IR 05000373/2006301
| ML070320596 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | LaSalle  |
| Issue date: | 01/29/2007 |
| From: | Palagi B Division of Reactor Safety III |
| To: | Crane C Exelon Generation Co, Exelon Nuclear |
| References | |
| 50-373/06301, 50-374/06301 50-373/06301, 50-374/06301 | |
| Download: ML070320596 (26) | |
Text
ary 29, 2007
SUBJECT:
LASALLE COUNTY STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 NRC INITIAL LICENSE EXAMINATION REPORT 05000373/2006301(DRS);
Dear Mr. Crane:
On November 22, 2006, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) examiners completed initial operator licensing examinations at your LaSalle County Station. The enclosed report documents the results of the examination which were discussed on November 22, 2006, with S. Landahl and other members of your staff. An exit meeting was conducted by telephone on December 18, 2006, between Mr. R. Ebright, Sr. of your staff and Mr. D. McNeil, Senior Operations Engineer, to review the resolution of the stations post examination comments and the proposed final grading of the written examination for the license applicants.
The NRC examiners administered an initial license examination operating test during the week of November 14, and on November 21, 2006. The written examination was administered by NRC examiners and LaSalle County Station training department personnel on November 22, 2006. Eight Senior Reactor Operator applicants were administered license examinations. Two of the applicants were previously licensed Nuclear Station Operators at LaSalle County Station. The results of the examinations were finalized on January 9, 2007.
One applicant failed the written examination and was issued a proposed license denial letter.
Seven applicants passed all sections of their respective examinations and six were issued senior operator licenses. In accordance with NRC policy, the license for the seventh applicant (who passed the written examination with a score less than 82 percent) was withheld pending the outcome of any written examination appeal that may be initiated.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room, or from the Publicly Available 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). We will gladly discuss any questions you have concerning this examination.
Sincerely,
/RA by Bruce Palagi acting for/
Hironori Peterson, Chief Operations Branch Division of Reactor Safety Docket Nos. 50-373; 50-374 License Nos. NPF-11; NPF-18
Enclosures:
1. Operator Licensing Examination Report 05000373/2006301(DRS); 05000374/2006301(DRS)
w/Attachment: Supplemental Information 2. Simulation Facility Report 3. Post Examination Comments w/ NRC Resolution 4. Written Examinations and Answer Keys (SRO)
REGION III==
Docket Nos: 50-373; 50-374 License Nos: NPF-11; NPF-18 Report No: 05000373/2006301(DRS); 05000374/2006301(DRS)
Licensee: Exelon Generation Company, LLC Facility: LaSalle County Station, Units 1 and 2 Location: Marseilles, IL Dates: November 14 through November 22, 2006 Examiners: D. McNeil, Senior Operations Engineer M. Bielby, Senior Operations Engineer D. Reeser, Operations Engineer Approved by: Hironori Peterson, Chief Operations Branch Division of Reactor Safety Enclosure 1
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
ER 05000373/2006301(DRS), 05000374/2006301(DRS); 11/14/2006 - 11/22/2006;
Exelon Generation Company, LLC, LaSalle County Station. Initial License Examination Report.
The announced initial operator licensing examination was conducted by regional Nuclear Regulatory Commission examiners in accordance with the guidance of NUREG-1021,
Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors, Revision 9.
Examination Summary:
- One applicant failed the written examination and was issued a proposed license denial.
Seven of eight applicants passed all sections of their respective examinations. Six applicants were issued senior operator licenses. The seventh license may be issued pending the outcome of any written examination appeal. (Section 4OA5.1).
REPORT DETAILS
OTHER ACTIVITIES (OA)
4OA5 Other
.1 Initial Licensing Examinations
a. Examination Scope
The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions examiners prepared the examination outline and developed the written examination and operating test. The NRC examiners validated the proposed examination during the week of October 23, 2006 at the LaSalle County Station Training Building with the assistance of members of the licensee training staff.
The NRC examiners conducted the operating portion of the initial license examination during the week of November 14 and on November 21, 2006. The NRC examiners and members of the LaSalle County Station training department staff administered the written examination on November 22, 2006. The NRC examiners used the guidance established in NUREG-1021, Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors, Revision 9, to prepare, validate, revise, administer, and grade the examination.
b. Findings
Written Examination During the validation of the written examination several questions were modified or replaced. Changes made to the written examination were documented on Form ES-401-9, Written Examination Review Worksheet which is available electronically in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). The licensee submitted seven written examination post-examination comments for consideration by the NRC examiners when grading the written examination. The post-examination comments and the NRC resolution for the post-examination comments are contained in Enclosure 3, Post Examination Comments and Resolutions. The NRC examiners graded the written examination on January 9, 2007, and conducted a review of each missed question to determine the accuracy and validity of the examination questions.
Operating Test During the validation of the operating test, several Job Performance Measures (JPMs)were replaced and some modifications made to the dynamic simulator scenarios. The JPMs were replaced for several reasons: 1) the JPM was originally thought to be performed in the control room, when it was actually performed in the auxiliary electric room; 2) the JPM was determined to be too simplistic in nature (inadequate difficulty level); 3) the JPM did not conform to the licensees ALARA program, and; 4) the JPM was time consuming (>1hour). Changes made to the operating test were documented in a document titled, Operating Test Comments, which is available electronically in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). The NRC examiners completed operating test grading on January 9, 2007.
