Supplemental Inspection

The intent of Inspection Procedure 95003 (Issue Date: 01/17/02) for a supplemental inspection is to allow the NRC to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the depth and breadth of safety and organizational, and performance issues at facilities for which data indicates the potential for serious performance degradation. This procedure is for a special inspection that is more diagnostic than indicative and includes reviews of programs and processes not inspected as part of the NRC's baseline inspection program. In addition, the procedure is intended to provide insight into the root and contributing causes of performance deficiencies. The procedure is not intended to duplicate the scope of previously performed baseline and supplemental inspections; however, some repetition may be necessary if previous inspections were not sufficient to fully gather the data needed to understand the breadth and depth of licensee performance issues.

Point Beach Units 1 and 2

The objectives of the Point Beach Nuclear Plant supplemental inspection, using IP 95003, are as follows:

  • To provide the NRC additional information to be used in deciding whether the continued operation of the facility is acceptable and whether additional regulatory actions are necessary to arrest declining plant performance.

  • To provide an independent assessment of the extent of risk significant issues to aid in determining whether an unacceptable margin of safety exists.

  • To independently assess the adequacy of the programs and processes the licensee uses to identify, evaluate, and correct performance issues.

  • To independently evaluate the adequacy of programs and processes in the affected strategic performance areas.

  • To provide insight into the overall root and contributing causes of identified performance deficiencies.

  • To determine if the NRC oversight process provides sufficient warning to significant reductions in safety.

As prescribed by IP 95003, the scope of the inspection activities at Point Beach will include the assessment of performance in the Reactor Safety Strategic Performance Area, including the inspection of key attributes such as design, human performance, procedure quality, configuration control, and readiness of the emergency response organization; and the review of the control systems for identifying, assessing, and correcting performance deficiencies to evaluate whether programs are sufficient to prevent further declines in safety that could result in unsafe operation.

In developing the scope of this inspection, the NRC considered—

  • the results of the licensee's ongoing self-assessment;

  • the disposition of the preliminary Red finding

  • an Unresolved Item from the emergency preparedness drill of August 2002, and

  • the evaluation of the licensee's progress in addressing the substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of problem identification and resolution.

NRC will conduct the inspection at Point Beach in three phases to accommodate resource constraints, the licensee's schedule, and the timely completion of this extensive inspection.

  1. The Corrective Actions Team (CAT) will review licensee discovery efforts.

  2. The Emergency Preparedness Team (EPT), will focus on the review of the licensee's Emergency Preparedness Program.

  3. The Engineering Operations and Maintenance Team (EOMT) will assess implementation of corrective actions and a review of the design engineering function.

For this inspection, NRC chose two for a detailed review: component cooling water system and the 125-volt direct current electrical system. The team will also review the auxiliary feedwater (AFW) system but will limit the AFW system review to corrective actions taken in calendar year 2003. The design of this system was previously reviewed during the recent special inspection (Inspection Report 50-266/02-15; 50-301/02-15).

While IP 95003 does allow for focus to be applied to areas for which performance issues have been previously identified, the procedure requires that the inspection team perform some sample reviews for all key attributes of the affected strategic performance areas. The rationale behind this is that additional NRC assurance is required to ensure public health and safety beyond that provided by the baseline inspection program and the performance indicators at those facilities for which NRC identifies significant performance issues. The results of this inspection will aid the NRC in deciding whether additional regulatory actions are necessary to assure public health and safety. These additional regulatory actions could include orders, confirmatory action letters, or additional supplemental inspections to confirm that corrective actions to the identified performance concerns have been effective.

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