ML20128G436

Responds to Memo Re Safety Problems at Four NPPs in Connecticut Which May Extend to Other Nuclear Power Stations in New England Over Which Neut May Have Some Influence.Table of Plants Encl

ML20128G436
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone, Seabrook, Vermont Yankee, Haddam Neck, Maine Yankee  File:Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co icon.png
Issue date:	10/07/1996
From:	Varga S NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
To:	Chaney G AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
Shared Package
ML20128G440	List: ML20128G436 ML20128G498
References
NUDOCS 9610090036
Download: ML20128G436 (6)

Text

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[ t UNITED STATES j

g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o WASHINGTON, D.C. 30566 4 001 k . . . , + ,o' October 7, 1996 Mr. Glenn Cheney Post Office Box 284 Hanover, CT 06350

Dear; Mr. Cheney:

I am responding to your message of August 20, 1996, that you sent electronically to Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In your message, you expressed concern that the safety problems uncovered at the four nuclear power stations in Connecticut may extend to the other hu & ar power stations in New England over which Northeast Utilities (NU) may have mme influence. To allay this concern, you called for these plants to be thuld an and inspected in greater detail.

There are seven nucleuf power plant sites in New England: Millstone and Haddam Neck in Connecticut, Pilgrim and Yankee Rowe in Massachusetts, Seabrook in New Hampshire, Maine Yankee in Maine, and Vermont Yankee in Vermont.

Through several wholly owned subsidiaries, NU has various fractions of ownership interest in all of them except Pilgrim. One of these facilities, Yankee Rowe, was shut down permanently in February 1991 and is being decommissioned, and, as you are aware, Millstone Units 1, 2, and 3 and Haddam Neck are currently shut down. Of the remaining nuclear power stations, NU l subsidiaries collectively own the shares shown in the enclosed table.

The NRC requires licensees to operate their facilities in conformance with NRC regulatory requirements, including those specified in NRC regulations, the operating license, and the facility's Technicai Specifications. The licensee is responsible for ensuring that the plant is operated in accordance with NRC regulatory requirements, and the NRC monitors the licensee's compliance with these requirements through its inspection program.

However, the Millstone Station performance has been of concern to the NRC for the last 5 years. NU has had limited success in resolving significant performance concerns with procedural adherence, work control and tagging, i ineffective communications and teamwork among organizations, continued weaknesses in correcting identified problems, poor self assessment and quality verification, and inappropriate response to employee safety concerns.

Due to NU's failure to achieve a sustained level of performance improvements at Millstone and the continuing concerns for NU's effectiveness in resolving safety concerns, the Millstone Station has been placed on the NRC's Watch List 1j as a Category 3 plant. Plants in this category are having or have had significant weaknesses that warrant maintaining the plant in a shutdown [) jl condition until the licensee can demonstrate to the NRC that adequate programs '

have both been established and implemented to ensure substantial improvement.

1 9610090036 961007 nee.

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Mr. Glenn Cheney -

2-At Haddam Neck, the NRC inspection history has not revealed deficiencies similar in number and nature to that at the Millstone Station, but because of a recent operational occurrence and the discovery of several design deficiencies, there has been increased NRC inspection activity at this station.

The Millstone units are operated by Northeast Energy Service Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of NU, and Seabrook is operated by North Atlantic Energy Service Corporation, also a wholly owned subsidiary of NU. At Haddam Neck, Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company has designated Northeast Energy Service Company to provide certain services such as engineering, design, and construction and to provide support services for licensing, maintenance, and operation (this list is not all-inclusive). The management and technical support organization at Haddam Neck consists of personnel from both <

Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company and Northeast Energy Service Company, and the corresponding executive positions in both companies are held by the same individual.

The NRC is concerned that similar problems could arise with NU's operation of Seabrook. However, to date, the NRC has not identified issues at this facility that could indicate the kind of problems observed at Millstone. A recent integrated performance inspection (Inspection Report 50-443/96-80, dated April 3,1996) found many strengths in the operation of Seabrook.

Nonetheless, the NRC will continue to evaluate the corrective actions being taken by NU at Millstone for their applicability at Seabrook.

NU and NU subsidiaries are not directly involved with the operation of Maine Yankee and Vermont Yankee. Any influence that NU might have upon the conduct of operations at these power stations would be through decisions and actions taken by the respective Boards of Directors. Because of its minority representation on the Boards of Directors of Maine Yankee and Vermont Yankee, NU has limited influence upon decisions reached by the boards. This is unlike the operating arrangements at the Millstone, Haddam Neck, and Seabrook sites at which there is a much closer relationship to NU. Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (MYAPCo) has 18 directors and 9 executive officers. Of these, only three directors are also associated with NU or NU subsidiaries, and none of these individuals are directly involved with the day-to-day operation of Maine Yankee. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation has 16 directors and 10 executive officers. Of these, only two directors are also associated with NU or NU subsidiaries, and neither of these individuals are directly involved with the day-to-day operation of Vermont Yankee.

