ML083430259

Audit of the Licensee'S Management of Regulatory Commitments

ML083430259
Person / Time
Site:	Cooper
Issue date:	12/16/2008
From:	Lyon C Plant Licensing Branch IV
To:	Minahan S Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD)
Lyon, C F, NRR/DLPM, 415-2296
References
TAC MD9996
Download: ML083430259 (8)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 16, 2008 Mr. Stewart B. Minahan Vice President-Nuclear and CNO Nebraska Public Power District 72676 648A Avenue Brownville, NE 68321

SUBJECT:

COOPER NUCLEAR STATION - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NO. MD9996)

Dear Mr. Minahan:

An audit of the Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) commitment management program was performed at the site during the period December 2-3, 2008. In Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21,2000, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees that the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments and 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 has instructed its staff to perform an audit of licensees' commitment management programs once every 3 years to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that the regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented.

The NRC staff concludes, based on the audit, that (1) Nebraska Public Power District (the licensee) has implemented NRC commitments on a timely basis, and (2) the licensee has implemented an adequate program for managing NRC commitment changes at CNS. The details of the audit including the NRC staff observations and recommendations are set forth in the enclosed audit report.

I appreciate the assistance of IVIs. Bray of your staff during the conduct of the audit. If there are any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-2296 or bye-mail at Fred.Lyon@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Carl F. Lyon, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-298

Enclosure:

As stated 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 NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT COOPER NUCLEAR STATION DOCKET NO. 50-298

1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

In Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees that the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments and 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 an audit of licensees' commitment management programs once every 3 years to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that the regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented.

NEI-99-04 defines a "regulatory commitment" 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 audit 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, relief requests, exemptions, etc.) and licensing activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.). The audit is to be performed every 3 years.

2.0 AUDIT PROCEDURE AND RESULTS An audit of the Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) commitment management program was performed at the site during the period December 2-3, 2008. The audit reviewed commitments made since the previous audit, dated October 21,2005 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML052800067). The audit consisted of two major parts: (1) verification of the licensee's implementation of NRC commitments that have ENCLOSURE

-2 been completed, and (2) verification of the licensee's program for managing changes to NRC commitments.

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 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 The audit addressed a sample of commitments made during the review period. The audit focused on regulatory commitments, as defined above, made in writing to the NRC as a result of past licensing actions (amendments, exemptions, relief requests, etc.) or licensing activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.). Before the audit, the NRC staff searched ADAMS for the licensee's submittals since the last audit and selected a representative sample of regulatory commitments for verification. The identified list of commitments was forwarded to the licensee with a request to locate documentation for the listed regulatory commitments prior to the NRC staff visit.

The audit excluded the following types of commitments that are internal to licensee processes:

1. Commitments made on the licensee's own initiative among internal organizational components.

2. Commitments that pertain to milestones of licensing actions/activities (e.g.,

respond to an NRC request for additional information by a certain date).

Fulfillment of these commitments was indicated by the fact that the subject licensing action/activity was completed.

3. Commitments made as an internal reminder to take actions to comply with existing regulatory requirements such as regulations, Technical Specifications, and Updated Final Safety Analysis Reports. Fulfillment of these commitments was indicated by the licensee having taken timely action in accordance with the subject requirements.

2.1.2 Audit Results The licensee has implemented site-wide Administrative Procedures 0.42, "Regulatory Correspondence Control," and 0.42.1, "Regulatory Commitment Tracking and Commitment Changes," which describes the regulatory commitment management process at Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). The process is similar to the guidance provided in Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes." The procedure includes a consistent process to change NRC regulatory commitments of low safety significance without adversely affecting the level of safety. The process provides a means of identifying commitments (Le., Attachment 3 of Procedure 0.42, List of Regulatory Commitments) and a means for evaluating proposed changes to commitments (Le., Attachment 2 of Procedure 0.42.1, Commitment Change Evaluation). Administrative Procedure 0.42.1 provides

-3 administrative controls and responsibilities for the creation, implementation, and maintenance of the Regulatory Commitment/Correspondence Tracking System (RCTS), a database of regulatory requirements and commitments applicable to CNS, including cross-references to the documents or procedures that implement each requirement.

The database and documents furnished by the licensee during the audit provided the status of the commitments and appropriate backup documentation, as needed (e.g., plant procedures, training or examination records, and/or other plant documentation). The NRC staff reviewed the database and documents and summarized the selected commitments information in the attachment to this audit report.

