ML18009A411

Responds to NRC 900227 Ltr Re Violations Noted in Insp Rept 50-400/90-02.Corrective Actions:Personnel Involved W/ Quadrant Power Tilt Ratio Calculations & Operability Determination Counseled

ML18009A411
Person / Time
Site:	Harris
Issue date:	03/23/1990
From:	Richey R CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
CON-NRC-707 HO-900059-(O), NUDOCS 9004030116
Download: ML18009A411 (5)

See also: IR 05000400/1990002

Text

ACCELERATOR)

DRIBUTION DEMONSHQTION

SY!B BEM REGULATORY

INFORMATION

DISTRIBUTION

SYSTEM (RIDS)ACCESSION NBR:9004030116

DOC.DATE: 90/03/23 NOTARIZED:

NO FACIL:50-400

Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1, Carolina AUTH.NAME AUTHOR AFFILIATION

RICHEY,R.B.

Carolina Power&Light Co.RECIP.NAME

RECIPIENT AFFILIATION

Document Control Branch (Document Control Desk)SUBJECT: Responds to NRC 900227 ltr re violations

noted in Insp Rept 50-400/90-02.

DISTRIBUTION

CODE: IEOID COPIES RECEIVED:LTR

i ENCL/SIZE: TITLE: General (50 Dkt)-Insp Rept/Notice

of Violation Response NOTES:Application

for permit renewal filed.DOCKET 05000400 05000400 INTERNAL'ECIPIENT

ID CODE/NAME PD2-1 PD ACRS AEOD/DEIIB

DEDRO NRR/DLPQ/LPEB10

NRR/DREP/PEPB9D

NRR/DRIS/DIR

NRR/PMAS/I LRB 1 2 OGC/HDS 1 RES MORISSEAU,D

COPIES LTTR ENCL 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 RECIPIENT ID CODE/NAME BECKER,D AEOD AEOD/TPAD NRR SHANKMAN,S

NRR/DOEA DIR 11 NRR/DREP/PRPB11

NRR/DST/DIR

SE2 BOGS AB&Z RGN2 FILE 01 COPIES LTTR ENCL 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 EXTERNAL: LPDR NSIC 1 1 1 1 NRC PDR 1 1 NOIX TO ALL"RIDS" RECIPIEWIS:

PLEASE HELP US TO REDUCE WAS'ONI'ACT

THE DOCUMENI'ONIROL

DESK, ROOM Pl-37 (EXT.20079)TO ELIMINATE YOUR NAME FROM DISHUBUTION

LISIS FOR DOCUMENIS YOU DON'T NEEDI OTAL NUMBER OF COPIES REQUIRED: LTTR 25 ENCL 25

Caroljna Power S Ught Company"P.O.Box t65~New Hill, N.C.27562 R.B.RiCHEY Manager Hanis Nuctear Project MAR 2 5 1990 Letter Number: H0-900059 (0)Document Control Desk United States Nuclear Regulatory

Commission

Washington, DC 20555 NRC-707 SHEARON HARRIS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT DOCKET NO+50-400 LICENSE NO.NPF-63 REPLY TO A NOTICE OF VIOLATION Gentlemen.'

In reference to your letter of February 27, 1990, referring to I.E.Report RII: 50"400/90-02, the attached is Carolina Power and Light Company's reply to violations"A" and"Bdentified

in Enclosure 1.It is considered

that the corrective

actions taken/planned

are satisfactory

for resolution

of the item.Thank you for your consideration

in this matter.Very truly yours, R.B.Richey, Ma ager Harris Nuclear Project MGW:dgr Enclosure cc'Mr.R.A.Becker (NRC)Mr.S, D.Ebneter (NRC-RII)Mr.J.E.Tedrow (NRC-SHNPP)9004030116

900323 PDR ADOCK 05000400 0 PDC MEM/HO-9000590/1/OS1

ATTACHMENT

TO CP&L LETTER OF RESPONSE TO NRC I.E.REPORT RII: 50-400/90"02

VIOLATIONS"A" AND"B" Re orted Violation:

