ML060610443

(EOC) Annual Assessment Letter (Report 05000454/455/2006-001)

ML060610443
Person / Time
Site:	Byron
Issue date:	03/02/2006
From:	Richard Skokowski NRC/RGN-III/DRP/RPB3
To:	Crane C Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear
References
IR-06-001
Download: ML060610443 (7)

Text

March 2, 2006 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President and Chief Nuclear Officer

Exelon Nuclear

Exelon Generation Company, LLC

4300 Winfield Road

Warrenville, IL 60555

SUBJECT:

ANNUAL ASSESSMENT LETTER AND INSPECTION PLAN - BYRON STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 (05000454/2006001; 05000455/2006001)

Dear Mr. Crane:

On February 9, 2006, the NRC staff completed its performance review of Byron Station, Units 1 and 2. Our technical staff reviewed performance indicators (PIs) for the most recent quarter and inspection results for the period from January 1 through December 31, 2005. The purpose of

this letter is to inform you of our assessment of your safety performance during this period and our plans for future inspections at your facility.

This performance review and enclosed inspection plan do not include physical protection information. A separate letter designated and marked as "Exempt from Public Disclosure in

accordance with 10 CFR 2.390" will include the physical protection review and resultant

inspection plan.

Overall, Byron Station Units 1 and 2 operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone objectives. Plant performance for the most recent quarter, as well as for the first three quarters of the assessment cycle, was within the Licensee

Response column of the NRC's Action Matrix, based on all inspection findings being classified

as having very low safety significance (Green) and all PIs indicating performance at a level

requiring no additional NRC oversight (Green). Therefore, we plan to conduct reactor oversight

process baseline inspections at your facility.

In our mid-cycle assessment letter dated A ugust 30, 2005, (ML052420448), we advised you of a substantive cross-cutting issue in the cro ss-cutting area of human performance involving weaknesses in personnel performance regarding procedure adherence. Since the mid-cycle

assessment, there has been one new Green finding/violation where personnel performance was

not adequate. Over the course of the assessment period, there was a total of six findings of

very low safety significance where personnel performance was not adequate. Four of these

findings were in the reactor safety strategic performance area (SPA): one in the initiating events

cornerstone, one in the mitigating system cornerstone, and two in the barrier integrity

cornerstone. The other two findings were in the radiation safety SPA, both in the occupational

radiation safety cornerstone. We recognize that you have initiated actions to understand the

reasons for these human performance errors; however, several of the related corrective actions

were yet to be implemented as of the end of the assessment period. Therefore, there continues

to be a substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of human performance.

C. Crane Based on this substantive cross-cutting issue, we plan on conducting an annual inspection sample using Inspection Procedure 71152, "Identification and Resolution of Problems," to focus

on human performance issues. The Inspection Procedure 71152 annual reviews will also be

increased to the upper band to better assess personnel error reduction. In addition, the

semiannual trend review of your corrective acti on program will assess your efforts to ensure effective reduction of personnel errors to avoid repeat events. These inspection samples will

provide us with further assessment on plant performance in the area of human performance and enable us to determine whether the plant meets the criteria established in Inspection Manual

Chapter 0305, "Operating Reactor Assessment Program," Section 06.06i, for clearing this

cross-cutting issue.

Furthermore, as a result of this substantive cross-cutting issue, we request that you provide an update of the issue during the upcoming annual public meeting. In addition, we request that

you provide us a written response to the substantive cross-cutting issue raised in this letter, including your focused areas of concern, the status of the associated corrective action, and a

current assessment of personnel performance. This response should be sent to the NRC within

30 days of the receipt of this letter.

Additionally, on October 27, 2005, the staff issued a Severity Level III Notice of Violation in accordance with the NRC's Enforcement Policy. The violation was associated with

27 ventilation/filtration-related technical specification surveillance tests that were falsified as

complete by the system engineer. The failure to perform the Technical Specification-required

surveillance tests and the falsification of these test records were determined to be a deliberate

violation and were categorized collectively as a Severity Level III Violation (EA-05-0159).

The enclosed inspection plan details the inspections, less those related to physical protection scheduled through September 30, 2007. Significant inspections planned for this year include a

Modifications/50.59 inspection in March 2006, and a Component Design Bases inspection in

October 2006. The inspection plan is provided to allow for the resolution of any scheduling

conflicts and personnel availability issues well in advance of inspector arrival onsite. Routine

resident inspections are not listed due to their ongoing and continuous nature. The inspections

in the last nine months of the inspection plan are tentative and may be revised at the mid-cycle

review. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public

Document Room or from the Publicly Ava ilable Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

C. Crane If circumstances arise which cause us to change this inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon as possible. Please contact me at (630) 829-9620 with any

questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,/RA/Richard A. Skokowski, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 3

Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-454; 50-455 License Nos. NPF-37; NPF-66

Enclosure:

Byron Station Inspection/ Activity Plan

DISTRIBUTION:

See next page C. Crane If circumstances arise which cause us to change this inspection plan, we will contact you to discuss the change as soon as possible. Please contact me at (630) 829-9620 with any

questions you may have regarding this letter or the inspection plan.

Sincerely,/RA/Richard A. Skokowski, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 3

Division of Reactor Projects Docket Nos. 50-454; 50-455 License Nos. NPF-37; NPF-66

Enclosure:

Byron Station Inspection/ Activity Plan

DISTRIBUTION:

See next pageDOCUMENT NAME:G:\Branch TSS\ALL EOC\EOC CY2005\EOC Letters For CY 2005\Byron.wpd G Publicly Available G Non-Publicly Available G Sensitive G Non-SensitiveTo receive a copy of this document, indicate in the concurrence box "C" = Copy without attach/encl "E" = Copy with attach/encl "N" = No copyOFFICERIIIRIIIRIIIRIIINAMERSkokowski:slsDATE03/01/2006 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY C. Crane-4-cc w/encl:Site Vice President - Byron Station Plant Manager - Byron Station

Regulatory Assurance Manager - Byron Station

Chief Operating Officer

Senior Vice President - Nuclear Services

Vice President - Mid-West Operations Support

Vice President - Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

Director Licensing

Manager Licensing - Braidwood and Byron

Senior Counsel, Nuclear

Document Control Desk - Licensing

Assistant Attorney General

Illinois Emergency Management Agency

State Liaison Officer, State of Illinois

State Liaison Officer, State of Wisconsin

Chairman, Illinois Commerce Commission

B. Quigley, Byron Station

President, Village of Leaf River

President, Village of Davis Junction

President, Village of Stillman Valley

Ogle County Board Chairman

Ogle County Sheriff/EMA Coordinator

EMA Coordinator, Winnebago County

Winnebago County Board Chair

Winnebago County Sheriff/ESDA

Mayor of Oregon

Mayor of Byron

President, Village of Mt. Morris

Mayor of Rochelle

INPO C. Crane ADAMS Distribution

GYS DWW JBH1 RidsNrrDirslpab

JLC1 GEG KGO RML2 SRI Byron

DRPIII DRSIII PLB1 JRK1 ROPreports@nrc.gov (inspection reports, final SDP letters, any letter with an IR number)

Byron Inspection / Activity Plan 03/01/2006

-09/30/2007 Inspection Type Inspection Activity Planned Dates Start End No. of Staff on Site Title Unit Number Page 1 of 1 03/01/2006 16:01:51 Report 22 2 M50.59-MOD 50.59 INSPECTION Baseline Inspections 03/06/2006 03/24/2006 1, 2 7111102 IP Evaluation of Changes, Tests, or Experiments Baseline Inspections 03/06/2006 03/24/2006 1, 2 7111117B IP Permanent Plant Modifications 1 IP 71114-EP NON-EXERCISE BASELINE INSP Baseline Inspections 03/13/2006 03/17/2006 1, 2 7111402 IP A lert and Notification System Testing Baseline Inspections 03/13/2006 03/17/2006 1, 2 7111403 IP Emergency Response Organization Augmentation Testing Baseline Inspections 03/13/2006 03/17/2006 1, 2 7111405 IP Correction of Emergency Preparedness Weaknesses and Deficiencies Baseline Inspections 03/13/2006 03/17/2006 1, 2 71151 IP Performance Indicator Verification 2 FY 2006-BYRON INIT PREP 05/2006 Not Applicable 05/22/2006 05/26/2006 1 W90122 OL - INITIAL EXAM - BYRON - MAY/JUN 2006 1 ME-MAINTENANCE RULE INSPECTION Baseline Inspections 06/12/2006 06/16/2006 1 7111112B IP Maintenance Effectiveness 3 FY 2006-BYRON INIT EXAM 06/2006 Not Applicable 06/19/2006 06/30/2006 1 W90122 OL - INITIAL EXAM - BYRON - MAY/JUN 2006 1 71121.03-RP INSTRUMENTATION Baseline Inspections 07/17/2006 07/21/2006 1, 2 7112103 IP Radiation Monitoring Instrumentation and Protective Equipment 1 IP 71122-RAD WASTE PROCESSING AND TRANSPORTATION Baseline Inspections 08/21/2006 08/25/2006 1, 2 7112202 IP Radioactive Material Processing and Transportation Baseline Inspections 08/21/2006 08/25/2006 1, 2 71151 IP Performance Indicator Verification 1 ISI-BYRON UNIT 1 ISI INSPECTION Baseline Inspections 09/11/2006 09/29/2006 1 7111108P IP Inservice Inspection Activities - PWR 1 71121.02-ALARA PLANNING (OUTAGE)

Baseline Inspections 09/11/2006 09/15/2006 1 7112102 IP A LARA Planning and Controls 6 CDBI-COMPONENT DESIGN BASES INSPECTION Baseline Inspections 10/30/2006 12/01/2006 1 7111121 IP Component Design Bases Inspection 2 71111.11-LIC OPERATOR REQUAL PROGRAM EVALUATION Baseline Inspections 10/30/2006 11/03/2006 1, 2 7111111B IP Licensed Operator Requalification Program 1 71121.01-ACCESS CONTROL Baseline Inspections 02/12/2007 02/16/2007 1, 2 7112101 IP A ccess Control to Radiologically Significant Areas 1 HEATSINK-HEAT SINK INSPECTION Baseline Inspections 02/26/2007 03/02/2007 1, 2 7111107B IP Heat Sink Performance 1 71121.02-ALARA - OUTAGE Baseline Inspections 04/02/2007 04/13/2007 1, 2 7112102 IP A LARA Planning and Controls This report does not include INPO and OUTAGE activities.

This report shows only on-site and announced inspection procedures.