Examination Results Eight applicants were administered written and operating tests at the Senior Reactor Operator level. Two of the applicants were previously licensed Nuclear Station Operators at LaSalle County Station. One applicant failed the written examination and was issued a proposed license denial. Six applicants passed all portions of their examinations and were issued operating licenses. One applicant passed all portions of the license examination, but received a written test grade below 82 percent. In accordance with NRC policy, the applicants license will be withheld until any written examination appeal possibilities by other applicants have been resolved. If the applicants grade is still equal to or greater than 80 percent after any appeal resolution, the applicant will be issued an operating license. If the applicants grade has declined below 80 percent, the applicant will be issued a proposed license denial letter and offered the opportunity to appeal any questions the applicant feels were graded unfairly.
.2 Examination Security
a. Scope
The NRC examiners reviewed and observed the licensee's implementation of examination security requirements during the examination validation and administration to assure compliance with 10 CFR 55.49, Integrity of Examinations and Tests. The examiners used the guidelines provided in NUREG 1021, "Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors to determine acceptability of the licensees examination security activities.
b. Findings
During validation of the examination, the NRC Chief Examiner could not account for all copies of one JPM. It was believed that one copy of the JPM was left in the NRC Region III office, but as a precautionary measure to ensure examination integrity, the JPM was significantly modified. Because it could not be shown that examination material was actually lost and no applicants gained an unfair advantage as a result of the significant revision to the JPM, no violation of 10 CFR 55.49 occurred.
.3 (Closed) URI 05000373/2005005-01; 05000374/2005005-01, Credit for More Operators
than Described by the Minimum Staffing Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m) for Watch Standing Proficiency During a Licensed Operator Requalification Program inspection documented in IR 05000373/2005005; 05000374/2005005, NRC inspectors were unable to determine if granting concurrent watchstanding credit for seven control room operators to maintain an active operator license was an acceptable practice when only five watchstanders are required to be on shift by 10 CFR 50.54(m) and by station procedure (OP-LA-101-111-1001, On-Shift Staffing Requirements). Unresolved Issue 05000373/2005005-01; 05000374/2005005-01, Credit for More Operators than Described by the Minimum Staffing Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m) for Watch Standing Proficiency (Section 1R11.7) was opened to document this issue. After discussions with NRC headquarters personnel it was determined that credit for up to seven watchstanders at a two-unit single control room station (one Shift Manager, two Unit Supervisors, and four Nuclear Station Operators) would be allowed if all seven watchstanders were procedurally required to be on shift, and immediate (within 2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br />)action taken to restore minimum watchstander numbers if less than seven watchstanders are available during the shift. To ensure none of the operators licenses had inadvertently become inactive because of credit being applied for two additional watchstations not required by procedure, additional inspection was completed by the NRC inspectors that verified that if only five watchstations (one Shift Manager, one Unit Supervisor, and three Nuclear Station Operators) were given concurrent credit for watchstanding proficiency, enough watches were stood by the stations licensed operators to complete the minimum number of requisite watches to keep their licenses in an active status and no violation of 10 CFR 55.53(f) occurred. This completes the Region III inspection requirements for this URI. This item is closed.
4OA6 Meetings
Debrief The chief examiner presented the examination team's preliminary observations and findings on November 22, 2006, to Ms. S. Landahl and other members of the LaSalle County Station Operations and Training Department staff.
Exit Meeting The chief examiner conducted an exit meeting on December 18, 2006, with Mr. R. Ebright, LaSalle County Station Training Director by telephone. The NRCs final disposition of the stations post-examination comments were disclosed and revised preliminary written examination results were provided to Mr. Ebright during the telephone discussion. The examiners asked the licensee whether any of the material used to develop or administer the examination should be considered proprietary. No proprietary or sensitive information was identified during the examination or debrief/exit meetings.
Interim Exit On January 17, 2007, the chief examiner conducted an interim exit meeting by telephone with Mr. L. Blunk, Operations Training Manager in which resolution of URI 05000373/2005005-01; 05000374/2005005-01, Credit for More Operators than Described by the Minimum Staffing Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m) for Watch Standing Proficiency (Section 1R11.7) was discussed. This item was considered closed.
ATTACHMENT:
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
KEY POINTS OF CONTACT
Licensee
- S. Landahl, Site Vice President
- D. Rhoades, Operations Director
- R. Ebright, Training Director
- T. Simpkin, RA Manager
- J. Rappeport, NO Manager
- D. Puckett, Ops Training ILT Lead
- L. Blunk, Operations Training Manager
- P. Leheney, Operations Trainer
NRC
IEMA/DNS
- J. Yesinowski, RI
ITEMS OPENED, CLOSED, AND DISCUSSED
Opened
None
Closed
- 05000373/2005005-01; URI Credit for More Operators than Described by the Minimum
- 05000374/2005005-01 Staffing Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m) for Watch Standing Proficiency (Section 1R11.7)