UNITED STATES 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

REGION III 

2443 WARRENVILLE ROAD, SUITE 210 

LISLE, IL 60532-4352 

January 20, 2010 

EA-09-269 

Mr. Christopher J. Schwarz 

Vice President, Operations 

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. 

Palisades Nuclear Plant 

27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway 

Covert, MI 49043-9530 

SUBJECT: FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION FOR A WHITE FINDING; 

NOTIFICATION OF FOLLOW-UP ASSESSMENT; AND NOTICE OF 

VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000255/2010007; 

PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT 

Dear Mr. Schwarz: 

The purpose of this letter is to provide you the final results of our significance determination of the 

preliminary White finding identified in Inspection Report 05000255/2009008. The finding is 

associated with the failure to meet the requirements of Section 4.3 of the Technical Specifications 

for fuel storage in the spent fuel pool which resulted in the neutron absorber in the Region I spent 

fuel pool racks being degraded such that the effective neutron multiplication factor (Keff) would 

not remain at or below 0.95 without credit for soluble boron. 

In a telephone message and follow-up conversation with Mr. John Giessner, Chief, Projects 

Branch 4, Region III, of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), on December 21 and 

28, 2009, Mr. David Hamilton of your staff indicated that Entergy declined the opportunity to 

discuss this issue in a Regulatory Conference or to provide a written response. 

After considering the information developed during the inspection, the NRC has concluded that 

the inspection finding is appropriately characterized as White, a finding with low to moderate 

safety significance that may require additional NRC inspections. 

You have 30 calendar days from the date of this letter to appeal the staff’s determination of 

significance for the identified White finding. Such appeals will be considered to have merit only 

if they meet the criteria given in the NRC Inspection Manual Chapter 0609, Attachment 2. 

The NRC has also determined that the finding had an associated violation, as cited in the 

enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice). The circumstances surrounding the violation were 

described in detail in the subject inspection report. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement 

Policy, the Notice is considered escalated enforcement action because it is associated with a 

White finding. 
C. Schwarz -2- 

The NRC has concluded that the information regarding the reason for the violation, the 

corrective actions taken, and the date when full compliance was achieved is already adequately 

addressed on the docket in the subject inspection report. Therefore, you are not required to 

respond to this letter unless the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective 

actions or your position. 

As a result of our review of Palisades Nuclear Plant’s performance, including this White finding, 

we have assessed you to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRC’s Action Matrix. 

Therefore, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, 

“Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area,” when your staff has 

notified us of your readiness for this inspection. This inspection procedure is conducted to 

provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk significant performance 

issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective actions are 

sufficient to prevent recurrence. 

In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 2.390 of the NRC's 

“Rules of Practice,” a copy of this letter, its enclosure, and your response, if you choose to 

provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public 

Document Room or from the NRC=s Agencywide Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html. To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, 

proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the public without 

redaction. 

Sincerely, 

/RA by Cynthia D. Pederson Acting for/ 

Mark A. Satorius 

Regional Administrator 

Docket No. 50-255 

License No. DPR-20 

Enclosure: 

Notice of Violation 

cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv 
Letter to Christopher J. Schwarz from Mark A. Satorius dated January 20, 2010 

SUBJECT: FINAL SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION FOR A WHITE FINDING; 

NOTIFICATION OF FOLLOW-UP ASSESSMENT; AND NOTICE OF 

VIOLATION; NRC INSPECTION REPORT NO. 05000255/2010007; 

PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT 

DISTRIBUTION: 

ADAMS (PARS) 

RidsSecyMailCenter 

OCADistribution 

Bill Borchardt 

Bruce Mallett 

Roy Zimmerman 

Belkys Sosa 

Nick Hilton 

Gerald Gulla 

Marvin Itzkowitz 

Catherine Scott 

Eric Leeds 

Bruce Boger 

Mary Ann Ashley 

Mark Satorius 

Cynthia Pederson 

Steven West 

Daniel Holody 

Carolyn Evans 

William Jones 

Steven Orth 

Jared Heck 

Holly Harrington 

Hubert Bell 

Guy Caputo 

Mona Williams 

John Giessner 

John Ellegood 

Thomas Taylor 

Allan Barker 

James Lynch 

Harral Logaras 

Viktoria Mitlyng 

Prema Chandrathil 

Patricia Lougheed 

Paul Pelke 

Carole Ariano 

Monte Phillips 

Susan Bagley 

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RidsNrrPMPalisades Resource 

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ROPreports Resource

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ENCLOSURE 

NOTICE OF VIOLATION 

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Docket No. 50-255 

Palisades Nuclear Plant License No. DPR-20 

EA-09-269 

During a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection completed on 

November 9, 2009, a violation of NRC requirements was identified. In accordance with 

the NRC Enforcement Policy, the violation is listed below: 