The NRC staff audit was intended to confirm that the licensee has documented its implementation of its regulatory commitments made to the NRC staff as part of past licensing communications, and the commitments that had not yet been implemented or incorporated in design bases documents are captured in an effective manner for future implementation.

The process prescribed in Administrative Procedures 0.42 and 0.42.1 provides acceptable tools for the licensee to capture the NRC guidance on commitment management programs. The licensee enters the regulatory commitments made to the NRC into the RCTS database. The regulatory commitments are appropriately coded in the RCTS. Each commitment is numbered and listed. Status of the commitments, implementation dates, target implementation (documents which finally capture the commitment) document information associated with each specific commitment, and comments are captured in the database.

The NRC staff audit of the licensee's commitment management program for CNS did not identify any regulatory commitments that were not met. The licensee has maintained the database adequately and the commitments selected for this audit were easily traceable in the database.

For commitments that had been completed, the database generally provided an accurate status of the commitment and provided reference to the implementation documentation. No deficiencies were noted.

In general, documents or procedures that are used to fulfill a commitment are changed to reference the commitment. This provides a means to ensure that commitments are neither removed nor changed without management approval in accordance with the plant procedures.

No deficiencies were noted.

Based on the results of the on-site audit, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee has implemented the regulatory commitments management program adequately and consistent with NEI99-04. The attachment to this audit report contains references to the licensee's commitments selected for review and a summary of the audit results.

2.2 Verification of the Licensee's Program for Managing NRC Commitment Changes 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 CNS is contained in Administrative Procedures 0.42 and 0.42.1. The primary focus of the audit was to ensure that commitments

-4 made to the NRC are implemented and, if changed, the change is made in accordance with the approved plant procedures and with the approval of the plant's management. The audit also verified 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.

2.2.1 Audit Results Detailed processes are provided by which the licensee tracks and implements its regulatory commitments. Any changes to the commitments are processed through Administrative Procedure 0.42.1. Changes to commitments are reported to the NRC in accordance with the guidance of NEI 99-04. The licensee's process identifies the affected commitments, their origin, original criteria, proposed changes, and justification for change. The commitment changes are documented on Commitment Change Evaluation forms.

For the period covered by the audit, the NRC staff reviewed both a sample of commitment changes determined to be reportable to the NRC, and a sample of changes determined to be not reportable. Commitment changes were appropriately justified and reported to the NRC in accordance with the licensee's process. No deficiencies were noted.

Based on the results of the on-site audit, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee has implemented regulatory commitment changes appropriately, consistent with NEI 99-04.

3.0 CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the audit, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee has implemented the regulatory commitments management program satisfactorily, and implemented regulatory commitment changes appropriately, consistent with NEI 99-04.

4.0 LICENSEE PERSONNEL CONTACTED FOR THIS AUDIT D. Van Der Kamp L. Bray Principal Contributor: F. Lyon Date: December 16, 2008

Attachment:

Summary Table

SUMMARY

TABLE AUDIT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS COOPER NUCLEAR STATION DECEMBER 2-3, 2008 REFERENCE FOR LICENSEE COMMITMENTS IMPLEMENTATION STATUS Letter dated December 8, 2005, "Request for Use of Implemented in procedure 9.RESP.1; Delta Protection Single-Use Supplied-Air Suits" lesson plans GEN 002-05-01 and (ADAMS Accession No. ML053470189), and Letter RAD907401; qualification standard dated June 7, 2006, "Modification of Request for Use ..." TOO 0459; job performance measure (ADAMS Accession No. ML061630233) SKL018-02-66; and training records.

Letter dated January 30, 2006, "Application for Implemented in the TS Bases.

Technical Specification Change to Add LCO 3.0.8 on the Inoperability of Snubbers Using the Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process" (ADAMS Accession No. ML060340126)

Letter dated February 23, 2006, "10 CFR 50.55a Open.

Requests for Fourth Ten-Year Inservice Inspection Interval" (ADAMS Accession No. ML060590300)

Letter dated April 7, 2006, "Response to Request for Implemented in procedures 6.SC.602 Additional Information Re: Fuel Handling Accident and 0.50.5 and the TS Bases.

Alternative Source Term Amendment" (ADAMS Accession No. ML061020078)

Letter dated May 4, 2006, "Supplemental Response to Implemented in procedure 10.6.

