institute document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments. RIS 2000-17 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.
The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform a periodic audit of licensees' commitment management programs to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented. The previous audit of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (licensee) commitment management program was performed at the Millstone Power Station (MPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3 in Waterford, Connecticut on May 20, 2008. 1 The subsequent audit was performed at the site on November 15 and November 16, 2011.
As discussed in the enclosed audit report, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. However, although the procedure itself is adequate, there have been numerous problems with adherence to the procedure. As such, the licensee's commitment management program has not been effective with respect to: tracking regulatory commitments; reporting to the NRC; and managing changes to commitments. The licensee is addressing deficiencies in tracking regulatory commitments and reporting to the NRC through the corrective action process. At the time of this audit, deficiencies in managing changes to commitments had not been addressed.
The NRR staff has discussed the results of the audit with NRC Region I staff. Further follow-up on the issues discussed in the audit report may be considered as part of the reactor oversight 1 Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082400045
D. Heacock -2 baseline inspections. The NRR staff has also discussed the results of the audit with the licensee staff.
The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by Millstone Station staff during the audit If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1603.
Sincerely,
~
Carleen J. S ers, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 Division of Operating Reactor licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-336 and 50-423
Enclosure:
Audit Report cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 AUDIT REPORT BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION LICENSEE MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS MILLSTONE POWER STATION, UNIT NOS. 2 AND 3 DOCKET NOS. 50-336 AND 50-423
1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff;' dated September 21, 2000, that the Nuclear Energy Institute document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes;' contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments. RIS 2000-17 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.
The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform a periodic audit of licensees' commitment management programs to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented. The previous audit of the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (DNC or, the licensee) commitment management program was performed at the Millstone Power Station (MPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3 in Waterford, Connecticut on May 20, 2008.'
NEI-99-04 defines a 'regulatory commitmenf 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 perform a periodic audit of 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, reliefs, exemptions, etc.) and activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.).
2.0 AUDIT PROCEDURE AND RESULTS An audit was performed at MPS on November 15 and 16, 2011. The audit reviewed commitments made since the previous audit which was conducted May 20, 2008. The audit consisted of two 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.
1 Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082400045.
Enclosure
- 2 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 those 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.
2.1.1 Audit Scope Before the audit, the NRC staff searched ADAMS for the licensee's licensing actions and licensing activity submittals dated since the previous audit. The NRC staff requested that the licensee provide a list of current open and closed regulatory commitments. From these lists, the NRC staff chose a sample of items to ensure that the items had been captured in an effective program for implementation. Criteria from the NRC staff's guidance documents were used to select a sample of regulatory commitments to review. All of the commitments DNC made to the NRC during the audited time frame were reviewed, however the area of focus and the level of detail of the review varied. The commitments selected for review from inception to closure (or current status) are shown in Table 1 entitled, "Selected Audited Commitments."
2.1.2 Commitment Tracking Database Program The licensee's commitments are tracked in a computer database named the Commitment Tracking System (CTS). CTS is defined as "a repository for information associated with specific commitments and actions taken to implement each commitment."
DNC's Administrative Procedure number U-AA-11 0, Revision 0, "Commitment Management,"
describes the licensee's regulatory commitment management process. The procedure defines who on DNC's staff has the authority to make commitments to the NRC.
Once commitments are identified, items are entered into the CTS. Following identification, the licensee enters committed due dates (Le., those committed in formal documentation) or establishes a due date, as appropriate. These items are then assigned to the appropriate functional area manager for implementation. The CTS maintains a record of the required action(s), responsible party, status, due dates, and comments.
The NRC staff found that CTS: (1) is capable of tracking commitments; and (2) provides an adequate method of linking together a summary of the issue, action type, the lead department, the responsible individual, due date, and extensions when used in accordance with the procedure. The NRC staff identified 7 commitments not captured in the CTS. The licensee has entered this into their corrective action program as CR452814. DNC confirmed that these 7 commitments have been closed. Several of these commitments were selected for review from inception to closure (or current status) and are captured in Table 1.
- 3 Table 1 - Selected Audited Commitments Commitment not Spent fuel pool criticality captured in the CTS responses to a request for additional information 11/23/2009 Steam Generator (SG) Closed Interim Alternate Repair RCR-42997 Criteria (IARC) for MPS3 commitments RCR-42998 04/26/2010 Remove seven MPS3 SG Working tubes from service RCR-43000 12/06/2010 Response to a Notice of Closed Violation: Identify resolution of 0 manual actions 2 commitments not 08/19/2011 Temporary relief request for Closed captured in the CTS leak on the SW system 2.1.3 Audit Results The NRC staff reviewed reports generated by the tracking programs and closure documentation to evaluate the status of commitments as reported in the CTS. The NRC staff confirmed that the commitments selected for the sample had been appropriately implemented in station procedures, design change programs and other station administrative processes as appropriate.
2.2 Verification of the Licensee's Program for Managing NRC Commitment Changes 2.2.1 Audit Scope 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 process used at MPS is contained in U-AA-110.
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. By letter dated June 30,2010,2 DNC informed the NRC that changes had been made to 11 commitments during calendar year 2009. These changes were included 2 ADAMS Accession No. ML101940335
-4 in the audit scope. These commitments are shown in Table 2, "Audited Commitment Changes from 2010 Letter."
