Mr. Bruce Kenyon

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region I

475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19401

Phone: 610/337-5330 Fax: 610/337-5241

Internet: dps@nrc.gov or nas@nrc.gov

I-97-23 March 7, 1997

Contact: Diane Screnci FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neil A. Sheehan

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff issued the attached

confirmatory action letter to Northeast Utilities this afternoon.
Mr. Bruce Kenyon

March 7, 1997

CAL No. 1-97-010

Mr. Bruce D. Kenyon

President and Chief Executive Officer

Northeast Nuclear Energy Company

P.O. Box 128

Waterford, Connecticut 06385-0128

SUBJECT: CONFIRMATORY ACTION LETTER

Dear Mr. Kenyon:

The purpose of this letter is to confirm your ongoing efforts and

commitments to evaluate and correct problems found within the

licensed operator training programs at Millstone Units 1, 2, and

3, and Haddam Neck. These efforts and commitments were described

in a letter dated March 3, 1997, from Mr. Jay Thayer, Recovery

Officer, Nuclear Engineering and Support Services.

Specifically, NRC administered senior reactor operator (SRO)

license examinations to seven applicants at Millstone Unit 1 on

December 2 - 6, 1996. Grading of the examinations determined

that six of the seven applicants failed the examinations. Based

on facility assessments of the examinations, Mr. J. Thayer

commissioned an independent review of the causes of the

examination failures. NRC Examination Report 50-245/96-12, dated

February 7, 1997, provided the results of the examination to

Northeast Utilities and requested that the results of the ongoing

independent review be submitted to the NRC. Subsequently, your

Independent Review Team (IRT) identified several instances in

which the licensed operator training program at Millstone Unit 1

had not been completed, such that information on the operator

license applications (NRC Form 398) may have been inaccurate

regarding the applicants' completion of the training program. In

response, Northeast Utilities began a separate review of license

training programs at Millstone Units 1, 2, and 3 and Haddam Neck

that had been completed over the last few years and communicated

preliminary results of these reviews to the NRC on February 27,

1997.

The March 3, 1997, letter provided the IRT report regarding the

recent Millstone Unit 1 examination failures, the findings

regarding training program irregularities including compliance

with systems approach to training at all four units, the actions

taken for currently licensed operators to compensate for the

findings, and commitments for ongoing evaluations and corrective

action plans. Further, the letter stated that, "the NRC Forms

398 (for recent Millstone 1 applicants) were submitted to the NRC

based on inaccurate information provided to those signing the
Mr. Bruce Kenyon

forms." The letter withdrew the license applications (Form 398s)

for the seven 1996 SRO applicants at Millstone Unit 1.

Also, the attachments to the letter provided the details related

to efforts at each of the four units to prevent any licensed

operator from performing licensed duties until all identified

irregularities in their initial license training and

qualification have been addressed, and until completion of the

training program can be demonstrated.

Further, the attachments to the letter addressed your evaluations

regarding licensed operator requalification training and short

term corrective actions and concluded that it was appropriate to

resume training at Millstone Units 1, 2, and 3 and to continue

training at Haddam Neck. It is our expectation that facility

management will ensure that these corrective actions have been

implemented in a manner to enable effective training.

Based on the importance to nuclear safety of thoroughly trained

licensed operators, we are confirming your written commitments in

the March 3, 1997, letter. Specifically, we understand that you

will:

1. Submit the complete corrective action plan, including a

schedule for addressing each of the identified IRT

weaknesses and a review of the extent of the problems and

root causes for the training area to the NRC staff by April

2, 1997. As part of the corrective action plan, clearly

define roles and responsibilities for completing NRC Form

398.

2. Complete corrective actions for the Millstone Unit 1

LOIT/LOUT (licensed operator initial/upgrade training)

program prior to restarting respective classes.

3. Complete corrective actions for the Millstone Unit 2 LOIT

program prior to restarting LOIT classes.

4. Complete corrective actions for the Millstone Unit 3

LOIT/LOUT program prior to NRC examinations of the current

LOIT/LOUT class.

5. Conduct a thorough review of the Millstone Unit 3 LOIT

program against the accredited program requirements prior to

submittal of the license applications to the NRC.

6. Forward the scope of NRC Form 396 (medical certification)

process review and its expected completion date for

Millstone Units 1, 2, and 3 and the Haddam Neck plant (HNP)

by April 2, 1997.

7. Submit the results of HNP data reviews of LOIT/LOUT findings

to the NRC by April 2, 1997.
Mr. Bruce Kenyon

8. Submit the results of initial reviews of additional classes

on all the units to the NRC by March 15, 1997.

9. Complete specific reviews of the HNP LORT (licensed operator

requalification training) program by April 4, 1997.

Further, in discussions with Glenn Meyer, NRC, Region I on March

6, 1997, Mr. J. Thayer confirmed that the "complete corrective

action plan" discussed in item 1 above would address Northeast

Utilities' efforts to provide the necessary assurance that the

skills and abilities of all currently licensed operators meet

facility standards.

None of these commitments shall preclude you from taking actions

as necessary to ensure the health and safety of workers and the

public, protect the environment, and comply with applicable

regulatory requirements.

Pursuant to Section 182 of the Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. 2232,

you are required to:

1) Notify us immediately if your understanding differs

from that set forth above;

2) Notify us if for any reason you cannot complete the

actions within the specified schedule and advise us in

writing of your modified schedule in advance of the

change; and

3) Notify us in writing when you have completed the

actions addressed in this Confirmatory Action Letter.

Issuance of this Confirmatory Action Letter does not preclude

issuance of an order formalizing the above commitments or

requiring other actions on the part of the licensee, nor does it

preclude the NRC from taking enforcement action for violations of

NRC requirements or other actions as appropriate that may have

prompted the issuance of this letter. In addition, failure to

take the actions addressed in this Confirmatory Action Letter may

result in enforcement action.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice,"

a copy of this letter, and your response will be placed in the

NRC Public Document Room (PDR). To the extent possible, your

response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or

safeguards information so that it can be placed in the PDR

without redaction. If personal privacy or proprietary

information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, then

please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies

the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of

your response that deletes such information. If you request

withholding of such material, you must specifically identify the

portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and

provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding [e.g.,
Mr. Bruce Kenyon

explain why the disclosure of information will create an

unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the

information required by 10 CFR 2.790(b) to support a request for

withholding confidential commercial or financial information].

If safeguards information is necessary to provide an acceptable

response, please provide the level of protection described in 10

CFR 73.21.

Sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:

Hubert J. Miller

Regional Administrator

NRC Region I

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:

William D. Travers

Director

Special Projects Office

Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation

Docket Nos. 50-213, 50-245, 50-336, and 50-423