ML091540661

Audit of Exelon Generation Company, LLCs Management of Regulatory Commitments

ML091540661
Person / Time
Site:	Limerick
Issue date:	06/15/2009
From:	Peter Bamford Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:	Pardee C Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear
Bamford, Peter J., NRR/DORL 415-2833
References
RIS 2000-17, TAC ME1086, TAC ME1087
Download: ML091540661 (9)

See also: RIS 2000-17

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001

June 15, 2009

Mr. Charles G. Pardee

President and Chief Nuclear Officer

Exelon Nuclear

Exelon Generation Company, LLC

4300 Winfield Road

Warrenville, IL 60555

SUB~IECT:

LIMERICK GENERATING STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 - AUDIT OF EXELON

GENERATION COMPANY, LLC'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY

COMMITMENTS (TAC NOS. ME1086 AND ME1087)

Dear Mr. Pardee:

In Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power

Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21 J 2000, the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) informed licensees that the Nuclear Energy Institute (I'JEI) document

NEI 99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes," contains acceptable

guidance for controlling regulatory commitments and encouraged licensees to use the NEI

guidance or similar administrative controls to ensure that regulatory commitments are

implemented and that changes to the regulatory commitments are evaluated and, when

appropriate, reported to the NRC.

The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform an audit

of licensees' commitment management programs once every 3 years to determine whether the

licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory

commitments are being effectively implemented.

An audit of the commitment management program for Limerick Generating Station (LGS),

Units 1 and 2 was performed during the period of May 11 through May 15, 2009. Based on the

audit, the NRC staff concludes that: (1) LGS had implemented NRC commitments on a timely

basis; and (2) LGS had implemented an effective program for managing !\\IRC commitment

changes. Details of the audit are set forth in the enclosed audit report.

Sincerely,

,/'7.

£aA~

Peter Bamford, Project Manager

Plant Licensing Branch 1-2

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Docket Nos. 50-352 and 50-353

Enclosure: Audit Report

cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001

AUDIT REPORT BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION

REGULATORY COMMITMENTS MADE BY EXELON GENERATION COMPANY, LLC TO

THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

FOR LIMERICK GENERATING STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2

DOCKET NOS. 50-352 AND 50-353

1.0

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

In Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power

Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000 (Agencywide Documents

Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML003741774), the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed licensees that the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)

document I\\IEI99-04, "Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes" (ADAMS

Accession No. ML003680088) contains acceptable guidance for controlling regulatory

commitments and encouraged licensees to use the NEI guidance or similar administrative

controls to ensure that regulatory commitments are implemented and that changes to the

regulatory commitments are evaluated and, when appropriate, reported to the NRC.

The NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has instructed its staff to perform an audit

of licensees' commitment management programs once every 3 years to determine whether the

licensees' programs are consistent with the industry guidance in NEI 99-04, and that regulatory

commitments are being effectively implemented.

NEI-99-04 defines a "regulatory commitment" as an explicit statement to take a specific action

agreed to, or volunteered by, a licensee and submitted in writing on the docket to the NRC.

NRR guidelines direct the NRR Project Manager to audit the licensee's commitment

management program by assessing the adequacy of the licensee's implementation of a sample

of commitments made to the NRC in past licensing actions (amendments, reliefs, exemptions,

etc.) and activities (bulletins, generic letters, etc.).

2.0

AUDIT PROCEDURE AND RESULTS

An audit of the commitment management program for Limerick Generating Station (LGS), Units

1 and 2 was performed during the period of May 11 through May 15, 2009. The audit was

performed at LGS using documentation provided by Exelon Generating Company, LLC (Exelon)

personnel, as requested by the NRC staff.

Enclosure

- 2

The NRC staff reviewed commitments made during the period approximately 3 years prior to the

audit. The audit consisted of two major parts: (1) verification of the licensee's implementation of

NRC commitments that have been completed and (2) verification of the licensee's program for

managing changes to NRC commitments.

2.1

Verification of Licensee's Implementation of NRC Commitments

The primary focus of this part of the audit is to confirm that the licensee has implemented

commitments made to the NRC as part of past licensing actions/activities. For commitments not

yet implemented, the NRC staff determines whether they have been captured in an effective

program for future implementation.

2.1.1 Audit Scope

The audit addressed a sample of commitments made during the review period. The audit

focused on regulatory commitments (as defined above) made in writing to the NRC as a result of

past licensing actions (amendments, exemptions, etc.) or licensing activities (bulletins, generic

letters, etc.). Before the audit, the NRC staff searched ADAMS for licensee commitments

associated with LGS for verification. The review included licensing actions and licensing

activities with NRC issuance dates in 2006, 2007, 2008 and portions of 2009. The commitments

included in the review are shown in Table 1.

The audit excluded the following types of commitments that are internal to licensee processes:

(1)

Commitments made on the licensee's own initiative among internal organizational

components.

(2)

Commitments that pertain to milestones of licensing actions/activities (e.g., respond to an

NRC request for additional information by a certain date). Fulfillment of these

commitments was indicated by the fact that the subject licensing action/activity was

completed.

(3)

Commitments made as an internal reminder to take actions to comply with existing

regulatory requirements such as regulations, Technical Specifications (TSs), and

Updated Final Safety Analysis Reports (UFSARs). Fulfillment of these commitments was

indicated by the licensee having taken timely action in accordance with the subject

requirements.

2.1.2 Audit Results

Table 1 provides the specific details and results of the audit for verification of the licensee's

implementation of commitments. All commitments associated with licensing actions or licensing

activities were verified to be completed or adequately tracked by the licensee for future

completion at an appropriate date.

2.2

Verification of the Licensee's Program for Managing NRC Commitment Changes

The primary focus of this part of the audit is to verify that the licensee has established

administrative controls for modifying or deleting commitments made to the NRC. The NRC staff

- 3

compared the licensee's process for controlling regulatory commitments to the guidelines in

NEI 99-04, which the NRC has found to be an acceptable guide for licensees to follow for

managing and changing commitments. The process used at LGS is contained in licensee

procedure LS-AA-11 0, Revision 6, "Commitment Management."

The audit reviewed a sample of commitment changes as shown in Table 2, that included

changes that were or will be reported to the NRC, and changes that were not or will not be

reported to the NRC. The audit also verifies that the licensee's commitment management

system includes a mechanism to ensure traceability of commitments following initial

implementation. This ensures that licensee personnel are able to recognize that future

proposed changes to the affected design features or operating practices require evaluation in

accordance with the commitment change control process.

2.2.1

Audit Results

The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's procedure LS-AA-11 0, Revision 6, against NEI 99-04.

Section 6.1 of the procedure lists NEI 99-04 as a reference. The NRC staff found that

LS-AA-110 generally follows the guidance of NEI 99-04 and provides detailed instructions for

making regulatory commitments, tracking regulatory commitments, annotating documents to

provide traceability of commitments, and for making changes to commitments. The NRC staff

concludes that the procedure used by the licensee to manage commitments provides the

necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program.

Table 2 provides the specific details and results of the audit of commitment changes for LGS.

Areas warranting further discussion are described below.

Attachment 2 to procedure LS-AA-11 0 contains a flowchart that is intended to match up with

Figure A-1 of NEI 99-04. It was noted during the audit that the two flowcharts differ slightly

downstream of the "Yes" answer in decision step 3, "Original Commitment Necessary for

Compliance." None of the commitments reviewed in this audit would have come to a different

conclusion based on the discrepancy, so it was not judged to detract from the commitment

program's effectiveness. No readily apparent reason for the discrepancy was immediately

available, so the licensee entered the issue into the corrective action program for evaluation

(Issue Report AR 00918829).

It was also noted that commitment change evaluation forms sometimes contain multiple

commitments in the original commitment description. The NRC staff noted that this could allow

a decision block to be skipped for such a "sub-commitment." For example, commitment tracking

number T04090 evaluates the deletion of four sub-commitments all relating to an NRC Safety

Evaluation Report (SER) dated June 28, 1994. Since question number 2 on the change form

only contained three answers it appeared that one of the sub-commitments may not have been

fully evaluated. Subsequent to the site review of the commitment program, the licensee

determined that one of the answers applied to two different sub-commitments, though this was

not clearly identified on the form. Since this commitment change was reported to the NRC as

part of the annual report, this example is not consequential or safety significant, however, the

licensee agreed to evaluate the generic implications of the potential to not fully evaluate a sub

commitment (Issue Report AR 00919845).

- 4

Two commitment change forms (T02935, T02462) did not have strong supporting reasons for

the question "Is the changed commitment necessary to minimize recurrence of the adverse

condition." The licensee stated that the reason for answering this question "No" was that the

station's procedure change process would ensure no recurrence. By deleting the commitment,

however, no annotation to the previous events (in this case Licensee Event Reports (LERs>>

would be retained in the procedure, inhibiting such a review within the procedure change

process. Thus, as written, it appears that a "Yes" answer would have been appropriate. It is

probable that there may be other valid reasons not listed on the form to answer "No" to this

question in both cases. For example, commitment change T02662 evaluates the frequency of a

High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) Turbine Stop Valve Balance Chamber adjustment which

is done by procedure M-C-756-014. During the site review, licensee personnel stated that the

preventative maintenance program would systematically evaluate any surveillance frequency

changes. This rationale was not listed on the form. In the second example, commitment

change number T02462, multiple actions from a past LER were evaluated as not necessary to

prevent recurrence because "No changes will be made to the process without complete review."

This justification is superficial and could be strengthened by specifying what step in the

procedure change process will provide this depth of review considering the loss of the

annotation to the deleted commitment. Alternatively, the rationale could be changed to specify

another applicable reason that recurrence is prevented. The licensee wrote Issue Report

AR 00919868 to evaluate this concern, both generically and in these specific cases.

3.0

CONCLUSION

As discussed above, the licensee's procedure used to manage commitments provides the

necessary attributes for an effective commitment management program. Several suggestions

for program improvement were made that the licensee entered into the corrective action

program for evaluation. The NRC staff agrees that this is the proper response to the issues

identified.

4.0

LICENSEE PERSONNEL CONTACTED FOR THIS AUDIT

S. Gamble

Principal Contributor: P. Bamford

Date:

June 15, 2009

Table 1

Written Commitments - 2006-2009

LGS

Submittal

Date

NRC

TAC

No.

NRC Issuance

Summary of Commitment

and Licensee Tracking

Number (if applicable)

Licensee

Implementation

Status

07/27/2007

MD5937,

MD5938

Amendment

Nos. 191/152

dated

OS/29/2008

Update UFSAR to explicitly

specify Technical

Requirements Manual

information is treated at the

same level as information

presented in the UFSAR for

the purpose of 10 CFR 50.59

evaluations.

Complete - verified

incorporation into

UFSAR Rev. 14,

September 2008.

10/19/2007

MD7048,

MD7049

Amendment

Nos. 195/156

dated

10/28/2008

Update UFSAR to specify

doubling of Local Power

Range Monitor uncertainty

when using increased

surveillance interval. Licensee

tracking No. T04666.

In progress - UFSAR

update not due until

2010, tracking

documentation for

inclusion into next

update was verified.

Procedure changes

effective with

amendment

implementation,

procedure NF-AB-120.

04/21/2008

MD8630,

MD8631

Amendment

Nos. 198/159

dated

03/23/2009

Implement new working hours

requirements specified in

10 CFR 26, subpart I,

concurrently with

implementation of TS

amendment to delete

references to Generic Letter

(GL) 82-12. Licensee tracking

No. AR A1657834.

In progress-

implementation

scheduled for

10/01/2009.

04/11/2008

MD7841,

MD7842

Generic Letter 2008-01, dated

01/11/2008

Complete walkdowns of Unit 2

inaccessible piping systems

during spring 2009 refueling

outage (RFO).