A.Technical Specification (TS)6.8.1.a requires that written procedures

be established

and implemented

covering procedures

outlined in Appendix A of Regulatory

Guide 1.33, Revision 2, February 1978.Regulatory

Guide 1.33, Appendix A, Paragraph 8.B requires that written procedures

be provided for surveillance

tests.Operations

Surveillance

Test OST-1039, Calculation

of Quadrant Power Tilt Ratio, provides the steps necessary to manually calculate the quadrant power tilt ratio.Step 7.1 of this procedure requires that detector currents be recorded from all operable power range channels at the Nuclear Instrument

cabinets.Contrary to the above, on December 28, 1989, procedure OST-1039 was not properly implemented

in that the detector currents required by step 7.1 were improperly

recorded and a subsequent

review by two senior licensed shift foremen failed to identify the improperly

performed TS surveillance.

This is a Severity Level IV violation (Supplement

I).B.Technical Specification 4.2.4.1 requires that the quadrant power tilt ratio shall be calculated

at least once per 12 hours1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br /> when the alarm is inoperable.

Contrary to the above, after receiving the upper and lower quadrant power tilt alarms and subsequently

bypassing the NI-44 channels, from 6:55 a.m.on December 28, 1989, through 2:25 a.m.on December 30, 1989, the quadrant power tilt ratio was not calculated

at least once per 12 hours1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br /> when the alarm was inoperable.

This is a Severity-Level

IV viola)ion (Supplement

I).Denial or Admission and Reason for the Violation'.

The violations

are correct as stated.On December 28, 1989, initial power ascension for cycle three operation was in progress.When the reactor power level reached approximately

55X, annunciators

alarmed, indicating

a potential flux tilt in the reactor.The shift operators performed a manual calculation

of the QPTR per OST-1039, and the calculated

value was 1.018, within the 1.02 limit of TS 3.2.4.MEM/HO-9000590/2/OS1

As identified

in Violation"A," the detector currents recorded in OST-1039 were incorrect.

A review of the recorded values determined

that the operator must have read the incorrect scale on the meter, causing his currents to be high by a factor of two.This had no effect on his calculated

value of QPTR, however, since QPTR is a ratio of the maximum to normalized

average of the four detectors, so the error cancels out when the ratio is determined.

Reviews of the calculation

performed by the shift foremen failed to detect the error.With QPTR determined

to be within limit, and with the annunciators

alarming intermittently, the situation was discussed by Operations

and Instrument

and Control personnel.

It was decided that power range channel N-44 was causing the intermittent

alarm.Initial calibrations

of the power range nuclear instrumentation

would be performed for cycle three when equilibrium

Xenon conditions

at a 75K power level were established, as per TS 4.3.1.1.It was expected that these scheduled calibrations

would correct N-44, and clear the intermittent

alarms.Operations

personnel then bypassed the N-44 channel input to the QPTR annunciators

in order to clear the intermittent

alarm, and to ensure that any flux tilt on the remaining three channels would be detected by the alarm.However, neither the N-44 channel nor the QPTR alarm were'eclared inoperable.

Subsequent

reviews of the event have determined

that all four power range channel inputs must be available to consider the QPTR alarm operable, except as provided in TS 3.3.1, Table 3.3-1, Action 2.c., which provides compensating

action for inoperable

power range nuclear instrument

channel.Since N-44 was not declared inoperable, TS 4.2.4.1 was applicable

and, as identified

in Violation"B," TS 4.2.4.1 was not compLied with, in that QPTR was not determined

to be within limit each 12 hours1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br /> when the alarm was inoperable.

This condition existed from 1600 on December 28, 1989, until 0225 on December 31, 1990, when the calibrations

of channel N-44 were completed.

These calibrations, as anticipated, did correct the spurious alarm, so no actual flux tilt had occurred.Corrective

Ste s Taken to Avoid Further Violations:

Personnel who were involved with the QPTR calculations

and who made the operability

determination

on the QPTR alarm were counseled.

Additional

guidance will be included in the QPTR annunciator

response procedure to indicate the appropriate

actions to take to comply with TS requirements.

This event will be reviewed by licensed operators.

Date When Full Com liance Will Be Achieved: Review of the event by licensed operators will be completed by May 7, 1990.Procedure changes will be completed by June 1, 1990.Reference.

'Licensee Event Report 90-002-00 MEM/H0-9000590/3/OSl