ML110630315

End of Cycle Assessment Letter - Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 (NRC Inspection Report 05000391/2011601)

ML110630315
Person / Time
Site:	Watts Bar
Issue date:	03/04/2011
From:	Haag R NRC/RGN-II/DCP/CPB3
To:	Bhatnagar A Tennessee Valley Authority
References
IR-11-601
Download: ML110630315 (8)

See also: IR 05000391/2011601

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION II

245 PEACHTREE CENTER AVE., NE., SUITE 1200

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-1257

March 4, 2011

Mr. Ashok S. Bhatnagar

Senior Vice President

Nuclear Generation Development and Construction

Tennessee Valley Authority

6A Lookout Place

1101 Market Street

Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT: END OF CYCLE ASSESSMENT LETTER - WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT

UNIT 2 (NRC INSPECTION REPORT 05000391/2011601)

Dear Mr. Bhatnagar:

On February 10, 2011, the NRC staff completed its performance review of the Watts Bar

Nuclear Plant Unit 2 construction project. Our technical staff reviewed inspection results for the

period from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. The purpose of this letter is to inform

you of our assessment of your safety performance during this period and our plans for future

inspections at your facility.

Overall, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 construction activities were conducted in a manner that

complied with the Commissions rules and regulations, the conditions of your construction

permit, and the Unit 2 regulatory framework commitments. Our inspections indicated that your

construction program and procedure development, along with project staffing, were sufficiently

implemented to support ongoing construction activities. Overall, the corrective action program

implementation activities, including initiation, classification, disposition, and trending were

deemed satisfactory; however, our Problem Identification and Resolution inspection identified

some concerns with the completeness and adequacy your corrective actions. In addition, for

violation (VIO) 005000391/2010603-08, Failure to Adequately Evaluate and Qualify Molded

Case Circuit Breakers, your staff has not provided the NRC the corrective actions necessary to

ensure the molded case circuit breakers are seismically qualified and would perform their

safety-related function during a worst case design basis accident. The NRC staff will continue

to inspect the implementation of your corrective action program to ensure problems are

promptly identified and adequately resolved.

Our inspections of construction activities have identified several concerns with the cleanliness

and material condition of components and systems. For both primary and secondary system

piping, NRC inspectors questioned whether your plans were adequate to: 1) establish

cleanliness to levels that TVA committed to, and 2) address the existing material condition of

piping which included pitting, arc strikes, mechanical damage, and corrosion. In addition, debris

your staff found in a steam generator raised concerns regarding extent of condition and safety

consequence if the material had not been identified The NRC staff will continue to inspect this

area to ensure that the quality requirements are met through the implementation of your

refurbishment program.

TVA 2

We have increased our inspections to monitor the controls established to ensure Unit 2

construction activities do not adversely affect Unit 1 operations. These controls have become

increasingly important as the pace of construction and testing activities on shared systems and

in common areas of the plant have increased.

A cross-cutting theme was identified in the Work Practices component of the Human

Performance cross-cutting area for the failure to effectively communicate expectations regarding

procedural compliance and that personnel follow procedures. This cross-cutting theme was

evaluated by the NRC staff to determine if a Substantive Cross-Cutting Issue existed. The

evaluation considered whether your staff recognized the theme and initiated timely and effective

corrective actions to prevent recurrence of the theme. It was noted that the four findings

comprising the cross-cutting theme were from diverse areas within the construction project and

the cross-cutting theme has been captured in your corrective action program. Because two of

the four findings with Work Practices cross-cutting aspects were documented in last quarters

inspection report (05000391/2010605), our staff needs more time to assess the effectiveness of

your corrective actions. Therefore, the NRC staff cannot make a determination on whether a

Substantive Cross-Cutting Issue exists at this time. Our staff will revisit this issue once

corrective actions have been implemented.

In conclusion, project performance for the most recent quarter, as well as for the previous three

quarters of the assessment cycle, was acceptable based on the above inspection conclusions,

the fact that all violations were classified as severity level IV or below, and that no substantive

cross-cutting issues were identified. Therefore, we do not plan to expand our inspection

activities beyond what is specified by Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 2517.

As you were previously notified by letters from Mr. Eric Leeds, Director, Nuclear Reactor

Regulation, dated January 27, 2011, and Mr. Stephen J. Campbell, Chief, Watts Bar Special

Projects Branch, dated July 28, 2010, the staff has identified the need to improve the timeliness

and quality of your documentation submittals related to your operating license (OL) application.

This concern has the potential to impact the timely completion of the NRCs licensing review

program. In addition, timely completion of the NRCs construction inspection program for Watts

Bar Unit 2 is highly dependent on quality support by your staff, which includes developing

closure packages that document your actions related to the applicable area of inspection.