Technical Specification (TS) 4.3.1, Amendment 189, required, in part that Region I fuel 

storage racks be designed and maintained with a Keff ≤ 0.95, if fully flooded with 

unborated water, which includes allowances for uncertainties as described in 

Section 9.11 of the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report. 

Contrary to the above, from July 2008 to February 6, 2009, the licensee failed to 

maintain the Region I fuel storage racks with a Keff ≤ 0.95 when fully flooded with 

unborated water. Specifically, the Region I fuel storage racks contained fixed poison in 

the form of boron carbide (B4C) plates which were less than required by the TS to 

ensure the design feature was met. The B4C neutron absorption capability degraded to 

the point that Keff in Region I was greater than 0.95 under the bounding conditions 

described in Section 9.11 of the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report. 

This violation is associated with a White finding. 

The NRC has concluded that information regarding the reason for the violation, the corrective 

actions taken and planned to be taken to correct the violation and to prevent recurrence, and 

the date when full compliance was achieved, is already adequately addressed on the docket in 

Inspection Report 05000255/20090008; dated December 9, 2009. However, you are required 

to submit a written statement or explanation pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR) 2.201 if the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective 

actions or your position. In that case, or if you choose to respond, clearly mark your response 

as a “Reply to a Notice of Violation EA-09-269,” and send it to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, DC 20555-0001 with a copy to the 

Regional Administrator, Region III, and a copy to the NRC Resident Inspector at the Palisades 

facility, within 30 days of the date of the letter transmitting this Notice of Violation (Notice). 

If you contest this enforcement action, you should also provide a copy of your response, with 

the basis for your denial, to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. 

If you choose to respond, your response will be made available electronically for public 

inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Therefore, to the extent possible, the response 

should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be 

made available to the public without redaction. 

In accordance with 10 CFR 19.11, you may be required to post this Notice within two working 

days. 

Dated this 20th day of January 2010
C. Schwarz -3- 

The NRC has concluded that the information regarding the reason for the violation, the 

corrective actions taken, and the date when full compliance was achieved is already adequately 

addressed on the docket in the subject inspection report. Therefore, you are not required to 

respond to this letter unless the description therein does not accurately reflect your corrective 

actions or your position. 

As a result of our review of Palisades Nuclear Plant’s performance, including this White finding, 

we have assessed you to be in the Regulatory Response column of the NRC’s Action Matrix. 

Therefore, we plan to conduct a supplemental inspection using Inspection Procedure 95001, 

“Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area,” when your staff has 

notified us of your readiness for this inspection. This inspection procedure is conducted to 

provide assurance that the root cause and contributing causes of risk significant performance 

issues are understood, the extent of condition is identified, and the corrective actions are 

sufficient to prevent recurrence. 

In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 2.390 of the NRC's 

“Rules of Practice,” a copy of this letter, its enclosure, and your response, if you choose to 

provide one, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public 

Document Room or from the NRC=s Agencywide Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html. To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, 

proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the public without 

redaction. 

Sincerely, 

/RA by Cynthia D. Pederson Acting for/ 

Mark A. Satorius 

Regional Administrator 

Docket No. 50-255 

License No. DPR-20 

Enclosure: 

Notice of Violation 

cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv 

DISTRIBUTION:

See next page 

FILE NAME: G:\EICS\ENFORCEMENT\Enforcement Cases 2009\EA-09-269 Palisades SFP\EA-09-269 Final 

Action.doc 

; Publicly Available  Non-Publicly Available  Sensitive – Security Related ; Non-Sensitive 

OFFICE RIII RIII RIII D:OE RIII RIII 

NAME Lougheed Giessner West Gulla for 

Zimmerman1

Orth Pederson for

Satorius 

DATE 01/14/10 01/14/10 01/15/10 01/11/10 01/19/10 01/20/10 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY 

 

1. OE concurrence received via e-mail from G. Gulla on January 11, 2010.