Morning Report for March 23, 1999

                       Headquarters Daily Report

                         MARCH 23, 1999

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                    REPORT             NEGATIVE            NO INPUT
                    ATTACHED           INPUT RECEIVED      RECEIVED

HEADQUARTERS                           X
REGION I                               X
REGION II                              X
REGION III          X
REGION IV                              X
PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED  MORNING REPORT - REGION III  MARCH 23, 1999

Licensee/Facility:                     Notification:

Wisconsin Electric Power Co.           MR Number: 3-99-0018
Point Beach 1 2                        Date: 03/17/99
Two Rivers,Wisconsin                   FAX FROM RESIDENT INSPECTOR
Dockets: 50-266,50-301
PWR/W-2-LP,PWR/W-2-LP

Subject: NEW QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER

Discussion:

The licensee for Point Beach Nuclear Plant announced that effective April
1, 1999, Mr. Bill Beach will be the station's Nuclear Assurance (quality
assurance) Manager. He replaces Mr. Rick LaRhette who will return to the
Institute of Nuclear Power Operations after 21 months at Point Beach.
Most recently, Mr. Beach served as a member of Point Beach's offsite
review committee. Before joining Wisconsin Electric, Mr. Beach was the
NRC Region III Regional Administrator.

Regional Action:

None

Contact:  R. D. Lanksbury            (630)829-9631
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REGION III  MORNING REPORT     PAGE  2          MARCH 23, 1999

Licensee/Facility:                     Notification:

Commonwealth Edison Co.                MR Number: 3-99-0019
Dresden 3                              Date: 03/22/99
Morris,Illinois                        E-Mail from RIO
Dockets: 50-249
BWR/GE-3

Subject: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION REQUIRED SHUTDOWN DUE TO UNIT 3 PRESSURE
         BOUNDARY LEAKAGE


Discussion:

On March 21, 1999, Dresden operators shut down the Unit 3 reactor due to
the identification of pressure boundary leakage. Station personnel had
identified an increase in drywell counts and activity on March 13, 1999.
Operators also noted a corresponding increase in drywell fluid leakage
(as identified via drywell sump pumping activities) from approximately
0.1 gpm to approximately 0.3 gpm. On March 21, 1999, operators reduced
reactor power to approximately 40 percent power and station personnel
entered the drywell to identify the source of the leak. The leak was from
a 1 inch welded fitting attached to the "B" reactor recirculation pump
flow element line. This is the same location as a previous leak in
November 1997 (ref. LER 50-249/97012). Upon identification that the leak
was from a pressure boundary, operators commenced a reactor shutdown in
accordance with Technical Specification requirements. The operators
initiated a reactor shutdown at 11:15 a.m. and manually scrammed the
reactor at 1:24 p.m. The operators placed the plant in a cold shutdown
condition at 7:20 p.m. and exited the LCO for pressure boundary leakage.
Currently the licensee plans to fix the leak and return to power in an
expeditious manner. In the longer term, a detailed failure analysis using
metallurgical techniques is planned in order to resolve the repetitive
failures at this location.

Regional Action:

The resident inspection staff monitored portions of the downpower and
shutdown activities. The residents also are monitoring the plant outage
activities.

Contact:  M. Ring                    (630)829-9703
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