Report of Inspection of Nuclear Reactor Safeguards Interim Compensatory Measure - Section B.5.b Temporary Instruction 2515/164" (ADAMS Accession No. ML061290435) (Non-Publicly Available)

Letter dated October 17, 2006, "License Amendment Implemented in procedures 10.6 and Request to Revise Technical Specification - Onsite 10.24, and by letter to NRC dated Spent Fuel Storage Expansion" (ADAMS Accession September 20, 2007 (ADAMS No. ML062990429), and Letter dated April 17, 2007, Accession No. ML072680663).

"Response to Request for Additional Information ..."

(ADAMS Accession No. ML071130012)

Letter dated November 19, 2007, "License Amendment Implemented in procedures 10.1, Request to Revise Technical Specifications - Appendix 10.13, 8.4.1.1 B, 2.2.77.1,4.5,4.9, K Measurement Uncertainty Recapture Power Uprate" 2.1.10,4.1.3,6.1CSCS.703, (ADAMS Accession No. ML073300571) 6.1 ADS.704, 6.1 AR1.301, 6.1 LLS.701, 6.1 RHR.302, et al.; the Technical Requirements Manual; Work Orders 4634284, et al.; Startup Test SP07 002; lesson procedure IAC920-30-00 and training records; simulator modification SMP 07-0042 and tests CED6023681, et al.; software change completion reports MSA 4570212, et al.; and letter to NRC dated October 22, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No.

ML083030042).

-2 Letter dated August 15, 2005, "30-Day Response to Implemented in procedures NRC Bulletin 2005-02" (ADAMS Accession No. 5.5Aircraft, 5.5Security, and ML052310344) (Non-Publicly Available) 3.3Aircraft Threat, the Emergency Plan, work order 4480118, and EPIP 5.7.21, Att.3.

Letter dated June 17, 2005, "Revised Commitments for Implemented in procedures 3.45 and NRC Generic Letter 2003-001" (ADAMS Accession No. 0.55 and by License Amendment No.

ML051720149) 230.

Letter dated September 29, 2005, "License Implemented in procedures 5.1, 5.2, Amendment Request for Application of the Alternative 0.50.5, 10.25, and alarm procedure Source Term for Reevaluation of the Fuel handling 2.3_9-4-2; one commitment withdrawn Accident Dose Consequences" (ADAMS Accession by letter to NRC dated April 7, 2006 No. ML052770499) (ADAMS Accession No.

ML061020078).

Letter dated August 8, 2005, "Response to Implemented by letter to NRC dated Commission Order Imposing Additional Security January 16, 2006 (Non-Publicly Measures ... " (ADAMS Accession No. rvlL052220251) Available).

(Non-Publicly Available)

Letter dated August 1, 2005, "Response to Request for Implemented in the TS Bases.

Additional Information Re: License Amendment Request to Revise the Required Channels per Trip System ..." (ADAMS Accession No. ML052170167)

Letter dated July 21,2005, "Application for Technical Implemented in the TS Bases.

Specification Improvement to Revise Ci)ntrol Rod Scram Time Testing Frequency" (ADAMS Accession No. ML052090146)

Letter dated January 26, 2005, "Regulatory Implemented in procedures 10.33 and Commitment Related to Control Blade Shadow 4.3.

Corrosion-Induced Channel Bow" (ADAMS Accession No. ML050310393)

Letter dated November 24, 2004, "Application for Implemented in procedure 0-PI-01.

Technical Specification Improvement to Eliminate Requirements to Provide Monthly Operating Reports ..."

(ADAMS Accession No. ML043350030)

December 16, 2008 Mr. Stewart B. Minahan Vice President-Nuclear and CNO Nebraska Public Power District 72676 648A Avenue Brownville, NE 68321

SUBJECT:

COOPER NUCLEAR STATION - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NO. MD9996)

Dear Mr. Minahan:

An audit of the Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) commitment management program was performed at the site during the period December 2-3, 2008. In Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21,2000, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees that the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) document NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory commitments and 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 has instructed its staff to perform an audit of licensees' commitment management programs once every 3 years to determine whether the licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that the regulatory commitments are being effectively implemented.

The NRC staff concludes, based on the audit, that (1) Nebraska Public Power District (the licensee) has implemented NRC commitments on a timely basis, and (2) the licensee has implemented an adequate program for managing NRC commitment changes at CNS. The details of the audit including the NRC staff observations and recommendations are set forth in the enclosed audit report.

I appreciate the assistance of Ms. Bray of your staff during the conduct of the audit. If there are any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-2296 or bye-mail at Fred.Lyon@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, IRAI Carl F. Lyon, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-298

Enclosure:

As stated cc w/encl: Distribution via ListServ DISTRIBUTION:

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