IR 05000263/2015403

EA-14-165 Final Significance Determination of a Greater than Green Finding and Notice of Violation; NRC Inspection Report No. 05000263/2015403; Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant

ML15057A535
Person / Time
Site:	Monticello
Issue date:	02/26/2015
From:	Pederson C NRC/RGN-III
To:	Gardner P Northern States Power Co
References
EA-14-165 IR 2015403
Download: ML15057A535 (6)

Text

February 26, 2015

SUBJECT:

FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION OF A GREATER THAN GREEN FINDING AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000263/2015403; MONTICELLO NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT

Dear Mr. Gardner:

This letter provides the final significance determination of the preliminary Greater than Green finding identified in our previous communication dated December 8, 2014, which included U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Inspection Report No. 05000263/2014406. This Greater than Green finding was discussed in detail in that inspection report.

At your request, a regulatory conference was held on January 14, 2015, to further discuss your views on this issue. During the regulatory conference, your staff agreed with the NRCs description of the finding and apparent violation and with our significance determination. A list of attendees at the conference is included in Enclosure 1.

At the regulatory conference, your staff requested that the NRC consider the security issue under the criteria for an old design issue (ODI). Your staff presented information that the issue met the ODI conditions for the following reasons: (1) the issue was identified by your staff during a voluntary initiative (a focused self-assessment in preparation for NRC inspection activities); (2) immediate corrective actions were implemented and long-term corrective actions were being developed; (3) the issue was not likely to be identified by prior assessments or opportunities; and (4) the issue occurred over 10 years ago and was not indicative of current performance and the improvements you have recently implemented.

In response to your staffs request at the regulatory conference, we reviewed the NRC guidance associated with characterization of an issue as an ODI, as outlined in NRC Inspection Manual Chapter 0305 and the NRC Enforcement Manual. While the guidance does not preclude a security issue from being characterized as an ODI, we noted that most issues characterized as ODIs have been in the engineering area. During the regulatory conference, you noted two examples of issues in the emergency preparedness area that were recently characterized as ODIs. In order to provide further clarity as to the scope of the ODI policy, we have initiated an internal feedback process to address this question.

Enclosures 2 and 3 contain Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information. Upon separation, this cover letter and Enclosure 1 are decontrolled. Notwithstanding the historical treatment of security issues within the ODI process, we reviewed the specifics of the Monticello security issue, using information gathered during the inspection and provided either during or after the regulatory conference, against the NRC Inspection Manual Chapter 0305 criteria for characterization of an issue as an ODI. Based on this review, we determined that the Monticello security issue did not meet at least one of the ODI characterization criteria. Specifically, the performance deficiencies which led to the security issue appeared to be consistent with the two substantive cross-cutting issues discussed in your most recent NRC assessment letter. While we recognize that you are making improvements in these two substantive cross-cutting areas, we concluded that the criteria for characterization of the security issue as an ODI were not met because the security issue was indicative of current performance.

After considering the information developed during the inspection, and noting that your staff agreed with the information during the regulatory conference, the NRC has concluded that the inspection finding is of at least low to moderate security significance, and is appropriately characterized as Greater than Green. Further details regarding the NRC's determination of the final significance can be found in Enclosure 2 (non-public). Because this issue has been determined to be beyond the licensee response column, we will use the NRC's Action Matrix to determine the most appropriate NRC response. We will notify you, by separate correspondence, of that determination.

You have 30 calendar days from the date of this letter to appeal the staffs determination of significance for the identified finding. Such appeals will be considered to have merit only if they meet the criteria given in NRC Inspection Manual Chapter 0609, Attachment 2.

The NRC has also determined that the condition discussed is a violation of NRC requirements, as cited in the Notice of Violation (Notice) provided in Enclosure 3 (non-public). In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the Notice is considered escalated enforcement action, because it is associated with a Greater than Green finding.

The NRC has concluded that information regarding the reasons for the violation, the corrective actions taken and planned to be taken to correct the violation, and the date when full compliance was achieved is already adequately addressed on the docket in NRC Inspection Report No. 05000263/2014406 and during the regulatory conference. Your corrective actions will be reviewed during the supplemental inspection. 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.

For administrative purposes, this letter is issued as NRC Inspection Report No. 05000263/2015403. Additionally, apparent violation (AV)05000263/2014406-01 is now closed, and violation (VIO)05000263/2014406-01 is opened in its place.

In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 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 Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The NRC also includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/.

