IR 05000041/2010010

Annual Assessment Letter - Nine Mile Point IR 05000220-10-001 & 050004110-10-001)

ML100620531
Person / Time
Site:	Nine Mile Point, 05000041
Issue date:	03/03/2010
From:	David Lew Division Reactor Projects I
To:	Belcher S Nine Mile Point
Shared Package
ML100541657	List: IR 05000041/2010010 ML100620531
References
IR-10-001
Download: ML100620531 (6)

Text

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UNITED STATES

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION I

I 475 ALLENDALE ROAD KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406-1415 March 3, 2010 Mr. Sam Belcher Vice President Nine Mile Point Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC P.O. Box 63 Lycoming, NY 13093 SUBJECT: ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER - NINE MILE POINT NUCLEAR STATION (REPORTS 05000220/2010001 AND 05000410/2010001)

Dear Mr. Belcher:

On February 12, 2010, the NRC staff completed its performance review of Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station (NMPNS). Our technical staff reviewed performance indicators (Pis) for the most recent quarter and inspection results for the period from January 1 through December 31,

. 2009. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our assessment of your safety performance during this period and our plans for future inspections at your facility.

This performance review and enclosed inspection plan do not include security information. A separate letter designated and marked as "Official Use Only-Security Information" will include the security cornerstone review and resultant inspection plan.

Overall, NMPNS Units 1 and 2 operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives. Plant performance for the most recent quarter at Nine Mile Point Unit 1 was within the Licensee Response column of the NRC's Action Matrix, based on all inspection findings being classified as having very low safety significance (Green) and all Pis indicating performance at a level requiring no additional NRC oversight (Green).

Plant performance for the most recent quarter at Nine Mile Point Unit 2 was within the Regulatory Response Column of the NRC's Action Matrix, based on one finding having low to moderate safety significance (White). The White finding was a result of our supplemental inspection of the Mitigating Systems Performance Index (MSPI), Cooling Water Systems Performance Indicator (PI), which crossed the White Significance threshold in the 4th quarter 2008. The PI returned to the Green level in the 4th quarter 2009. The White PI was due to a combination of high unavailability for service water pump maintenance activities and reliability challenges following introduction of foreign material into the service water pump suction during November 2008.

On October 16, 2009, we completed the supplemental inspection pursuant to Inspection Procedure 95001, "Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area,"

and the inspection report (ML093280672)1 was issued on November 24.2009. The inspection resulted in a parallel White inspection finding based on weaknesses in the NMPNS root cause evaluation. Specifically, the NRC identified procedural adequacy and adherence casual factors that led to reliability challenges with the pumps.

1Designation in parenthesis refers to an ADAMS accession number. Documents referenced in this letter are publicly available using the accession number in ADAMS. As a result of the parallel White finding, the NMPNS Unit 2 will remain in the Regulatory

'Response Column of the Action Matrix until an additional supplemental inspection has been successfully completed. Therefore, we plan to conduct an additional supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, when your staff notifies us of your readiness for this inspection. This inspection is conducted to verify that Constellation has taken actions to address the procedural adequacy and adherence issues and why these issues were not previously identified by Constellation. In 2010, we also plan to conduct the reactor oversight process baseline inspections at Units 1 and 2.

The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections, less those related to security, scheduled through June 30, 2011. The inspection plan is provided to allow for the resolution of any scheduling conflicts and personnel availability issues well in advance of inspector arrival onsile.

Routine resident inspections are not listed due to their ongoing and continuous nature. The inspections in the last nine months of the inspection plan are tentative and may be revised at the mid-cycle review.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document is system (ADAMS). ADAMS accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

If circumstances arise which cause us to change this inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon a~ possible. Please contact Glenn Dentel of my staff at 610-337-5233, with any questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

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David C. Lew, Director Division of Reactor Projects Region I Docket Nos. 50-220,50-410 License Nos. DPR-63, DPR-59 Enclosure: Nine Mile Point Inspection/Activity Plan