With regard to Maine Yankee, the NRC is performing an independent safety assessment at Maine Yankee to evaluate, among other issues, the conformance of the plant to its design and licensing bases. The safety assessment will also evaluate Maine Yankee's compliance with selected NRC requirements, as does the normal inspection precess. The NRC expects to complete its report of the independent safety assessment by October 1996. If information becomes available that indicates that the licensee is not in full compliance with the facility Technical Specifications or other NRC requirements, the NRC will consider taking enforcement action, as appropriate. However, the NRC staff's gwu - - , -=-

Mr. Glenn Chaney actions to date are not based on circumstances that could be attributed to participation by NU senior officials on the Board of Directors of Maine Yankee.

With regard to the plants not on the Watch List, the NRC staff will continue to rely upon its inspection program through which the NRC monitors compliance with regulations. Additionally, NRC senior managers routinely review the I overall operation of the nuclear facilities and identify any trends in performance and their potential causes. The NRC also periodically evaluates overall performance through its program of systematic assessment of if censee performance to provide utilities with NRC's aggregate view of facilit,t operation and to ensure that appropriate additional inspections will e scheduled. By these inspection and evaluation programs, the NRC asst ses performance along with compliance with regulations.

I Sincerely, (Original Signed By)

Steven A. Varga, Director Division of Reactor Projects - I/II Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Enclosure:

Table of Plants Docket Nos. 50-245, 50-336, 50-423, 50-309, 50-443, 50-271, and 50-213 DISTRIBUTION:

Docket Files (w/o' rig R. Zimmerraan N. Olson incoming) A. Thadani H. Miller, R-I PUBLIC (w/ incoming) T. Martin J. Durr, R-I EDO #96664 S. Varga W. Lanning, R-I NUPD Reading (w/inc) J. Zwolinski SECY # CRC-96-0922 J. Taylor P. McKee J. Moore, OGC J. Milhoan P. Milano .

C. Marco, OGC H. Thompson A. DeAgaizio (w/inc) OPA J. Blaha L. Berry OCA K. Cyr, OGC K. Bohrer, NRR Mail Room J. Lieberman, OE (ED0#96664)

MXBXMKl/F. Miraglia C. Norsworthy DOCUMENT NAME: GT96664.GRN *See previous concurrence To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box: "C" - Copy without attachment / enclosure "E" - Copy with attachment / enclosure "N" - No copy.

OFF6CE PM:NUPO l LA:NU5)$ PD;NUPD l TechEd l D:9AfM ADPR l OGC ( l} .

NAME ADeA 9sso' LSerry } Q PMcKee' BCaiure ' !i)NU$s) RZwnrnerrnan

• JMoore DATE 09/19/96 O$/L /96 ' 09/19/96 09/19/96 ye/fp96 10/01/96 p$/1/96

/C 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY '

9 y *. V-

TABLE OF OPERATING PLANTS HAVING SOME PORTION OF OWNERSHIP BY NORTHEAST UTILITIES

'4 Facility Name NU/ Subsidiary Operating Share - Percent Company Haddam Neck 49 Conn. Yankee Atomic Power Co.

Millstone Unit 1 100 Northeast Energy Service Co.

Millstone Unit 2 100 Northeast Energy Service Co.

Millstone Unit 3 68 Northeast Energy Service Co. 1 Maine Yankee 20 Maine Yankee  !

Atomic Power Co.

Vermont Yankee 16 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.

Seabrook Unit 1 40 North Atlantic Energy Service Corp.

1 Enclosure

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} EDO Principal Correspondence Control t FROMt. DUE: '09/30/96 EDO CONTROL: GT96664 DOC DT: 08/20/96 Glen Cheney FINAL REPLY:

' TO t I

Chairman Jackson l FOR SIGNATURE OF  : ** GRN **

CRC NO: 96-0922 DESC i ROUTING:

{

CONCERNS RE RECENT PROBLEMS WITH NORTHEAST Taylor UTILITIES NUCLEAR REACTORS IN CONNECTICUT Milhoan Thompson Blaha Russell, NRR HMiller, RI DATE: 08/29/96 Lieberman, OE ASSIGNED TO: CONTACT:

I NRR Russell SPECIAL IN RUCTIONS OR REMARKS: ^

i Ticket reissued - Not a 2.206 per  :

Steve Burns, OGC 9/3/96.

NRR RECEIVED: SEPTEMBER 3, 1996 NRR ACTION: -DRPE:VARGA NRR ROUTING: RUSSELL MIRAGLIA THADANI ACTION ZIMMERMAN D'J E TO NRR DlRICTOR'S OFFICE MARTIN B0HRER myv as, w

. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . ~ - - - - . ~ . - - = - . - - - . . - . . . . - . - . . . _ -

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL TICKET ,

.i PAPER NUMBER: CRC-96-0922 LOGGING DATE: Aug 26 96 ACTION OFFICE: EDO e AUTHOR: GLENN CHENEY AFFILIATION:

i ADDRESSEE: CHAIRMAN JACKSON

~ LETTER DATE: Aug 22 96- FILE CODE:

SUBJECT:

NORTHEAST UTILITIES '

ACTION: Appropriate DISTRIBUTION: CHAIRMAN SPECIAL HANDLING: NONE '

CONSTITUENT:

NOTES: 2.2^' PETITION PER JACK GOLDBERG VIA DORIS MOSSBERG DATE DUE:

O SIGNATURE: . DATE SIGNED:

AFFILIATION:

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EDO -- GT96664 i

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