ML20134A394

Notification of Significant Licensee Meeting W/Util on 970103 to Discuss Findings from Licensee Contracted Independent Safety Assessment & Effects of Recently Identified Technical Issue Involving Degraded Containment

ML20134A394
Person / Time
Site:	Zion  File:ZionSolutions icon.png
Issue date:	01/23/1997
From:	Dapas M NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
References
NUDOCS 9701280283
Download: ML20134A394 (4)

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$ [ LISLE, ILLINOIS 60532-4351 Jarnary 23, 1997 SIGNIFICANT LICENSEE MEETING NOTES

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THIS MEETING WAS OPEN TO PUBLIC ATTENDANCE )

Name of.1.icensee: Commonwealth Edison Company

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Name of Facility: Zion Nuclear Power Station. Units 1 and 2  !

Docket Nos.. 50-295: 50-304 Date of Meeting: January 3. 1997 Location of Meeting: NRC Region III 801 Warrenville Road Lisle. Illinois Purpose of Meeting: To discuss the findings from the licensee contracted Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) and the effects of the recently identified technical issue involving degraded containment paint coatings on the readiness for the restart of Unit 2. Meeting notes are enclosed.

s Approved By: b M. L. Da)as, Chief

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Reactor 3rojects Branch 2

Enclosure:

Meeting Notes See Attached Distribution f

9701280283 970123 PDR ADOCK 05000295

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1 Significant Licensee , Meeting Notes Sionificant Licensee Meetina Distribution H. L. Thompson, Jr. Acting Executive Director for Operations A. C. Thadani. Associate Director for Technical Review. NRR l J. W. Roe. Director. Division of Reactor Projects III/IV. NRR 1 R. P. Zimmermar Associate Director for Projects. NRR Chief. PIPB, dt Region III Coordinator. OED0 Project Directorate. NRR

, Project Manager, Project Directorate, NRR J. L. Caldwell, Director. Division of Reactor Projects, RIII J. A. Grobe. Deputy Director. Division of Reactor Projects RIII C. D. Pederson Director. Division of Nuclear Materials Safety. RIII R. J. Caniano. Deputy Director Division of Nuclear Materials Safety RIII G. E. Grant. Director, Division of Reactor Safety. RIII M. N. Leach, Acting Deputy Director. Division of Reactor Safety. RIII M. A. Ring, Chief Lead Engineers, Division of Reactor Safety. RIII J. L. Lynch. Acting Regional State Liaison Officer. RIII PMNS (E-Mail)

RIII Public Affairs (E-Mail) i

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Enclosure j i

NRC/ Commonwealth Edison January 3,1997 Public Meeting Notes Meeting Purpose - To discuss the findings from the licensee contracted Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) and the effects of the recently identified technical issue involving degraded containment paint coatings on the readiness for the restart of Unit 2. Meeting notes are enclosed. )

NRC Particioants Bill Beach, Regional Administrator l James Caldwell. Division Director. Division of Reactor Projects Marc Dapas. Branch Chief. Division of Reactor Projects. Branch 2 Ron Gardner. Branch Chief. Engineering Specialists Branch 2 .

Dave Hills. Project Engineer. Division of Reactor Projects. Branch 2 1 Eugene Cobey, Zion Resident Inspector Commonwealth Edison Particioants John Mueller. Zion Site Vice-President Dennis Farrar. Commonwealth Edison Nuclear Regulatory Services Manager Discussion on Zion Containment Coatina Issue i

The meeting began with a discussion on the recently identified issue l concerning containment coatings. A summary of the discussion follows: l The resident inspectors recently identified conditions of peeling paint in the l Unit 2 containment. The observed conditions were contrary to statements in  !

the Final Safety Analysis Report regarding containment coatings. The NRC expressed concern with the use of unqualified paint in containment. The NRC discussed the need to resolve these issues before startup of Unit 2. The NRC's safety concern is that the paint could be transported to the containment sump and clog emergency core cooling system strainers.

The NRC also expressed concern that degraded paint coatings may exist ,

in the Unit 1 containment. The NRC emphasized the importance of the licensee ensuring that operability and safety evaluations be conducted to address the degraded conditions with the Unit 1 and Unit 2 containments in accordance with guidance in Generic Letter 91- 4 and requirements contained in 10 CFR Part 50 59.

The licensee stated that operators were currently reducing power to allow i

inspection of the Unit 1 containment since the operability of Unit 1 was an immediate concern and that an evaluation would be performed by engineering to provide the appropriate level of assurance that safety systems would continue to operate.

l NRC/ Comed Meeting Notes )

Discussion on Licensee Response to the ISA Findinas The licensee discussed the purpose of the ISA and why, in light of the ISA findings, licensee management remained confident that Unit 2 was ready for l restart. The licensee expressed confidence in the new management team's l ability to effect needed changes in licensee 3erformance based upon the l results of various self-assessments that had 3een recently com)1eted ano a review of performance indicator data for the past few months w1ich snowed improvement in several areas, including. operator workarounds. corrective ,

maintenance work, temporary alterations configuration control, surveillance l testing and procedure quality. The licensee stated that the initiatives to implement the Plant Operations Review Committee concept and unitize the Operations and Maintenance organizations were also keys to improved performance.

Regarding the ISA, the licensee indicated that the team's charter was to perform a historical review of performance at Zion to determine why performance was cyclic and the reasons for the inability to fix problems, as well as to ensure the licensee was focusing on the correct issues. The licensee indicated that the ISA served to reinforce to the staff why performance must change at Zion. The licensee further indicated that the ISA did not find any new issues which had not already been addressed in NRC inspection reports or other assessments of licensee' performance.

The NRC commented that since a written report had not yet been issued. it was difficult to verify that the licensee has ) laced the ISA issues in the proper context without Knowing the specifics whic1 formed the basis for the team's conclusions. The licensee indicated that since the ISA was a historical review of licensee performance, the team's findings do not reflect the results of some of the recent improvement initiatives at Zion station. The licensee expressed confidence in the staff at Zion to implement necessary action ]lans and to focus attention on improvement initiatives while both Unit 1 and Jnit 2 were operating.

Licensee Actions Subseauent to Meetina On January 16, 1997, the licensee announced an extension to the Unit 2 refueling outage to address recently identified technical concerns (including the containment coatings) and to perform more comprehensive reviews to ensure the unit is ready for restart. (See Preliminary Notification PN-397003)

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