ML15174A165
| ML15174A165 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | La Crosse File:Dairyland Power Cooperative icon.png |
| Issue date: | 06/22/2015 |
| From: | Pederson C Region 3 Administrator |
| To: | Nick B Dairyland Power Cooperative |
| References | |
| EA-15-026 IR 2014001, IR 2014008 | |
| Download: ML15174A165 (6) | |
See also: IR 05000409/2014008
Text
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGION III
2443 WARRENVILLE RD. SUITE 210
LISLE, IL 60532-4352
June 22, 2015
Ms. Barbara A. Nick
President and CEO
Dairyland Power Cooperative
3200 East Avenue S.
P.O. Box 817
La Crosse, WI 54602-0817
SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION - LA CROSSE BOILING WATER REACTOR
INDEPENDENT SPENT FUEL STORAGE INSTALLATION - NRC INSPECTION
REPORT NOS. 07200046/2014001(DNMS) AND 05000409/2014008(DNMS)
Dear Ms. Nick:
This letter refers to the inspection conducted on December 15 through 18, 2014, at Dairyland
Power Cooperatives La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor independent spent fuel storage
installation near Genoa, Wisconsin, with continued in office review through February 24, 2015.
During the inspection three apparent emergency preparedness violations of U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) requirements were identified. The significance of the issues and
the need for lasting and effective corrective actions were discussed with you during the
preliminary exit meeting on December 18, 2014, and during a telephone exit meeting with
members of your staff on February 24, 2015. Details regarding the apparent violations were
provided in NRC Inspection Report Nos. 07200046/2014001(DNMS) and
05000409/2014008(DNMS), dated March 26, 2015. The inspection report can be found in the
NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at Accession
Number ML15085A562. ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
In the letter transmitting the inspection report, we provided you with the opportunity to address
the apparent violations identified in the report in one of three ways: (1) by providing a written
response; (2) by requesting a predecisional enforcement conference; or (3) by attending an
alternative dispute resolution (ADR) session. In a letter dated April 21, 2015 (ML15128A267),
you provided a written response to the apparent violations. Your response stated, in part, that
while you did not contest the apparent violations, you believed they more clearly represented
Severity Level IV non-cited violations (NCVs).
Based on the information developed during the inspection and the information that you provided
in your response to the inspection report, the NRC has determined that two violations of NRC
requirements occurred. These violations are cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice)
and the circumstances surrounding them are described in detail in the subject inspection report.
The first violation involves the failure to submit a license amendment to the NRC for changes in
your Emergency Plan that reduced its effectiveness prior to implementing those changes. The
B. Nick -2-
second violation involves the failure to follow your approved Emergency Plan for operations
personnel staffing, and conducting emergency drills and exercises in accordance with the
frequency specified in the plan.
Your staffs decision to eliminate operations personnel staffing during nights and weekends, and
reducing the frequency of drills impacted your ability to assess emergency conditions, which
potentially could have led to a failure to declare and appropriately respond to emergencies.
Additionally, your staffs actions in determining that changes to the Emergency Plan did not
require prior NRC approval resulted in changes being made that were not in accordance with
NRC requirements and reduced the effectiveness of the emergency plan. The root cause of
both these violations appeared to be ineffective management of Emergency Plan changes;
therefore, these violations are categorized collectively, in accordance with the NRC
Enforcement Policy, as a Severity Level III problem.
In your response letter, dated April 21, 2015, you requested that the severity level of the
violations be categorized at Severity Level IV. Your response stated the apparent Severity
Level III violations were similar to other non-cited Severity Level IV violations recently issued to
shut down plants where changes were made to their emergency plans that reduced the
effectiveness without prior NRC review. The NRC reviewed your response and the recently
issued NCVs and noted that the changes to emergency plans for the recently issued NCVs
involved staffing reductions of emergency plan support personnel which were not related to
assessing, declaring or mitigating emergency conditions. The NRC concluded that the staffing
changes to your plan included the removal of the Operations Shift Supervisor during night shifts
and weekends. In an emergency event, the Operations Shift Supervisor was the Emergency
Response Director, was trained and qualified to perform radiological assessments, and was
responsible for declaring and mitigating emergency conditions. Therefore, the NRC determined
that the change to your emergency plan most closely resembled the Severity Level III
Enforcement Policy example which describes the case where a licensees ability to meet or
implement any regulatory requirements related to assessment or notification is degraded such
that the effectiveness of the emergency plan is decreased.
