IR 05000249/2009010
| ML092990547 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Dresden  |
| Issue date: | 10/26/2009 |
| From: | Satorius M Region 3 Administrator |
| To: | Pardee C Exelon Generation Co |
| References | |
| EA-09-172 IR-09-010 | |
| Download: ML092990547 (8) | |
Text
ber 26, 2009
SUBJECT:
FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION FOR A WHITE FINDING AND NOTICE OF VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000249/2009010; DRESDEN NUCLEAR POWER STATION, UNIT 3
Dear Mr. Pardee:
The purpose of this letter is to provide you the final results of our significance determination of the preliminary White finding identified in Inspection Report 05000249/2009009. The inspection
finding was assessed using the Significance Determination Process and was preliminarily
characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate increased importance to safety that may
require additional U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspections. This White finding
is associated with the licensee's failure, on November 3, 2008, to prevent inadvertent and
uncontrolled control rod withdrawal by non-licensed operators.
In a letter dated September 21, 2009, Mr. Tim Hanley of your staff provided a response to the NRC staff's preliminary determination regarding the finding. The response indicated that you
did not dispute the significance of the event. You agreed that the significance of the event was
driven by human performance of the Dresden operati ons personnel at the time of the event.
Your letter provided your conclusion that it was not feasible that more than three control rods
would drift out. Your letter further stated that based on the outage schedule, the normal reactor
coolant temperature band, and the limited number of rods that could drift out, your staff
concluded that it was extremely unlikely that localized criticality could have occurred.
Notwithstanding this information, the NRC continues to conclude that the finding is properly
characterized as a low to moderate increased importance to safety. Your letter also described
corrective actions that would be taken to prevent recurrence.
After considering the information developed during the inspection, the NRC has concluded that the inspection finding is appropriately characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate
increased importance to safety that may require additional NRC inspections as stated in
Inspection Report 05000249/2009009.
The NRC has also determined that the finding had multiple associated violations, as cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice). The circumstances surrounding the violations were
described in detail in the subject inspection report. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the Notice is considered escalated enforcement action because it is associated with a White finding.
The NRC has concluded that the information regarding the reason for the violations, the corrective actions taken, and the date when full compliance was achieved is already adequately
addressed on the docket in the subject inspection report and in your September 21, 2009, letter.
Therefore, you are not required to respond to this letter unless the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective actions or your position.
As a result of our review of Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3's performance, including this White finding, we have assessed you to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRC's
Action Matrix. Therefore, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection
Procedure 95001, "Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area,"
when your staff has notified us of your readiness for this inspection. This inspection procedure
is conducted to provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk significant
performance issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective
actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter, its enclosure, and your response, if you choose to provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC
=s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS
), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or sa feguards information so that it can be made available to the public without redaction.
Sincerely,
/RA/ Mark A. Satorius
Regional Administrator Docket No. 50-249
License No. DPR-25 Enclosure:
Notice of Violation cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv
Letter to Charles