IR 05000458/2017007
| ML17058A407 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | River Bend  |
| Issue date: | 02/27/2017 |
| From: | Thomas Farnholtz Region 4 Engineering Branch 1 |
| To: | Maguire W F Entergy Operations |
| References | |
| IR 2017007 | |
| Preceding documents: |
|
| Download: ML17058A407 (7) | |
Text
February 27, 2017
Mr. William Site Vice President Entergy Operations, Inc.
River Bend Station 5485 US Highway 61N St. Francisville, LA 70775
SUBJECT: RIVER BEND STATION - NOTIFICATION OF NRC DESIGN BASES ASSURANCE INSPECTION (05000458/2017007) AND INITIAL REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear Mr. Maguire:
On May 30, 2017, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will begin a triennial baseline Design Bases Assurance Inspection at the River Bend Station. A seven-person team will perform this inspection using NRC Inspection Procedure 71111.21M, "Design Bases Assurance Inspection."
The inspection focuses on components, modifications, and operator actions that have high risk and low design margins. The samples reviewed during this inspection will be identified during an information gathering visit and the subsequent in-office preparation week. In addition, a number of operating experience issues will also be selected for review.
The inspection will include an information gathering site visit by the team leader and a senior reactor analyst, and two weeks of on-site inspection by the team. The inspection will consist of five NRC inspectors and two contractors, of which six will focus on engineering and one on operations. The current inspection schedule is as follows: On-site Information Gathering Visit: May 30-June 1, 2017 Preparation Week: June 5-9, 2017 On-site Weeks: June 12-16 and June 26-30, 2017. The purpose of the information gathering visit is to meet with members of your staff to identify potential risk-significant components, modifications, and operator actions. The lead inspector will also request a tour of the plant with members of your operations staff and probabilistic safety assessment staff. During the on-site weeks, several days of time will be needed on the plant-referenced simulator in order to facilitate the development of operator action-based scenarios. Additional information and documentation needed to support the inspection will be identified during the inspection, including interviews with engineering managers, engineers, and probabilistic safety assessment staff. Our experience with these inspections has shown that they are extremely resource intensive, both for the NRC inspectors and the licensee staff. In order to minimize the inspection impact on the site and to ensure a productive inspection, we have enclosed a request for information needed for the inspection. The request has been divided into two groups. The first group lists information necessary for the information gathering visit and for general preparation. This information should be available to the regional office no later than May 15, 2017. Insofar as possible, this information should be provided electronically to the lead inspector. Since the inspection will be concentrated on high risk/low margin components and modifications, calculations associated with your list of high risk components and modifications should be available to review during the information gathering visit to assist in our selection of components based on available design margin.
The second group of documents requested, lists information necessary to aid the inspection team in tracking issues identified as a result of the inspection. It is requested that this information be provided to the lead inspector as the information is generated during the inspection. An additional request will be made by the team during the preparation week once the specific components and modifications have been selected. Additional requests by inspectors will also be made throughout the on-site weeks for specific documents needed to complete the review. It is important that all of these documents are up to date and complete in order to minimize the number of additional documents requested during the preparation and/or on-site portions of the inspection. In order to facilitate the inspection, we request that a contact individual be assigned to each inspector to ensure information requests, questions, and concerns are addressed in a timely manner.
The lead inspector for this inspection is Wayne Sifre. We understand that our licensing engineer contact for this inspection is Ms. K. Huffstatler. If there are any questions about the inspection or the requested materials, please contact the lead inspector by telephone at 817-200-1193 or by e-mail at Wayne.Sifre@nrc.gov. This letter does not contain new or amended information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing information collection requirements were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, control number 3150-0011. The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a request for information or an information collection requirement unless the requesting document displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "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 Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).
Sincerely,/RA/
Thomas R. Farnholtz, Chief Engineering Branch 1 Division of Reactor Safety Docket No. 50-458 License No. NPF-47
Enclosure:
Design Bases Assurance Inspection Request for Information