ML101670175

EN-10-029, Issuance of Final Significance Determination and Notice of Violation and Proposed $70,000 Civil Penalty

ML101670175
Person / Time
Site:	Turkey Point
Issue date:	06/16/2010
From:	Nick Hilton NRC/OE
To:
Bowman G, OE, 415-2939
References
EA-10-037 EN-10-029
Download: ML101670175 (2)

Text

June 16, 2010 EN 10-029 OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT NOTIFICATION OF SIGNIFICANT ENFORCEMENT ACTION Licensee: Florida Power and Light Company EA-10-037 Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Unit 3 Docket No. 50-250

Subject:

ISSUANCE OF FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED $70,000 CIVIL PENALTY This is to inform the Commission of escalated enforcement actions that will be issued on or about June 21, 2010, to Florida Power and Light Company as a result of inspections at Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Unit 3. The escalated enforcement actions consist of a White finding with two associated violations and a Notice of Violation with a proposed civil penalty of $70,000.

The White finding, an issue with low to moderate safety significance which may require additional NRC inspections, involved the licensees failure to effectively manage known degradation of Boraflex, a neutron absorber material used in the Turkey Point Unit 3 spent fuel pool. As discussed, there are two violations associated with this White finding:

1. Contrary to 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, Criterion XVI, Corrective Action, the licensee failed to promptly identify and correct a condition adverse to quality. Specifically, in 2004 and 2007, the licensee identified two spent fuel pool storage cells with excessive Boraflex degradation, but failed to take action to correct this condition adverse to quality until identified by inspectors in December 2009.

2. Contrary to Technical Specification 5.5.1.1.a, the licensee failed to maintain the Unit 3 spent fuel storage racks such that the effective neutron multiplication factor (Keff) would remain less than 1.0 when flooded with unborated water when considering the biases and uncertainties described in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report. Specifically, dissolution of Boron-10 from Boraflex panels in the spent fuel pool resulted in a reduction in the nominal Boron-10 areal density such that Keff would not have been maintained less than 1.0 if the spent fuel pool had been flooded with unborated water.

The Notice of Violation and proposed civil penalty is being issued for the licensees failure to provide the NRC a report required by 10 CFR 50.73. Specifically, 10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(B) states that the licensee shall report to the NRC any condition which was prohibited by the plants Technical Specifications. As discussed above, degradation of Boraflex panels exceeded values such that the Unit 3 spent fuel storage racks could not be maintained with Keff less than 1.0 if flooded with unborated water. This condition is prohibited by Turkey Point Unit 3s Technical Specifications, but it was not reported to the NRC as required. Because this violation impacted the NRCs ability to perform its regulatory function, it was dispositioned using the traditional enforcement process. Turkey Point has not been the subject of escalated enforcement action within the last 2 years, so the NRC considered whether credit was warranted for Corrective Action in accordance with the civil penalty assessment process in Section VI.C.2 of the Enforcement Policy. The licensee offered no substantive root cause assessment of its failure to make the

2 required notification in accordance with 10 CFR 50.73, and did not provide any detailed corrective actions to allow the NRC to conclude that its actions in response to the violation were prompt and comprehensive. Therefore, credit is not warranted for the factor of Corrective Action, resulting in a base civil penalty of $70,000.

A Regulatory and Predecisional Enforcement Conference was held with the licensee on April 14, 2010. While the licensee agreed that they had violated TS 5.5.1.1.a and 10 CFR 50.73, they disagreed that they had violated 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, Criterion XVI. The licensee also disagreed with the staffs evaluation of the significance of the issue and argued that the finding is of very low safety significance. The staff considered information provided by the licensee, but determined that the finding and violations are appropriately characterized as discussed above.

It should be noted that the licensee has not been specifically informed of the enforcement action.

The schedule of issuance and notification is:

Mailing of Final Significance Determination June 21, 2010 Telephone Notification of Licensee June 21, 2010 The State of Florida will be notified.

Contacts: Greg Bowman, OE, (301) 415-2939 Nick Hilton, OE, (301) 415-3055 Distribution: EN-10-029, June 16, 2010 OWFN OWFN TWFN EBB Regional Offices Chairman Jaczko EDO OCFO NMSS RI RII Comm. Svinicki DEDR OP CENTER RIII RIV Comm. Apostolakis DEDMRS FSME Comm. Magwood OE OIG MAIL Comm. Ostendorff OGC OCIO ADAMS SECY NRR RES OE staff OCA NSIR ACRS PA OI IP Electronic DISTRIBUTION:

R. Zimmerman, OE A. Campbell, OE N. Hilton, OE G. Bowman, OE OE r/f EN binder X PUBLIC X NON-SENSITIVE ADAMS ML101670175 OFFICE OE:ES OE:BC NAME G. Bowman N. Hilton DATE 06/16/10 06/16/10 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY