ML101690081

Reply to Tennessee Valley Authority Letter Dated 05/18/2010, Regarding Inspection Report No. 05000259-10-007, 05000260-10-007 and 05000296-10-007, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

ML101690081
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	06/17/2010
From:	Kennedy K Division of Reactor Safety II
To:	Krich R Tennessee Valley Authority
References
EA-09-307
Download: ML101690081 (4)

See also: IR 05000259/2010007

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION II

245 PEACHTREE CENTER AVENUE NE, SUITE 1200

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-1257

June 17, 2010

EA-09-307

Mr. R. M. Krich

Vice President, Nuclear Licensing

Tennessee Valley Authority

3R Lookout Place

1101 Market Street

Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT: REPLY TO TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY LETTER DATED MAY 18,

2010, REGARDING INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000259/2010007,

05000260/2010007, AND 05000296/2010007, BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR

PLANT

Dear Mr. Krich:

Thank you for your letter dated May 18, 2010, from Mr. K.J. Polson, Browns Ferry Site Vice

President, in response to our Notice of Violation (EA-09-307) dated April 19, 2010. The Notice

of Violation described two violations that were identified during an inspection conducted by the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The first violation involved multiple examples of failure

to satisfy the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix R, Sections III.G.1 and III.G.2. The

second violation involved an inappropriate revision to the Browns Ferry post-fire safe shutdown

instruction entry conditions, which resulted in the safe shutdown instruction not meeting the

requirements of Technical Specification 5.4.1.

With regard to the first violation, we understand that full compliance with the requirements of

10 CFR 50.48(c), without relying on compensatory measures, will be achieved upon completing

the implementation of the transition to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 805,

Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric Generating

Plants 2001 Edition. You further stated that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plans to

initiate fire protection program improvements prior to completion of the transition to NFPA 805,

and plans to prioritize these improvements based on those with greater impact on overall fire

risk reduction. We understand that you have implemented compensatory measures, in

accordance with your fire protection program, to address all non-compliances with 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix R, Sections III.G.1 and III.G.2. These compensatory measures, which include fire

watches and operator manual actions, will remain in effect until full compliance with the

regulation is achieved. In addition, you stated that you have evaluated the most critical operator

manual actions and revised safe shutdown instructions to include independent confirmation of

TVA 2

actions, to improve the likelihood of success. To further reduce the risk associated with this

violation, you have posted fire watches as additional compensatory measures.

The current enforcement discretion policy provides for up to 3 years of discretion during your

transition to NFPA 805. In a letter dated March 4, 2009, TVA stated its intent to adopt NFPA

805, as the licensing basis for the Browns Ferry fire protection program. Therefore, the staff

anticipates that you will submit your license amendment request by March 4, 2012. After

reviewing your license amendment request, if the NRC approves your request in a safety

evaluation report, the NRC will include a license condition identifying the date by which you

must complete the transition by performing the appropriate plant changes (e.g., changes to fire

protection procedures to comply with 10 CFR 50.48(c)). The date by which you are required to

complete your transition will be based on the nature of changes that you plan to implement. By

that date, you will be required to comply with your fire protection program without relying on any

long-term compensatory measures.

Based on corrective actions taken to date, your docketed intention to transition your fire

protection licensing basis to NFPA 805, and the enforcement discretion policy, as well as dates

that NRC plans to impose on you via a license condition in the safety evaluation report, we find

that your response to the Notice of Violation meets the intent of 10 CFR 2.201 with respect to

providing a date for obtaining full compliance.

We have reviewed your response to the second violation (Technical Specification 5.4.1), and

find that that it meets the requirements of 10 CFR 2.201. In your response you stated that full

compliance was achieved when you restored the entry conditions to those which were in place

prior to the revision. You also described additional actions you plan to take to address the

reasons this violation occurred.

We will review the adequacy and status of your corrective actions during a supplemental

inspection utilizing NRC Inspection Procedure 95002, once you have indicated you are ready for

this inspection. In addition, we will monitor your progress in transitioning your fire protection

licensing basis to NFPA 805, through routine baseline inspections, including the resident and

triennial fire protection inspections. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs Rules of

Practice, a copy of this letter will be made available electronically for public inspection in the

NRC Public Document Room or from the NRCs document system (ADAMS), accessible from

the Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Kriss M. Kennedy, Director

Division of Reactor Safety

Docket Nos.: 50-259, 50-260, 50-296

License Nos.: DPR-33, DPR-52, DPR-68

cc: See page 3

TVA 3

cc:

K. J. Polson Senior Resident Inspector

Vice President U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

Tennessee Valley Authority U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

P.O. Box 2000 10833 Shaw Road

Decatur, AL 35609 Athens, AL 35611-6970

J.J. Randich

General Manager

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

Tennessee Valley Authority

P.O. Box 2000

Decatur, AL 35609

F.R. Godwin

Manager, Licensing and Industry Affairs

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

Tennessee Valley Authority

P.O. Box 2000

Decatur, AL 35609

E. J. Vigluicci

Assistant General Counsel

Tennessee Valley Authority

6A West Tower

400 West Summit Hill Drive

Knoxville, TN 37902

State Health Officer

Alabama Dept. of Public Health

RSA Tower - Administration

Suite 1552

P.O. Box 30317

Montgomery, AL 36130-3017

Chairman

Limestone County Commission

310 West Washington Street

Athens, AL 35611

James L. McNees, CHP

Director

Office of Radiation Control

Alabama Dept. of Public Health

P. O. Box 303017

Montgomery, AL 36130-3017

_________________________ G SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE

OFFICE RII:DRS RII:DRS RII:EICS RII:DRS

SIGNATURE RA RA RA VIA EMAIL RA

NAME MTHOMAS RNEASE CEVANS KKENNEDY

DATE 6/17/2010 6/17/2010 6/17/2010 6/17/2010

E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO