Resolution of Generic Safety Issues: Issue 178: Effect of Hurricane Andrew on Turkey Point (Rev. 2) ( NUREG-0933, Main Report with Supplements 1–35 )

DESCRIPTION

On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida and caused extensive onsite and offsite damage at Turkey Point. Following this hurricane which was classified Category 4, an NRC/industry team was organized to: (1) review the damage caused to the nuclear units; (2) review the licensee actions to prepare for, and recover from, the storm; and (3) compile lessons that might benefit other nuclear reactor facilities. Results of the team review were documented in NUREG-1474¹⁶¹⁰ which was distributed to all power reactor licensees by INPO on June 10, 1993.

As a result of the EDO request for staff review of the NRC/industry report to determine the actions necessary for resolving the identified concerns, an action plan¹⁶¹¹ was established by NRR. Among the items in the plan were two that addressed whether there was the need to develop generic guidance for:

(1) licensees, to ensure that their offsite communication circuits can reliably survive or recover from the impact of a severe natural event such as a hurricane. (These circuits are required to provide reliable notification to offsite authorities of emergency conditions at the affected licensee's power reactor facility.)

(2) inspectors, to review licensees' preparation for, and response to, natural disasters, including industry pre-planned support.

This issue was identified in an NRR memorandum¹⁶⁰¹ to RES in February 1996 and addressed the staff's efforts to increase its knowledge and understanding of hurricanes in order to increase its confidence in assessing levels of safety. Therefore, it was considered a Licensing Issue.¹⁷³¹

CONCLUSION

For Item 1, TI 2515/131, "Licensee Offsite Communication Capabilities," was issued¹¹³⁶ in January 1996 to provide inspectors with guidance for collecting information on offsite notification circuits and, between February 1 and June 30, 1996, this TI was used at 17 plants. Data collected from these inspections and previous inspections were evaluated to determine if guidance to licensees in the form of generic communication was necessary to provide either survivability or rapid recoverability of the circuits from a severe natural event.¹⁷⁷⁰ For Item 2, the staff concluded that, from an emergency preparedness standpoint, sufficient guidance existed for reviewing licensee preparations in response to a hurricane or other external events.

The staff issued IN 93-53,¹⁶¹² Supplement 1, which expanded the scope of lessons learned to other external events and discussed existing regulatory guidance for various external events. The action to provide guidance for inspectors to address any vulnerabilities that may develop from the review of IPEEEs (GL 88-20, Supplement 4)¹²²² was incorporated into Activity 1.3 (b) of the Probabilistic Risk Assessment Implementation Plan. Thus, this issue was resolved.

REFERENCES

1136. Memorandum to C. Miller from R. Borchardt, "Review of Temporary Instruction 2515/131, 'Licensee Offsite Communication Capabilities,' for Deletion from the NRC Inspection Manual," December 3, 1996. [9612060074] 1222. Letter to All Licensees Holding Operating Licenses and Construction Permits for Nuclear Power Reactor Facilities from U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "Individual Plant Examination for Severe Accident Vulnerabilities—10 CFR § 50.54(f), (Generic Letter No. 88-20)," November 23, 1988 [ML031150465], (Supplement 1) August 29, 1989 [8908300001], (Supplement 2) April 4, 1990 [ML031200551], (Supplement 3) July 6, 1990 [ML031210418], (Supplement 4) June 28, 1991 [ML031150485], (Supplement 5) September 8, 1995. 1601. Memorandum for C. Serpan from A. Chaffee, "Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Input Into Research NUREG-0933 (WITS Item 9400213)," February 13, 1996. [9602260124] 1610. NUREG-1474, "Effect of Hurricane Andrew on the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station from August 20"30, 1992," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, March 1993. [9307060041] 1611. Memorandum for J. Taylor from T. Murley, "Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Plan for Generic Follow-on Actions Report on the Effect of Hurricane Andrew on the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station from August 20-30, 1992," July 22, 1993. [9308160297] 1612. Information Notice 93-53, "Effect of Hurricane Andrew on Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station and Lessons Learned," U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, July 20, 1993 [ML031070364], (Supplement 1) April 29, 1994. [ML031070490] 1731. Memorandum for W. Russell from D. Morrison, "Prioritization of the NRR Action Plans Submitted to RES on February 13, 1996," June 24, 1996. [9606260260] 1770. Memorandum for W. Russell from C. Miller, "Licensee Offsite Communication Capabilities; Results of Information Gathering Using Temporary Instruction," September 26, 1996.