The enclosed inspection plan contains those major or infrequent projected inspection activities

that we have currently identified, in part, by reviewing your project schedule. It is crucial that

you keep us apprised of any project schedule changes as soon as they are identified, in order to

maintain our inspection plan current. As additional details of your project schedule become

available, we will plan other inspections specified in IMC 2517. Your staff will be informed of

changes/ additions to our inspection plans. Routine inspections performed by the resident

inspectors and regional staff on construction activities, Corrective Active Programs (CAPs),

Special Programs (SPs), Generic Communications, historical open items, and construction

deficiency reports (CDRs) are not listed on the inspection plan due to their ongoing and

continuous nature. We plan to give your staff ample notification of specific upcoming inspection

activities as their schedule becomes available in order to allow for the resolution of any

scheduling conflicts and personnel availability issues.

TVA 3

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs Rules of Practice, a copy of this letter and its

enclosure will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document

Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRCs 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 (404) 997-4446 with any questions you may have regarding this letter or

our planned inspections.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Robert C. Haag, Chief

Construction Projects Branch 3

Division of Construction Projects

Docket No. 50-391

Construction Permit No: CPPR-92

Enclosure

cc: (See next page)

ML110630315 P SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE

OFFICE RII:DCP RII:DCP

SIGNATURE JBB Via Email

NAME JBaptist TNazario

DATE 3/3/2011 3/4/2011

E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO

TVA 4

cc w/encl:

Mr. Gordon P. Arent Mr. M. J. Hellstern

Manager General Manager

New Generation Licensing NGDC Governance & Oversight

Nuclear Generation Development Tennessee Valley Authority

and Construction 3A Blue Ridge Place

WBN Nuclear Plant 1101 Market Street

P.O. Box 2000 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

Mr. R. M. Krich

Mr. David Stinson Vice President

Vice President Nuclear Licensing

WBN Unit Two Tennessee Valley Authority

WBN Nuclear Plant 3R Lookout Place

Tennessee Valley Authority 1101 Market Street

P.O. Box 2000 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

Mr. E. J. Vigluicci

Mr. Chris Ridel, Interim Manager Assistant General Counsel

Licensing and Industry Affairs Tennessee Valley Authority

WBN Nuclear Plant 6A West Tower

Tennessee Valley Authority 400 West Summit Hill Drive

P.O. Box 2000 Knoxville, Tennessee 37402

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

Mr. Lawrence E. Nanney, Director

Mr. Preston D. Swafford Tennessee Department of Environmental

Chief Nuclear Officer Health and Conservation

and Executive Vice President Division of Radiological Health

Tennessee Valley Authority 3rd Floor, L&C Annex

3R Lookout Place 401 Church Street

1101 Market Place Nashville, TN 37243-1532

Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

Mr. D. E. Grissette

County Executive Site Vice President

375 Church Street WBN Nuclear Plant

Suite 215 Tennessee Valley Authority

Dayton, Tennessee 37321 P.O. Box 2000

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

Mr. W. D. Crouch, Manager

WBN Unit 2 Licensing County Mayor

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant P.O. Box 156

Tennessee Valley Authority Decatur, Tennessee 37322

P.O. Box 2000

Spring City, Tennessee 37381 Senior Resident Inspector

WBN Nuclear Plant

Mr. Gregory A. Boerschig U.S. NRC

Plant Manager, WBN Nuclear Plant 1260 Nuclear Plant Road

Tennessee Valley Authority Spring City, Tennessee 37381-2000

P.O. Box 2000

Spring City, Tennessee 37381

TVA 5

cc email distribution w/encl:

Greg Scott

Tennessee Valley Authority

Electronic Mail Distribution

Watts Bar Unit 2 Licensing

Tennessee Valley Authority

Electronic Mail Distribution

Letter to Ashok S. Bhatnagar from Robert C. Haag dated March 4, 2011.

SUBJECT: END OF CYCLE ASSESSMENT LETTER - WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT

UNIT 2 (NRC INSPECTION REPORT 05000391/2011601)

Distribution w/encl:

S. Campbell, NRR

L. Raghavan, NRR

J. Wiebe, NRR

P. Milano, NRR

C. Evans, RII

S. Lewis, RII EICS

E. Guthrie, RII DRP

R. Monk, RII Watts Bar Unit 1 SRI

PUBLIC

Inspection Plan

Watts Bar Unit 2*

Inspection Activity Calendar Quarter for Inspection

First Quarter 2011

Integrated Design Inspection Program (IP 93814) Team Inspection

First Quarter 2011

Hanger CAP Inspection (IP 50090)

Team Inspection

Second Quarter 2011

Problem Identification and Resolution (IP 35007)

Team Inspection

Pre-operational Testing Inspection of the Emergency Raw

Second Quarter 2011

Cooling Water system (IMC 2513)

EQ Inspection Second Quarter 2011

Inspection / Audit of activities implemented per 10CFR

Third Quarter 2011

50.54(hh).2

Cyber Security Inspection (Temporary Instruction under

Fourth Quarter 2011

development)

Construction Refurbishment Process (IP 37002) Ongoing

• The inspections listed above are limited to major or infrequently performed inspections. They

are in addition to routine inspections performed by the resident inspectors and regional staff

such as inspections of routine construction activities, CAPs, SPs, Generic Communications and

historical open items.

Enclosure