Complete evaluations of

subject systems within 60

days following startup from

2009 RFO. Licensee tracking

No. AR A1659520

Submit supplemental

response to NRC with results

of completed evaluations

within 90 days of startup from

spring 2009 RFO. Licensee

tracking No. AR A1659520

Complete - verified by

work orders during site

audit.

In-process - due

06/15/2009

In-process - due

07/12/2009'

10/14/2008

MD7841,

MD7842

Generic Letter 2008-01, dated

01/11/2008

Install new vents on

HPCI/Core Spray/Residual

Heat Removal systems during

2009 RFO

Complete - verified

sample of completed

w/o's documenting

new vent additions

during audit

Table 2

Changed Commitments

Tracking

Number

Source

Justification for

change/deletion

NRC

Notification

T00713

Response to Notice of

Violation (NOV) 90-13/90-12

Original GET module superseded

by fleet wide lesson plans and

computer based training. Current

Exelon procedures ensure

continued compliance.

Yes

T01992

NRC Inspection Report (IR)

92-80

Motor Operated Valve program

commitments are covered by

Exelon procedures that

superseded original procedure

with the contained frequencies.

Current Exelon procedures

ensure continued compliance.

Yes

T04090 *

I

NRC SER dated June 28,

1994, Amendment Nos. 71/34

1. Drift analysis determined that

drift program is covered by

current corrective action program

2. Technical specifications have

been revised to specify the 18

month surveillance frequency

3. All refueling floor ventilation

radiation monitor recorders have

been replaced.

4. Analysis shows no need for

3 millisecond additional margin.

Yes

T02578

GL 93-01

Recommended testing from GL is

not a regulatory requirement.

Required testing per 10 CFR 50

Appendix E, section VI, paragraph

1 is still required by procedure

EP-AA-124, which is subject to

10 CFR 50.54(q) evaluation.

No

T03877

LER 1-95-08

Suction strainer testing is no

longer required. NRC was

notified and approved cessation

of suction strainer testing via

safety evaluation dated August

10, 1998.

No

T03645

LER 1-95-08

Only a portion of this

commitment, which had multiple

entries was deleted. The deleted

portion was identical to T03877.

The commitment remains open

for safety relief valve tailpipe

monitoring program, which

remains in place.

No

Table 2

Changed Commitments

Tracking

Source

Justification for

NRC

Number

change/deletion

Notification

T03950

LER 2-96-003

TS have been changed to delete

No

requirement for emergency diesel

generator failure reports, thus the

procedure references to this

I

trackinq are no lonqer needed.

T02289

LER 90-11

Match marking is a standard

maintenance practice and is

No

I

called for in procedures PMQ

500-128 throuqh PMQ-500-131.

T02462*

LER 1-87-015

HPCI turbine stop valve balance

No

chamber adjustment is performed

by procedure M-C-756-014.

Procedure review process will

ensure no recurrence.

T02935*

LER 87-061

Commitment reflects procedure

No

changes made as a result of 1988

exit interview examiner concerns.

Commitment tracking no longer

required because procedure

review process will ensure no

recurrence of condition.

T03891

Letter to NRC dated August

This commitment had two parts.

No

19, 1996.

One part was a duplicate of a

separate tracked, open

commitment (T03941). The

second part reflects a UFSAR

change made in the past that is

no longer applicable after

completion of the spent fuel pool

rerack.

T02950

NRC IR 87-08 & 87-07

The procedure created to resolve

No

this observation (not a finding or

violation) from IR 87-07 response,

OT-117, still exists and the

procedure/plant change process

will ensure proper actions are

taken in response to Reactor

Protection System failures. A

second commitment on this form,

review NUREG-0899 to ensure

Procedure Generation Package

incorporates latest

recommendations, was a

completed one-time action.

• Issue Report written, see report for description

' ML091540661

OFFICE

LPL1-2/PM

LPL1-2/LA

LPL1-2/BC

NAME

Pbamford

Abaxter

Hchernoff

DATE

6/4/09

6/10/09

6/15/09