The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's commitment change process to: (1) evaluate the licensee's methodology for proposed changes to regulatory commitments with particular consideration given to the intent of the original commitment and the safety and regulatory significance of the proposed change; and (2) evaluate the licensee's method of communicating commitment changes to the NRC when reports are warranted due to either safety or regulatory considerations. The NRC staff also evaluated the licensee's administrative controls for maintaining commitment "traceability" (e.g., markings or notations within procedures) to ensure that licensee personnel are able to recognize that future changes to the affected design features or operating practices require evaluation of the proposed change in accordance with the commitment change control process.
Table 2 - Audited Commitment Changes from 2010 Letter CommitmentJr,cking OOll1i~!on Nuplear .,* Licftl1$ee
- Num~r.. \**** Connecti . . **c. ..* Implem.,tation
"'SY~mittar 'te' StatU$
RCR-42920 11/05/2004 Closed RCR-42921 RCR-42922 RCR-42923 RCR-42924 RCR-42925 RCR-42931 01/25/2005 Exemption from 10 CFR Closed RCR-42932 50.68(b)(1) request for RCR-42933 additional information RCR-42934 response commitments RCR-42935 2.2.2 Audit Results The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's procedure U-AA-11 0 against NEI 99-04. In particular, Section 5.4 of the procedure lists NEI 99-04 as a source reference. In general, the NRC staff found that U-AA-110 follows closely the guidance of NEI 99-04, as it sets forth the need for identifying, tracking and reporting commitments, and it provides a mechanism for changing commitments. Attachment 2 of U-AA-11 0 provides detailed instructions regarding making changes to a commitment.
U-AA-110 provides instructions for modification, revision or deletion of a regulatory commitment. A Regulatory Commitment Change Evaluation form is used to perform an applicability determination for any proposed commitment change. This evaluation process will determine if the proposed commitment change is covered by another codified process (e.g., 10 CFR 50.59, "Changes, tests and experiments," or 10 CFR 50.54, "Conditions of licenses"). Once commitment changes are identified, a Regulatory Commitment Change
-5 Evaluation form is completed and reviewed. NRC notification is provided as necessary, as determined by the commitment change evaluation process.
For changes that do not require immediate NRC notification, notification is to be made annually in the Annual Summary Report. CTS items tracking the commitment are then updated, as appropriate, to document the regulatory commitment change. The NRC staff noted that no Annual Summary Report was provided for 2010. The licensee has entered this into their corrective action program as CR452855. The licensee determined that none of the changes made in 2010 met the threshold for reporting to the NRC. NRC staff also reviewed the changes made during 2010 as part of this audit and agreed that none of the changes made in 2010 met the threshold for reporting to the NRC.
The NRC staff concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments is appropriate.
The NRC staff reviewed the 11 commitment changes. The licensee followed U-AA-11 0 and completed the associated commitment change form. The 11 commitments were originally made to the NRC as part of an exemption request. Upon granting the exemption, the NRC staff's statements in the exemption elevated 10 of the 11 commitments to limitation/conditions of the exemption. 3 Limitations or conditions of an exemption are obligations, not commitments.
Procedure U-AA-110 defines an obligation as "[a]ny condition or action that is a legally binding requirement imposed through rule, regulation, Order, and NRC approved relief or alternative from regulation or ASME Code, an exemption from a regulation or Order, Technical Specification, or license condition." NEI 99-04 contains similar language. Therefore, the 10 limitations/conditions contained in the NRC exemption should not have been altered using the commitment change process. This was initially brought to ONC's attention during a review of the commitment change Annual Summary Report in June 2011. ONC has taken no action, as of the time of the commitment audit, to correct this issue. The NRR PM has provided this information to the NRC, Region I staff for further disposition.
The NRC staff concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments is appropriate. However, the licensee misused the commitment management process to alter 10 obligations.
3.0 CONCLUSION
The NRC staff concludes, based on the above audit, that the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. However, although the procedure itself is adequate, there have been numerous problems with adherence to the procedure. As such, the licensee's commitment management program has not been effective with respect to: tracking regulatory commitments; reporting to the NRC; and managing changes to commitments.
3 ADAMS Accession No. ML050420058
- 6 4.0 LICENSEE PERSONNEL CONTACTED FOR THIS AUDIT
- W.Brown, Licensing Department
- M. Calderone, Licensing Department
- G. Closius, Licensing Department
- W. Bartron, Licensing Department Principal Contributor: C. Sanders Date: December 28, 2011
D. Heacock - 2 The NRC staff appreciates the resources that were made available by Millstone Station staff during the audit. If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1603.
Sincerely,
/ra!
Carleen J. Sanders, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-336 and 50-423
Enclosure:
Audit Report cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC LPLI-2 RIF RidsAcrsAcnw_MailCTR Resource RidsNrrDorlDpr Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl1-2 Resource RidsNrrPMMilistone Resource RidsNrrLAABaxter Resource RidsOgcRp Resource RidsRgn1 MailCenter Resource Accession No.:ML113260611 OFFICE LPL 1-2/PM LPL 1-2/LA LPL 1-2/BC HChernoff NAME CSanders ABaxter (w/comment)
DATE 12/20/11 12/09/11 12/28/11 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY