ML20207M892

Monthly Status Rept on Licensing Activitives & Regulatory Duties of NRC, February 1999

ML20207M892
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Issue date:	02/28/1999
From:	NRC
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ML20207M885	List: ML20207M881 ML20207M892 ML20207M900 ML20207M903
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NUDOCS 9903190246
Download: ML20207M892 (13)

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Enclosure 1 MONTHLY STATUS REPORT ON THE LICENSING ACTIVITIES AND REGULATORY DUTIES OF THE UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION FEBRUARY 1999 M

9903190246 990305 PDR COMMS NRCC CORRESPONDENCE PDR 770 3/70<)Ub . . __ .

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. l TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Implementing Rish-Informed Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 l

11. Nuclear Plant Assessment, inspection and Enforcement Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

- 111. Status of Issues in the Reactor Generic issue Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 IV.- Nuclear Power Plants on the Watch List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 V. Lice n si n g Actio n s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 VI. Status of Calvert Cliffs License Renewal Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 )

Vll. Statuo et Review of Private Fuel Storage, Limited Liability Corporation's (PFS)

Application for a License to Operate an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation i (ISFSI) on the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Vill. Summary of Reactor Enforcement by Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 l

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1. Implementing Risk-informed Regulations in the area of risk-informed and performance-based regulation, the staff continues to make progress on tasks in all activity categories. The following are some examples:

The NRC staff continues to review and approve risk-informed technical specification modifications. The staff recently reviewed and approved an emergency diesel generator (EDG) allowed outage time (AOT) proposed relaxation from 3 days to 14 days for San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3. Reviews are also in progress on the proposed relaxation of AOTs for the containment spray (CS) systems and for the high pressure safety injection (HPSI) systems at six facilities supported by the Combustion Engineering Owners Group. Similarly, reviews of proposed relaxation of AOTs for low pressure injection (LPI) and reactor building spray (RBS) are underway for five Babcock & Wilcox Owners Group plants.

The revision to 10 CFR 50.65," Requirement for monitoring the effectiveness of maintenance at nuclear power plants," (i.e., the Maintenance Rule) to require plant licensees to assess and manage increases in risk that may result from proposed maintenance activities is being finalized. The third revision to NRC Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.160, " Monitoring the Effectiveness of Maintenance at Nuclear Power Plants," is being drafted in parallel with the rule change. This latest revision to RG 1.160 provides guidance for implementing the provisions of the rule change and addresses the staff's expectations concerning the methods licensees may l tmploy to assure adequate risk management of plant configurations during maintenance l activities. General ge'delines are provided in the revised RG for managing risk during '

maintenance activities while at power, as well as maintenance activities during shutdown conditions.

A draft of the Phase 1 Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Standard, which describes l acceptable methods for conducting assessments of the frequencies of core damage and radionuclide release from internal events (excluding fires) at full power operation, is now available for public comment. The standard is being prepared by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) with the cooperation and support of the NRC staff. The final Phase 1 PRA Standard is scheduled for completion by December 1999. A schedule for work on the Phase 2 PRA Standard, which will deal with fire and external event initiators, and low power and shutdown operation, is under development,

11. Nuclear Plant Assessment, inspection and Enforcement Processes During the past month, the staff has continued to meet on a bi-weekly basis with NEl and other stakeholders to refine the proposed changes to its assessment, inspection and enforcement processes. Activities for the month included:

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• performance of an internal feasibility study related to the tools being developed to assess the significance of inspection findings. The results of this study are currently being assessed.

• selection of the nine plants which will be evaluated under the proposed Baseline

. Inspection Program between June and December 1999.

• drafting of new Baseline Inspection Program procedures.

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Ill. Status of issues in the Reactor Generic lasue Program There is no change in this area from the January 1999 report.

l IV. Nuclear Power Plants on the Watch List There is no change in this area from the January 1999 report for Millstone Unit 3, Clinton and LaSalle Units 1 and 2. A Commission briefing on the rerraining issues related to the proposed restart of Millstone Unit 2 is scheduled for April 14,1999.

V. Licensing Actions Licensing actions may be defined as requests for: license amendments, exemptions from regulations, relief from inspection or surveillance requirements, topical reports submitted on a plant-specific basis, notices of enforcement discretion, or other licensee requests requiring NRC review and approval before they can be implemented by the licensee. The FY 1999 NRC Performance Plan incorporates three output measures related to licensing actions. These are: size of the licensing action inventory, number of licensing action completions per year, and age of the licensing action inventory.

Other licensing tasks may be defined as: licensee responses to NRC requests for information through generic letters or bulletins, NRC responses to 10 CFR 2.206 petitions, NRC review of licensee topical reports, NRR responses to regional requests for assistance, and NRC review of licensee 10 CFR 50.59 analycos and FSAR updates. The FY 1999 NRC Performance Plan incorporates as an output measure the number of other licensing tasks completed.

1 The actual FY 1998 results, the FY 1999 goals and the FY 1999 results through January 31,1999, for the four NRC Perfortnance Plan output measures are shown in the following table.

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l-l PERFORMANCE PLAN Output Measure FY 1998 Actual FY 1999 Target ' FY 1999 Actual (through 1/31/99)

Licensing actions 1425 1670 545 completed per year Size of licensing 1113 1000 927 actions inventory Age of licensing 65.6% s 1 year; 80% s 1 year; 95% s 77.1%s 1 year; action inventory 86.0% s 2 years; and 2 years; and 100% s 91.4% s 2 years; and 95.4% s 3 years old 3 years old 96.8% s 3 years old Other licensing 1006 800 293 tasks comp leted per year in FY 1999, NRC increased resources available for completing licensing actions. This l reallocation is focused on achieving decreases in inventory size and increases in the number of )

completed licensing actions necessary to meet NRC goals by the end of the fiscal year. ,

However, the goal for the age of the inventory has historically not been met. NRC has  !

undertaken several initiatives to reduce the age of licensing action inventory. For instance, a i special management review of the older items in the inventory was initiated in mid-1998. For i each item, NRC management assessed status, identified and established success paths for l resolution, and established completion schedules. Monthly progress reports have been published and follow up management meetings have emphasized the need to meet established i schedules. With these enhancements, the NRC has made substantial progress towards meeting the licensing action age goal. j 1

The following charts demonstrate NRC's progress in meeting the four licensing action and other licensing task output measure goals.

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NoV I JAN 98 i MAR MAY I JUL l SEP l NoV I JAN 99 i MAR I MAY l JUL i SEP OCT 97 DEC FEB APR JUN AUG oCT DEC FEB APR JUN AUG VI. Status of Calvert Cliffs License Renewal Application I

All activities associated with the review of the CaWert Cliffs license renewal application are on ,

schedule. The staff issued on schedule, the proposed rulemaking to amend Part 51 to j designate high level waste transportation as a generic environmental impact for the purpose of I the license renewal review and issued the draft environmentalimpact statement supplement in support of renewal of the Calvert Cliffs license on February 24,1999, one week ahead of schedule.

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Vll. Status of Review of Private Fuel Storage, Limited Liability Corporation's (PFS) Application for a License to Operate an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) on the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) has recently admitted the Southern Utah l Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) as an additional party to the Private Fuel Storage proceeding.

l One SUWA contention was admitted, related to the proposal to build a rail spur from Low, Utah, l to the proposed ISFSFI site, primarily on Bureau of Land Management land. In a separate l ruling, the ASLB issued a revised hearing schedule for the PFS proceeding. Hearings on the safety contentions are now scheduled for November 1999 and July 2000. Hearings on the environmental contentions are scheduled for April 2001.

The staff's review of the PFS license application and development of the environmentalimpact statement remain on schedule.