However, because the material in Enclosures 2 and 3 is considered security-related information, as defined in 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1), its disclosure to unauthorized individuals could present a security vulnerability. Therefore, the material in these enclosures will not be made available electronically for public inspection. If Security-Related Information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please mark your entire response Security-Related Information in accordance with 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1) and follow the instructions for withholding in 10 CFR 2.390(b)(1). In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390(b)(1)(ii), the NRC is waiving the affidavit requirements for your response.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Cynthia D. Pederson Regional Administrator

Docket No. 50-263 License No. DPR-22

Enclosures:

1. Regulatory Conference Attendees 2. Final Significance Determination (non-public)

3. Notice of Violation (non-public)

cc w/o encls 2 &3: Distribution via ListServ REGULATORY CONFERENCE ATTENDEES Enclosure 1 Northern States Power - Minnesota Karen Fili, Site Vice President (former)

Scott Northard, Nuclear Vice President Licensing Harlan Hanson, Plant Manager Rob White, Director Nuclear Security Kevin Nyberg, Security Manager Paul Albares, Operations Manager Mark Lingenfelter, Director Site Engineering Anne Ward, Regulatory Affairs Manager

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Cynthia Pederson, Regional Administrator, Region III Kenneth OBrien, Director, Division of Reactor Safety (DRS)

Anne Boland, Director, Division of Reactor Projects (DRP)

Mohammad Shuaibi, Deputy Division Director, DRS Eric Duncan, Acting Enforcement Officer Steven Orth, Chief, Plant Support Branch, DRS Dale Lawver, Security Inspector, Plant Support Branch, DRS Nathan Egan, Security Inspector, Plant Support Branch, DRS Patricia Lougheed, Enforcement Coordinator Kenneth Riemer, Chief, Branch 2, DRP Nirodh Shah, Project Engineer, Branch 2 Joseph Mancuso, Reactor Engineer, Branch 2 Joshua Havertape, Reactor Engineer, Branch 2 http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The NRC also includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/.

However, because the material in Enclosures 2 and 3 is considered security-related information, as defined in 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1), its disclosure to unauthorized individuals could present a security vulnerability. Therefore, the material in these enclosures will not be made available electronically for public inspection. If Security-Related Information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please mark your entire response Security-Related Information in accordance with 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1) and follow the instructions for withholding in 10 CFR 2.390(b)(1). In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390(b)(1)(ii), the NRC is waiving the affidavit requirements for your response.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Cynthia D. Pederson Regional Administrator

Docket No. 50-263 License No. DPR-22

Enclosures:

1. Regulatory Conference Attendees 2. Final Significance Determination (non-public)

3. Notice of Violation (non-public)

cc w/o encls 2 &3: Distribution via ListServ

DISTRIBUTION See Next Page

ADAMS Accession Number: ML15057A535 OFFICE RIII RIII RIII RIII D:NSIR D:OE RIII RIII NAME Lougheed*

Orth*

Riemer*

OBrien*

Layton1 McDermott Holahan2 Furst Skokowski by Heck Pederson DATE 02/04/15 02/05/15 02/05/15 02/12/15 02/24/15 02/23/15 02/24/15 02/24/15 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

1 NSIR concurrence provided via email from B. McDermott on February 24, 2015 2 OE concurrence provided via email from D. Furst on February 23, 2015 Letter to Peter from Cynthia D. Pederson dated February 26, 2015

SUBJECT:

FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION OF A GREATER THAN GREEN FINDING AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000263/2015403; MONTICELLO NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT DISTRIBUTION w/ Enclosures RidsSecyMailCenter Resource OCADistribution Mark Satorius Michael Johnson Patricia Holahan Nick Hilton David Furst Cynthia Pederson Darrell Roberts Marian Zobler Catherine Scott Bill Dean Jennifer Uhle Lauren Casey James Wiggins Michael Layton Shyrl Coker Jared Justice Brice Bickett David Gamberoni Vivian Campbell Holly Harrington Hubert Bell Cheryl McCrary David DAbate Kimyata MorganButler Niry Simonian Eric Wharton Anthony Dimitriadis Binoy Desai Mark Haire Eric Duncan Patricia Lougheed Paul Pelke Magdalena Gryglak Sarah Bahksh Allan Barker Harral Logaras Viktoria Mitlyng Prema Chandrathil Carole Ariano Linda Linn Steven Orth Dale Lawver Nathan Egan Carmen Olteanu RidsOemailCenter

DISTRIBUTION w/o Enclosures 2 and 3 DRPIII DRSIII RidsNrrPMSITEMonticelloResource RidsNrrDorlLpl3-1 Resource RidsNrrDirsIrib Resource OEWEB Resource ROPassessment.Resource