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INFORMATION REPORT SECY-02-0087 May 23, 2002
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Beaver Valley, Units 1 and 2, Davis-Besse FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), the licensee for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Perry Nuclear Plant, and Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, announced three newly created positions within FENOC's senior management and several senior management changes at FENOC headquarters, Davis-Besse, and Beaver Valley. Gary R. Leidich, Executive Vice President of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) has been named to the newly created position of "Executive Vice President - FENOC," and will report directly to Mr. Robert Saunders, President and CNO of FENOC. Reporting to Mr. Leidich will be John Wood, Vice President of FENOC Engineering Services and directors of engineering from each of FENOC's nuclear plants. Mr. Leidich will also have responsibility for GPU Nuclear. His appointment will become effective on June 10, 2002. Lew W. Myers, FENOC Senior Vice President for Beaver Valley has been named to the newly created position of FENOC Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will report to Mr. Saunders. As the new COO, Mr. Myers will be stationed at Davis-Besse to focus on the restoration and restart of the plant. Reporting to Mr. Myers will be Guy G. Campbell, Vice President for Perry Nuclear Power Plant; Howard Bergendahl, Vice President for Davis-Besse, and; Mark Bezilla, Vice President for Beaver Valley. Mr. Myers' appointment to this new position is effective immediately. L. William Pearce, plant manager at Beaver Valley, has been promoted to Vice President - FENOC Oversight and will report to Mr. Saunders. This appointment is effective immediately. Mark B. Bezilla, currently the Vice President - Technical Support at PSEG, Nuclear LLC, has been named Vice President for Beaver Valley. He will report to Mr. Myers. This appointment will be effective on May 20, 2002. Summary of Meeting with Joint Owners' Group to Discuss Motor-Operated Valve Periodic Verification Program On May 8, 2002, the NRC staff held a public meeting with representatives of the Joint Owners' Group (JOG) to discuss the current status of the JOG Program on Motor-Operated Valve (MOV) Periodic Verification being conducted as an industry-wide response to Generic Letter (GL) 96-05, "Periodic Verification of Design-Basis Capability of Safety-Related Motor-Operated Valves." The staff issued GL 96-05 to provide recommendations for long-term MOV programs to be implemented following the initial verification of MOV design-basis capability performed in response to GL 89-10, "Safety-Related Motor-Operated Valve Testing and Surveillance." The JOG program consists of the following three phases: (1) an interim MOV static diagnostic test program; (2) a 5-year MOV dynamic diagnostic test program; and (3) a long-term MOV periodic diagnostic test program. The staff prepared a safety evaluation dated October 30, 1997, accepting the JOG program with certain conditions and limitations. At the May 8, 2002 meeting, the staff reported that the review of the GL 96-05 programs had been completed for all 103 active operating reactor units based, in large part, on licensee commitments to the JOG program. The JOG representatives reported that licensees of 98 reactor units are participating in the program. The JOG program currently includes 197 valves that are receiving three repetitive dynamic tests with at least a 1-year time interval between tests. The JOG representatives provided an update of the key observations from the MOV dynamic tests performed as part of the JOG program. The target date for the submittal of the JOG final topical report to the NRC is December 2003. The staff plans to prepare a safety evaluation addressing the JOG final topical report. The JOG will prepare a summary document of lessons learned following completion of the JOG dynamic test program for use by licensees in system application and setup of MOVs and other power-operated valves. Further, the staff stated that it will consider the development of an information notice that alerts all licensees to the key lessons learned from the JOG program. The staff and JOG representatives set a tentative date of October 16, 2002, for the next public meeting to discuss the status of the JOG program. NRC Regulatory
Issue Summary 2002-07 The NRC issued this regulatory issue summary to highlight recent concerns about worker self-declarations of fitness-for-duty and to clarify the applicable regulatory requirements. Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Staff Attends Spring Meeting of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board On May 7-8, 2002, staff from the Division of Waste Management and
the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses attended the spring meeting
of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board held in Washington, D.C. The
meeting agenda included programmatic and technical subjects. Programmatic
presentations covered the safety case (i.e., international perspectives;
Department of Energy (DOE Holtec International HI-STORM 100 Cask System On May 9, 2002, the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) and the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) made a decision to withdraw a direct final rule that was published on March 27, 2002, revising the Holtec International HI-STORM 100 cask system listing within the "List of approved spent fuel storage casks" in 10 CFR 72.214, to include Amendment 1 to the Certificate of Compliance. In response to the request for public comments in the companion proposed rule (3/27/02; 67 FR 14662), the NRC received a significant adverse comment that warranted withdrawal of the direct final rule. The main concern in the comment was based on an assumption that "certain forms of" Greater Than Class C waste were to be commingled with spent nuclear fuel. The comment will be addressed in the normal notice and comment process, and a final rule package is in preparation. Meeting Regarding New Transport Package for Fresh Fuel Assemblies On May 15, 2002, Spent Fuel Project Office staff met with the Westinghouse Electric Company to discuss the design of the Model No. Traveller package. The Traveller is being designed for the transport of fresh fuel assemblies. Westinghouse described the package design, plans for package testing, and criticality analyses performed for the package. Westinghouse plans to perform final certification tests using a full-scale specimen. Testing will include the hypothetical accident test sequence in 10 CFR Part 71, including free drop, puncture, and fire tests. Westinghouse plans to submit an application for package approval in the summer of 2003. Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research Joint NRC/EPRI Fire Research Study- Kickoff Meeting at Millstone NPP A successful kickoff meeting for the fire risk requantification study was held at Millstone nuclear power plant (NPP) on May 14, 2002. In attendance were representatives from EPRI, NRC, (including EPRI and NRC contractors) and D.C. Cook and Millstone Unit 3, pilot plants whose fire risk analyses (FRAs) will be updated with improved methods derived from this project. During the meeting, the requantification study program plan developed jointly by EPRI and NRC was discussed with the pilot plants. Issues which arose during the discussions were resolved. The fire risk requantification study is identified as a program element in the EPRI-NRC(RES) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) fire risk addendum. Briefly, the objectives of the requantification study are to (1) improve tools, methods, and data through EPRI and NRC deliberation and discussion (based upon results of their respective research programs), (2) update pilot plant FRAs with these improvements, (3) develop insights, and (4) identify areas for future research. Both EPRI and NRC recognize that improvements should be made in the current methods guidance to support risk-informed regulatory applications. EPRI and NRC will develop products benefitting from their collaboration. Specifically, EPRI will update its FRA methods guidance document, the Fire PRA Implementation Guide. NRC will produce a NUREG on improved methods, the pilot plant studies it performs to obtain methods insights, and those insights. It is also expected that the results of the fire risk requantification study will support the ANS fire risk standard. Annual CSARP Technical Review Meeting The annual Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program (CSARP) Technical Review meeting was conducted on May 6-8, 2002. This international meeting serves an important role in providing a forum for applying the knowledge base acquired to address regulatory and safety issues. The meeting was attended by 60 participants from 15 CSARP Partner countries and from national laboratories, universities, and the NRC. The technical sessions covered two major themes: progress in phenomenological research and experiments, and progress in code development, assessment, and applications. For current generation reactors, participants identified melt coolability and melt-structure-coolant interactions as areas where ongoing research is directed to address remaining uncertainties. Nuclear Security and Incident Response Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards System (NMMSS) Users Annual Training Meeting Staff members of the NRC Offices of International Programs (OIP), Inspector
General (OIG), Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR), and Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) participated in the annual training
meeting with NMMSS stakeholders. NMMSS is the U.S. national data base
for source and special nuclear material. NRC-licensed facilities and Department
of Energy (DOE) facilities are required to report actions that result
in a change in the quantity of special nuclear material to NMMSS. The
meeting was held May 7-9 and was attended by approximately 110 stakeholders
from both private industry and the DOE sites as well as approximately
20 employees of the U.S. Government (i.e., DOE
Office of Homeland Security (OHS) Training and Exercise Policy Coordination Committee On May 14, 2002, the Director of the Division of Incident Response Operations attended a meeting of the OHS Training and Exercise Policy Coordination Committee. About 25 representatives of various Federal agencies participated. Principal topics included TOPOFF2 planning and an initial discussion of a training concept for inclusion in the National Strategy for Homeland Security. Department of Justice planning for TOPOFF2 continues to envision two primary venues and a possible tertiary venue. An initial TOPOFF2 planning conference is scheduled for May 21 and a series of seminars are planned in the next six months. The OHS training concept is still evolving and is expected to provide an approach for Federal engagement with State and local entities to improve the capabilities of first responders. Preliminary Notifications 1. PNO-IV-02-023, Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant), UNPLANNED SHUTDOWN DUE TO LOOSE PART IN STEAM GENERATOR D. 2. PNO-IV-02-024, Huntington Memorial Hospital, THEFT OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL. Office of Administration Acquisition Training and Certification Program On May 15, 2002, the Division of Contracts and Property Management conducted an Acquisition Certification and Training Program module entitled "Source Evaluation Panel Procedures" with nine attendees. This module focuses on the duties and responsibilities of SEP members including effective evaluation of proposals, determination of the competitive range, and contractor selection. List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NAC-MPC; Confirmation of Effective Date (Part 72) A document confirming the effective date of May 29, 2002, for a direct final rule that revised the NAC-MPC cask system listing within the list of approved spent fuel storage casks was published in the Federal Register on May 13, 2002 (67 FR 31938). Chief Information Officer Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Requests received during the period of May 10, 2002 through May 16, 2002:
Office of Human Resources
*Summer employee **Employee returning from LWOP to work full-time during the summer months. Office of Public Affairs Media Interest Region I Administrator Hubert J. Miller met with the editorial board of the Westchester Journal-News to discuss issues regarding Indian Point. There was press interest in Vermont Yankee's Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation. An announcement by TVA that it plans to re-start Browns Ferry-1, which has been idle since 1985, drew media interest. There was continuing interest in plans by FirstEnergy regarding the degraded reactor vessel head at its Davis-Besse plant.
Items of Interest Week Ending June 28, 2002
Commission Correspondence 1. Letter to Ryan Buboltz dated May 7, 2002, extends congratulations upon completion of requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest honor in Scouting. 2. Letter to Dario Herrera, Chairman, Las Vegas Board of County Commissioners, dated May 6, 2002, responds to request for public meetings to discuss the safety and security issues surrounding Yucca Mountain and the transportation of 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level nuclear waste to Nevada. 3. Letter to Paul Leventhal, Nuclear Control Institute, dated May 6, 2002, concerns the application from Transnuclear, Inc., to amend NRC an license. 4. Joseph S. Mahaley, DOE, dated May 7, 2002, responds to requests for NRC's urgent attention to deficiencies identified in the Nuclear Material Management and Safeguards System as discussed in an audit report prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General. Federal Register Notices Issued 1. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Joint Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittees on Materials and Metallurgy, on Thermal-Hydraulic Phenomena, and on Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment - Notice of Meeting. 2. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, June 6-8, 2002 - Notice of Meeting. 3. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Subcommittee on Fire Protection - Notice of Meeting.
Region II Leaders Growing Leaders in Virginia On May 15-17, 2002, the Director, Division of Reactor Projects, attended the "Leaders Growing Leaders" training at the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, VA. This is part of the regional effort to send managers to specialized, leadership training. Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. On May 14, 2002, a small fire occurred in the recovery area at the Nuclear Fuel Services site in Erwin, TN. The fire was promptly extinguished by an operator with a portable dry chemical fire extinguisher. No fuel processing or other radioactive material was directly involved. The equipment involved consisted of two small water heaters. An offsite fire department was called but did not enter the site. Two Region II fuel facility inspectors were onsite at the time of the fire and immediately responded. The senior resident inspector is monitoring the licensee's investigation and implementation of corrective actions. Tennessee Valley Authority - Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant On May 16, 2002, the Tennessee Valley Authority Board approved a recommendation to begin recovery of the Browns Ferry, Unit 1 power reactor for service. The Board issued a press release on May 16, announcing this decision and a decision to request license extension from NRC for all three reactor units at the Browns Ferry power plant site.
Region III Operator License Presentation at Perry On May 16, 2002, the Regional Administrator presented Reactor Operator license certificates to two individuals and Senior Reactor Operator license certificates to five individuals at the Perry Nuclear Power Station. The license examinations were administered to the seven candidates in March 2002.
Items of Interest Week Ending June 28, 2002 Predecisional Enforcement Conference with Department of the Interior On May 15, 2002, the Director, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety and
RIV staff members conducted a closed Predecisional Enforcement
Conference with representatives of the Department
of the Interior Comanche Peak Visit On May 14, 2002, the Regional Administrator visited Comanche Peak to tour the plant with the Resident Inspector. While on site he met with the Senior Vice President. He also discussed implementation of the security order with security personnel and changes made to prevent the release of radioactive material from the restricted area with the radiation protection manager.
Items of Interest
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Clarification of NRC Requirements Applicable to Worker Fatigue and Self-Declarations
of Fitness-For-Duty dated May 10, 2002
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strategy; State of Nevada views; and NRC requirements for the safety case
presented by NRC staff); staged repository development (i.e., status of
the National Academy of Sciences' study on adaptive staging, international
perspectives, DOE views, and State of Nevada views); and the performance
confirmation program (i.e., enhancing confidence by DOE; role of long-term
research and development and performance confirmation by the Electric
Power Research Institute; and testing priorities by DOE). Technical presentations
were made on the status of corrosion studies (i.e., DOE's waste package
performance peer review, and evaluation of near-field corrosion processes
for the State of Nevada). As a result, staff gained more insights on State
of Nevada and NWTRB's concerns regarding those areas covered.