IR 05000298/2016006

Annual Assessment Letter for Cooper Nuclear Station (Report 05000298/2016006)

ML17059D506
Person / Time
Site:	Cooper
Issue date:	03/01/2017
From:	Greg Warnick NRC/RGN-IV/DRP/RPB-C
To:	Higginbotham K Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD)
GREG WARNICK
References
IR 2016006
Download: ML17059D506 (5)

Text

March 1, 2017

Mr. Ken Higginbotham Vice President-Nuclear and CNO Nebraska Public Power District 72676 648A Avenue P.O. Box 98 Brownville, NE 68321

SUBJECT: ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER FOR COOPER NUCLEAR STATION (REPORT 05000298/2016006)

Dear Mr. Higginbotham:

On February 15, 2017, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed its end-of-cycle performance assessment of Cooper Nuclear Station, reviewing performance indicators (PIs), inspection results, and enforcement actions from January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016. This letter informs you of the NRC's assessment of your facility during this period and its plans for future inspections at your facility. The NRC concluded that overall performance at your facility preserved public health and safety. The NRC determined the performance at Cooper Nuclear Station during the most recent quarter was within the Licensee Response Column, the highest performance category of the NRC's Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) Action Matrix, because all inspection findings had very low safety significance (i.e., Green), and all PIs were within the expected range (i.e., Green). Therefore, the NRC plans to conduct ROP baseline inspections at your facility. The enclosed inspection plan lists the inspections scheduled through December 31, 2018. The NRC provides the inspection plan to allow for the resolution of any scheduling conflicts and personnel availability issues. Routine inspections performed by resident inspectors are not included in the inspection plan. The inspections listed during the last twelve months of the inspection plan are tentative and may be revised. The NRC will contact you as soon as possible to discuss changes to the inspection plan should circumstances warrant any changes. This inspection plan does not include the plan for security-related inspections, which will be sent via separate, non-publicly available correspondence. As indicated in our 2016 annual assessment letter (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML16061A312) dated March 2, 2016, from January 1 to December 31, 2015, the NRC issued three Severity Level IV traditional enforcement violations associated with impeding the regulatory process. The NRC conducted Inspection Procedure (IP) 92723, "Follow up Inspection for Three or More Severity Level IV Traditional Enforcement Violations in the Same Area in a 12-Month Period," in June 2016, to assess your evaluation of these violations and review the adequacy of associated corrective actions. Based on the results of this inspection, as documented in NRC Inspection Report 05000298/2016005 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16211A197) dated July 29, 2016, the NRC concluded that the inspection objective involving identification of extent of condition and extent of cause of the violations was not met. In January 2017, the NRC was notified of your readiness for reperformance of this inspection. The NRC has scheduled this inspection for the week of June 26, 2017. In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). Please contact me at 817-200-1144 with any questions you have regarding this letter.

Sincerely,/RA/ Greg Warnick, Branch Chief Project Branch C Division of Reactor Projects Docket No. 50-298 License No. DPR-46

Enclosure:

Cooper Nuclear Station Inspection Plan