In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, a base civil penalty in the amount of $17,500
is considered for a Severity Level III problem. Because your facility has not been the subject of
escalated enforcement actions within the last two inspections, the NRC considered whether
credit was warranted for Corrective Action in accordance with the civil penalty assessment
process in Section 2.3.4 of the Enforcement Policy. The NRC determined credit was warranted
for Corrective Action based on your corrective actions which included: requiring all
decommissioning and dismantlement work be conducted only during times when adequate
staffing was available to address any potential contamination release, and submitting changes
to the Emergency Plan for NRC review, which were subsequently approved.
Therefore, to encourage prompt and comprehensive correction of violations, and in recognition
of the absence of previous escalated enforcement action, I have been authorized, after
consultation with the Director, Office of Enforcement, not to propose a civil penalty in this case.
However, significant violations in the future could result in a civil penalty. In addition, issuance
of this Severity Level III violation constitutes escalated enforcement action that may subject you
to increased inspection effort.
B. Nick -3-
The NRC has concluded that information regarding: (1) the reason for the violation(s); (2) the
corrective actions that have been taken and the results achieved; and (3) the date when full
compliance was achieved is already adequately addressed on the docket in your letter, dated
April 21, 2015. Therefore, you are not required to respond to this letter unless the description
therein does not accurately reflect your corrective actions or your position. In that case, or if you
choose to provide additional information, you should follow the instructions specified in the
enclosed Notice.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's Rules of Practice, a copy of this letter, its
enclosure, and your response, if you provide one, will be made available electronically for public
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room and in ADAMS. To the extent possible, any
response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that
it can be made available to the Public without redaction. If personal privacy or proprietary
information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide a bracketed copy of
your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of
your response that deletes such information. If you request withholding of such information, you
must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and
provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of
information will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information
required by 10 CFR 2.390(b) to support a request for withholding confidential commercial or
financial information). The NRC also includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading rm/doc collections/enforcement/actions.
Sincerely,
/RA Darrell Roberts Acting for/
Cynthia D. Pederson
Regional Administrator
Docket Nos. 050-00409; 072-00046
License No. DPR-45; General Licensee (ISFSI)
Enclosure:
Notice of Violation
NOTICE OF VIOLATION
Dairyland Power Cooperative Docket Nos. 050-00409; 072-00046
La Crosse, Wisconsin License No. DPR-45; General Licensee (ISFSI)
During a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection conducted between
December 15, 2014 and February 24, 2015, violations of NRC requirements were identified.
In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the violations are listed below:
A. Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.54(q) (4) requires, in part, that
changes to a licensee's emergency plan that reduce the effectiveness of the plan may not
be implemented without prior approval by the NRC. It further requires that a licensee
desiring to make such a change after February 21, 2012, shall submit an application for
an amendment to its license.
Contrary to the above, on October 29, 2012, the licensee failed to receive NRC approval
prior to implementing a change to its emergency plan that reduced its effectiveness.
Specifically, the licensee did not submit a license amendment application for the
changes to their Emergency Plan that included removing twelve plant related events,
eliminating the Alert classification, reducing the frequency of emergency exercises from
annual to biennial, and eliminating one hour staff augmentation requirements, which the
NRC determined to have reduced the effectiveness of the plan.
