Headquarters Daily Report JULY 02, 1998 *************************************************************************** REPORT NEGATIVE NO INPUT ATTACHED INPUT RECEIVED RECEIVED HEADQUARTERS û REGION I û REGION II û REGION III û REGION IV û PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - HEADQUARTERS JULY 2, 1998 MR Number: H-98-0101 NRR DAILY REPORT ITEM GENERIC COMMUNICATIONS Information Notice 98-25: Loss of Inventory from Safety-related, Closed-loop Cooling Water Systems Dated July 8, 1998 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing this information notice to alert addressees to potential inoperability of safety-related, closed-loop cooling water systems due to loss of inventory from excessive leakage combined with the absence of a reliable and timely annunciation and/or makeup system. Technical contacts: Rick Khan, NRR 301-415-1152 E-mail: tmk@nrc.gov William T. LeFave, NRR 301-415-3285 E-mail: wtl2@nrc.gov _ REGION III MORNING REPORT PAGE 2 JULY 2, 1998 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Commonwealth Edison Co. MR Number: 3-98-0049 Byron 1 2 Date: 07/02/98 Byron,Illinois RI via Phone and PC Dockets: 50-454,50-455 PWR/W-4-LP,PWR/W-4-LP Subject: LICENSEE MANAGEMENT CHANGES Discussion: On June 26, 1998, Mr. Kurt Kofron was transferred from the position of Plant Manager to a position at the Corporate Offices in Downers Grove, Illinois. Mr. Dave Wozniak has been named interim Station Manager. He previously held the position of Site Engineering Manager. Regional Action: This is for information only. Contact: M. J. Jordan (630)829-9637 _ REGION III MORNING REPORT PAGE 3 JULY 2, 1998 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Commonwealth Edison Co. MR Number: 3-98-0050 Dresden 1 Date: 07/01/98 Morris,Illinois PERSONAL COMMUNICATION Dockets: 50-010 BWR/GE-1 Subject: PLANT MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION Discussion: In early June 1998, Mr. Cliff Howland, Commonwealth Edison's Dresden Unit 1 Decommissioning Plant Manager, was moved to the position of Corporate Radiation Protection Manager. Mr. Nate Leech, the Dry Cask Storage Project Manager, assumed the additional responsibility of Acting Decommissioning Plant Manager on an interim basis. On June 29, 1998, Mr. Leech was permanently assigned to the Decommissioning Plant Manager position, which included the elimination of his previous position as Dry Cask Storage Project Manager. As Plant Manager he will maintain responsibility for both positions. Regional Action: N/A Contact: WILLIAM SNELL (630)829-9871 _ REGION IV MORNING REPORT PAGE 4 JULY 2, 1998 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Nebraska Public Power District MR Number: 4-98-0039 Cooper 1 Date: 07/02/98 Brownville,Nebraska Resident Inspector Dockets: 50-298 BWR/GE-4 Subject: COOPER NUCLEAR STATION (CNS) MANAGEMENT CHANGE Discussion: Effective August 3, 1998, CNS has named Bruce Rash to the Senior Engineering Manager position. Mr. Rash currently serves as the Department Leader of System Engineering (equivalent to System Engineering Manager) at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. His qualifications include a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an M.B.A, an SRO license on Palo Verde Units 1, 2, and 3, and Shift Technical Advisor qualification. Also effective August 3, Paul Caudill, currently acting Senior Engineering Manager at CNS, will become the CNS Vice President of Techical Support, a newly created position. Regional Action: Region IV staff will continue to monitor CNS actions to improve engineering performance. Contact: Elmo Collins (817)860-8182 _ REGION IV MORNING REPORT PAGE 5 JULY 2, 1998 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Union Electric Co. MR Number: 4-98-0040 Callaway 1 Date: 07/02/98 Fulton,Missouri Via telephone from SRI Dockets: 50-483 PWR/W-4-LP Subject: CALLAWAY PLANT MANAGEMENT CHANGE Discussion: Effective July 1, 1998, Mr. Charles Naslund, Manager Nuclear Engineering at the Callaway Plant, will assume duties as the Assistant Vice President Power Operations with AmerenUE. Mr. John McGraw, Superintendent Technical Support Engineering, will be the Acting Manager Nuclear Engineering until a permanent replacement is named. Regional Action: For information only. Contact: David Passehl (573)676-3181 _ REGION IV MORNING REPORT PAGE 6 JULY 2, 1998 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Arizona Public Service Co. MR Number: 4-98-0041 Palo Verde 3 Date: 07/01/98 Wintersburg,Arizona Senior Resident Inspector Dockets: 50-530 PWR/CE80 Subject: Power Reduction Discussion: On July 1, 1998, at 11:10 a.m. (MST), Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 entered Technical Specification (TS) 3.0.3 due to the local power density (LPD) channel for all four core protection calculators (CPC) being considered inoperable. The surveillance test for CPC B could not be performed due to the inability to determine the setpoints for the LPD pretrip and trip signals. Because the test could not be performed on CPC B, the other CPCs were declared inoperable. The core presently installed in Unit 3 is the lowest leakage core installed to date at Palo Verde. The lowest neutron leakage is at the beginning of core life, and as the core ages, the leakage increases. Prior to restart from the last outage, the LPD detectors were calibrated such that they would be able to detect the leakage, and because the leakage is low, the detector amplifier gain was set relatively high. As the core aged and leakage increased, the magnitude of the signal increased. At this point late in core life, the signal strength has increased to a point that the LPD indication is off-scale high. The potentiometer used to adjust the signal to maintain indication in the instrument band is no longer functional since the potentiometer cannot compensate for the signal strength. The licensee commenced reducing power at 12:10 p.m. (MST). At 2:14 p.m., the licensee stabilized reactor power at approximately 75 percent and successfully verified that CPC B would perform its LPD trip function. The licensee exited TS 3.0.3, after CPC B was verified able to be fully functional, since there was no reason to believe that the other three CPCs were not fully functional. However, CPC B was left in bypass because the DNBR surveillance test could not be performed at 75 percent power since, at this power level, the DNBR margin is so high that the DNBR setpoints can't be tested. The licensee increased reactor power to approximately 85 percent, successfully performed surveillance testing on CPC B, and recalibrated each excore channel. The calibration readjusted the power gain to normalize excore power to a value that allows sufficient margin to perform the surveillance testing. All other CPC surveillance tests were performed satisfactorily. The licensee evaluated the transportability of this issue to Units 1 and 2 and determined that none existed for their current excore gain settings. Unit 3 returned to 100 percent power at 4 a.m. on July 2, 1998. Regional Action: Routine followup by resident staff. REGION IV MORNING REPORT PAGE 7 JULY 2, 1998 MR Number: 4-98-0041 (cont.) Contact: P. Harrell (817)860-8250 _