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Vill. Summary of Reactor Enforcement by Region Peactor Enforcement Actions

• Region i Region 11 Region 111 Region IV TOTAL January 99 0 0 0 0 0 Severity FY 99 YTD 0 0 0 0 0 Level i FY 98 Total 0 0 0 0 0 January 99 0 0 0 0 0 Severity FY 99 YTD 1 0 1 0 2 Level 11 FY 98 Total 3 1 1 1 6 January 99 0 0 0 3 3 Severity FY 99 YTD 4 0 1 4 9 Levellli FY 98 Total 46 11 15 19 91 January 99 4 7 10 13 34 Severity FY 99 YTD 39 31 44 54 168 Level IV FY 98 Total 383 271 392 261 1307 January 99 19 9 27 22 77 Non- 4 Cited FY 99 YTD 105 47 85. 81 318 Severity Level IV FY 98 Total 372 240 307 214 1133

• Numbers of violations are based on enforcement action tracking (EATS) system data that may be subject to minor changes following verification. The number of Severity Leve! I, ll,111 listed refer to the number of Severity Level I,11, til violations or problems. The monthly totals generally lag by 30 days due to inspection report and enforcement development.

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i Description of Significant Actions (Severity Level 1,11, Ill) taken in January 1999

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Washington Public Power Supply System, WNo-2 Supplement 1 A Notice of Violation for a Severity Level ill violation was issued on January 11,1999.

The action was based on an inadequate fire protection system design which resulted in a rupture of the WNP-2 fire protection system which significantly impaired the safety capability of components in residual heat removal pump room C and the low prescure core spray room. The rupture occurred when a water hammer generated during preaction sprinkler system actuation in response to an actual fire detection system signal, cauced a fire main valve to fail. The resulting water from the running fire protection pumps entered a residual heat removal pump l room through an open watertight door and spread to the adjacent low pressure core spray

! pump room via a sump isolation valve that failed to close. The water completely submerged the residual heat removal pump and motor and the Division I and ll keepfill pumps and rose to just below the motor in the low pressure core spray pump room. Although this was not the first escalated enforcement action within the last 2 years, the civil penalty was fully mitigated because: (1) credit was given for identification, and (2) credit was given for corrective action.

Entergy Operations, Waterford-3 Supplement 111 A Notice of Violation for a Severity Level lll violation was issued on January 7,1909. The action was based on a failure to maintain required control of a copy of the Waterford-3 Physical Security Plan. Specifically, for approximately five hours, a copy of the plan was left unattended and unsecured in an office outside of the protected area of the Waterford-3 facility.

Entergy's investigation of this incident found no evidence that the information in the security plan had been compromised. The violation occurred because the individual who was routing the plan for approval did not aerure that the plan was under the positive control of an authorized person at all times, as required by Waterford-3 security procedures. In accordance with the NRC's enforcement policy, leaving a document containing significant safeguards information unattended outside of the protected area of a facility, where it is accessible to individuals who may not be authorized access to safoguards information or to the protected area, is a significant violation. The NRC considers such violations significant whether or not the information is compromised because of the potential for the compromise of information pertaining to the detailed security measures of the facility. Although this was not the first escalated enforcement action within the last 2 years, the civil penalty was fully mitigated because: (1) credit was given for identification, and (2) credit was given for corrective action.

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' Entergy Operations, River Bend Station  !

Supplement Vil A Notice of Violation for a Severity Level lli violation and proposed imposition of Civil Penalty in i the amount of $55,000 was issued on January 5,1999. This action was based on the i deliberate failure to provide the NRC with information that was complete and accurate in all j material respects, in violation of 10 CFR 50.9. Specifically, the violation involved deliberate i misconduct by a licensee manager, the Superintendent of Radiation Control, when he provided an NRC senior resident inspector information he knew was not accurate and not complete during a meeting on October 15,1997. During that meeting, the Superintendent of Radiation l Control showed the senior resident inspector four Radiation Work Permits (RWPs) that a j technician signed onto during the period October 10-15,1997 and stated that none of the RWPs were violated because none of the RWPs required " minimum booties and gloves."

, Instead the RWPs allowed a technician to determine the protective clothing requirements.

l However, the Superintendent did not present the version of RWP 97-0002 that had been in effect on October 10,1997. A base civil penalty was proposed in this case because: (1) the violation was considered willful, and (2) credit was not warranted for identification. However, credit was given for corrective action.

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