An NRC-identified apparent violation (
AV) of
10 CFR 50.47(b)(4) was identified. This
AV, which has low to moderate safety significance, occurred because the Oyster Creek
E-Plan EAL matrix was not properly utilized to determine if a plant parameter met the
EAL threshold for declaring an emergency classification. This resulted in not recognizing during an actual event, that plant parameters met the
EAL thresholds for declaring a UE and a subsequent Alert. Immediate corrective actions were taken in which shift crews were retrained on the implementation of
E-Plan requirements. The finding is greater than minor because it is associated with the
EP cornerstone attribute of response organization (
RO) performance (actual event response). It affects the cornerstone objective of ensuring the capability to implement measures to protect the health and safety of the public during an emergency. The licensee did not use the Oyster Creek
E-Plan EAL matrix when plant parameters met the
EAL thresholds for declaring a UE and a subsequent Alert. As a consequence, both the onsite and offsite
EROs were not activated during actual Alert conditions. Had the event degraded further, the onsite
ERO would not have been readily available to assist in the mitigation of the event and the offsite agencies could have been prevented from taking initial offsite response measures. This finding is of low to moderate safety significance because it constituted a failure to implement a Risk Significant Planning Standard during an actual event in which plant conditions met an Alert. The cause of the finding is related to the cross-cutting element of human performance (personnel). (Section 3.1)