IR 05000387/2010008

Final Significance Determination of White Finding, with Assessment Follow-up - Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (NRC Inspection Report No. 05000387/2010008 and 05000388/2010008), Dated December 16, 2010

ML103500332
Person / Time
Site:	Susquehanna
Issue date:	12/16/2010
From:	Bill Dean Region 1 Administrator
To:	Rausch T Susquehanna
Dean W
References
EA-10-207 EA-10-207, IR-10-008
Download: ML103500332 (3)

Text

UNITED NUCLEAR REGULATORY REGION 475 ALLENDALE KIN.G OF PRUSSIA, PA December 16, 2010 Mr. Timothy Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer PPL Susquehanna, LLC 769 Salem Boulevard, NUCSB3 Berwick, PA 18603 FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION OF WHITE FINDING, WITH ASSESSMENT FOLLOW-UP-SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION [NRC Inspection Report No. 05000387/2010008 and 05000388/2010008]

Dear Mr. Rausch:

This letter provides you the final significance determination of the preliminary White finding discussed in our previous communication dated November 12, 2010 (ML103160334)\

which also transmitted the subject inspection report. The results of the inspection were discussed with members of your staff during an exit meeting on October 14, 2010. The inspection finding was assessed using the significance determination process and was preliminarily categorized as White, a finding with low to moderate importance to safety, which may require additional NRC inspections.

The finding involved inadequate procedures related to the maintenance and operation of the main condenser waterboxes and circulating water system which, on July 16, 2010, resulted in an internal flooding event, a manual reactor scram, and a loss of the normal reactor heat sink. Specifically, a maintenance procedure contained inadequate condenser waterbox gasket installation instructions which led to the event. In addition, operator response to the event was complicated and delayed by two inadequate off-normal procedures.

One off-normal procedure contained an incorrect diagram that operators used to identify and isolate the leak and the other lacked specific instructions to isolate a leak associated with the condenser waterboxes.

There were no impacts to safety-related equipment as a result of the flooding.

In a telephone conversation with Mr. Paul Krohn of NRC, Region I, on November 19, 2010, Mr. Michael Crowthers, the Regulatory Assurance Manager, indicated that PPL Susquehanna, LLC did not contest the characterization of the risk significance of this finding and that you declined your opportunity to discuss this issue at a Regulatory Conference or to provide a written response.

Therefore, after considering the information developed during the inspection, the NRC has concluded that the finding is appropriately characterized as White. Note, according to NRC Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0609, Attachment 2, appeal rights only apply to those licensees that have either attended a Regulatory Conference or submitted a written response to the preliminary determination letter. I Designation in parentheses refers to an Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) accession number. Documents referenced in this letter are publicly-available using the accession number in ADAMS.

T. Although this finding has been characterized as White, no violations of regulatory requirements were identified, because the circulating water system is not safety-related, and therefore, not subject to the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B. As a result of our review of Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES) performance, including this White finding in the Initiating Events cornerstone, we have assessed SSES Unit 1 to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRC's Action Matrix, and for Unit 2 to remain in the Licensee Response column. Therefore, for Unit 1, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, "Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area," when your staff has notified us of your readiness for this inspection.

This inspection is conducted to provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk Significant performance issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and your response, if you choose to provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC's document system (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the Public without redaction.

Regional Administrator Docket Nos. 50-387; 50-388 License Nos. NPF-14, NPF-22 cc: Distribution via ListServ OATE OFFICE NAME OATE T. Although this finding has been characterized as White, no violations of regulatory requirements were identified, because the circulating water system is not safety-related, and therefore, not subject to the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B. As a result of our review of Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES) performance, including this White finding in the Initiating Events cornerstone, we have assessed SSES Unit 1 to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRC's Action Matrix, and for Unit 2 to remain in the Licensee Response column. Therefore, for Unit 1, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, "Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area," when your staff has notified us of your readiness for this inspection.

This inspection is conducted to provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk Significant performance issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and your response, if you choose to provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC's document system (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the Public without redaction.

Sincerely, IRA! William M. Dean Regional Administrator Docket Nos. 50-387: 50*388 License Nos. NPF-14, NPF-22 cc: Distribution via ListServ SUNSI Review Complete:

aed (Reviewer's Initials)

Non-Public Designation Category:

MD 3.4 Non-Public N/A (A.3 -A.7 or B.1) DOCUMENT NAME: S:\Enf-allg\Enforcement\Proposed-Actions\Region1\SQ Flooding Final White.docx After declaring this document "An Official Agency Record" it will be released to the Public. ADAMS Accession No.: ML103500332 To receive a copy of this document, Indicate In the box: "CO = Copy without attachmentlenclosure "E" =Copy WI'th a tt ac h men tI enc I osure "N" =N ocopy RI/ORA AOeFranclscol 11/30/10 RIIORA I KFarrar'KLF" 12/02110 RI/ORP PKrohn/PGK" 12/01/10 RI/ORA I RI/ORS I WSchmidttWLS" 12/01/10 HQIOE I I OHolodyl MMM for" GGulia via phone 12/10110 12/13110 *See concurrence on previous page OFFICIAL RECORD COpy RI/ORP I RIIORS I OLew/J Clifford for" ORobertslDJR" 12/10/10 12/03/10 RIIORA I I WOeanlwmd 12/13/10