B. 10 CFR 50.54(q)(2) requires, in part, that a licensee follow and maintain the
effectiveness of an emergency plan that meets the requirements in 10 CFR Part 50,
Appendix E, and, for nuclear power reactor licensees, the planning standards of
La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor Emergency Plan, Revision 31, dated May 2011,
Section A.1.1 Plant Emergency Response Organization, in part, assigned the authority
and responsibility for Emergency Plan activation to the Operations Shift Supervisor, and
specified that on-shift personnel would assume positions in the Plant Emergency
Response Organization and be augmented by additional members of the plant staff as
they became available.
Section E.2.2.1, Plant Emergency Plan Exercises, required plant exercises to be
conducted annually to evaluate the overall response and emergency capability.
Section E.2.3 Drills, required performing the following types of drills at the specified
frequency: fire drills were to be conducted annually, medical emergency drills were to be
conducted annually, and health physics drills were to be conducted annually.
Contrary to the above, the licensee failed to follow and maintain the effectiveness of its
Emergency Plan. Specifically:
1. From September 20, 2012, to October 26, 2012, and from October 30, 2012, to
September 8, 2014, the licensee failed to follow their approved Emergency Plan for
plant normal work staff and normal night shift staffing. The licensee eliminated the
Operations Shift Supervisor and Operator staffing on weekends and the normal night
shift. The Operations Shift Supervisor was the Emergency Response Director trained
Enclosure
Notice of Violation -2-
and qualified to perform radiological assessments and responsible for declaring and
mitigating emergency conditions.
2. From June 20, 2011, through December 31, 2013, the licensee failed to follow their
approved Emergency Plan for conducting exercises and drills. The licensee failed to
perform an annual plant emergency exercise from 2011 through 2013, and failed to
perform both plant and ISFSI annual drills from 2011 to 2013, including fire drills in
2011 and 2012, a medical drill in 2013, and a health physics drill in 2012.
This a Severity Level III problem (Section 6.6)
The NRC has concluded that information regarding the reason for the violations, the corrective
actions taken and planned to correct the violations and prevent recurrence, and the date when
full compliance was achieved, is already adequately addressed on the docket in a letter from the
licensee, dated April 21, 2015. However, you are required to submit a written statement or
explanation pursuant to 10 CFR 2.201 if the description herein does not accurately reflect your
corrective actions or your position. In that case, or if you choose to respond, clearly mark your
response as a Reply to a Notice of Violation, EA-15-026, and send it to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, DC 20555-0001 with a
copy to the Regional Administrator, Region III, within 30 days of the date of the letter
transmitting this Notice of Violation.
If you contest this enforcement action, you should also provide a copy of your response, with
the basis for your denial, to the Director, Office of Enforcement, United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
If you choose to respond, your response will be made available electronically for public
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Therefore, to the extent possible, the response
should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be
made available to the Public without redaction.
In accordance with 10 CFR 19.11, you may be required to post this Notice within two working
days of receipt.
Dated this 22nd day of June, 2015
OFFICE RIII RIII RIII OE RIII RIII
NAME Lambert Orlikowski Louden Hilton 1 Heller for Roberts for
Skokowski Pederson
DATE 06/02/15 06/03/15 06/04/15 06/16/15 06/18/15 06/22/15
Letter to Barbara A. Nick from Cynthia D. Pederson dated June 22, 2015
SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION - LA CROSSE BOILING WATER REACTOR
INDEPENDENT SPENT FUEL STORAGE INSTALLATION - NRC INSPECTION
REPORT 07200046/2014001(DNMS) AND 05000409/2014008(DNMS)
DISTRIBUTION:
RidsSecyMailCenter Richard Skokowski
OCADistribution Holly Harrington
Mark Satorius Hubert Bell
Michael Weber Cheryl McCrary
Patricia Holahan David DAbate
Nick Hilton Patrick Louden
Cynthia Pederson Robert Orlikowski
Marian Zobler Wayne Slawinski
Pamela Henderson Harral Logaras
Michele Burgess James Lynch
Brien Holien Prema Chandrathil
Michael Layton Kenneth Lambert
Brice Bickett Magdalena Gryglak
David Gamberoni Sarah Bakhsh
Michael Hay Jim Clay
RidsOemailCenter
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