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SECY 97-057

March 5, 1997

Contact:  M. Biamonte, OEDO

ENCLOSURE A

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Maintenance Rule Baseline Inspection Hope Creek

A maintenance rule baseline inspection was conducted during the week of February 24-28, 1997, at the Hope Creek facility. The inspection team was made up of Herb Williams, team leader; several inspectors from RI; Rich Travis, a PRA specialist contractor from Brookhaven National Labs; and John Wilcox, NRR/DRCH/HQMB, as support staff. Glenn Meyer, Chief of the Operator Licensing and Human Performance Branch, RI, attended team briefings with the licensee and the exit meeting on Friday, February 28, 1997.

South Texas Project, Unit 2 -- Steam Generator (SG) Inspection Results

The STP-2 SGs are Model E with alloy 600 tubing (hydraulically expanded in the tubesheet), stainless steel tube support plates, and about 4844 tubes per SG.

As a result of SG eddy current testing during the current refueling outage, the licensee will be plugging a total of 601 tubes. The majority of the tube plugging is due to axial indications at hot leg tube support plates (TSPs). The licensee believes that the indications are from outside diameter stress corrosion cracking. These results show a significant increase in degradation from the last inspection, when only 11 tubes were plugged, and total previous plugging after the last inspection was less than 0.5%.

In accordance with the TSs, the inspection results are Category C-3, since more than 1% of the inspected tubes were determined to be defective. In accordance with TS 4.4.5.5.c, the licensee submitted a special report on February 21, 1997, prior to placing the plant in Mode 4, which occurred February 23, 1997.

The licensee was granted approval on May 22, 1996, to use voltage based repair criteria at STP-1. They intend to apply for alternate plugging criteria (APC) on STP-2 in the near future. The staff informed the licensee that the STP-2 amendment will not be a straightforward application of the Generic Letter 95-05 criteria since these criteria (for example, the inspection techniques and voltage based correlations) were developed for plants with carbon steel TSPs. As noted previously, STP-2 has stainless steel TSPs. STP-1 has carbon steel TSPs. The licensee indicated that they did not pull tubes last outage and will not pull any tubes this outage. They expect to pull tubes during the next refueling outage.

Maine Yankee

Maine Yankee is in refueling mode. On February 12, 1997, the licensee announced that it was entering its 1997 refueling outage ahead of schedule due to fuel problems. The licensee plans to replace 92 of 217 fuel assemblies to support an 18-month operating cycle after restart.

Outage Plan

The licensee is developing its outage plan. New fuel is expected to be delivered no sooner than June 1997. Outage activities include resolution of the issues identified in the staff's Confirmatory Action Letter, as supplemented. These issues include cable separation problems, logic circuit functional testing issues (GL 96-01), and design related and configuration control issues. They also include amendment of the Station Service Power Technical Specification (TS 3.12) to require operability of two 115 kV offsite power sources during power operation.

The licensee will begin steam generator (SG) inspections during the first week of April. During 1994, Maine Yankee shut down due to SG tube leakage in excess of TS limits. During SG inspections in 1995, the licensee identified cracking in most tubes above the tube sheet. The facility remained shut down for the remainder of 1995 for sleeve repair of all three SGs. The upcoming inspection will be the first since restart from the sleeving outage. The licensee plans to begin with plus point probe inspection of areas identified through industry experience as high-risk areas.

ISA Enforcement Conference

The staff will conduct an enforcement conference, open for public observation, at the Maine Yankee site on March 11, 1997. This conference is related to the Independent Safety Assessment conducted in 1996. The licensee intends to provide a written response to the identified issues before the meeting. At the meeting, they expect to address their plans to resolve the broader implications of these and other issues.

Staff Activities

NRR and Region I staff are developing the charter of the Maine Yankee Assessment Panel (MYAP) using the guidance in IMC 0350. The MYAP will develop plans to assess the adequacy of the licensee's actions before restart and the effectiveness of the licensee's long-term performance improvement plans. The formation of the MYAP will be documented in a letter to the licensee in the near future. The MYAP met on February 27 in Region I.

LaSalle, Units 1 and 2 -- Meetings On Independent Self Assessments

On 02/20/97, ComEd held public meetings near LaSalle and Zion to discuss the findings of the Independent Self Assessment teams. The ISA teams were commissioned by ComEd in late 1996 to provide a comprehensive assessment of performance and to identify the fundamental causes for poor performance. The teams found deficiencies in each of the functional areas that they reviewed and identified four fundamental root causes at both LaSalle and Zion: (1) no consistent commitment to excellence, (2) ineffective leadership, (3) failure to establish consistently high standards, and (4) lack of necessary management skills. Each meeting consisted of a summary of the team's findings by the ISA team leader and a discussion by station management of its actions to address the identified problems. The licensee agreed with the ISA teams' findings but stated that the plants have been operated safely.

Review Status of 10 CFR 50.54(f) Submittals

During the week of February 17, 1997, the staff began receiving licensee responses to the request for information on design bases pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(f). NRR project managers are performing an acceptance review of the submittals to ensure that there are no obvious omissions. The goal for completing the acceptance reviews is February 28, 1997.

In addition, on February 18, 1997, NRR and the Regions initiated a pilot program to review in more detail one licensee response from each Region using draft review criteria. Experience gained from the pilot program will be used to finalize the review criteria. The final review criteria will be used by the staff to review the remaining responses, which is scheduled to begin the week of March 3, 1997.

ENCLOSURE B

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

National Patient Safety Foundation Symposium

On February 21, 1997, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff member attended the Consensus Building Symposium of the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF). The purpose of this symposium was to bring together experience from diverse sectors to assist NPSF in developing its 1997 patient safety program.

Part of the discussion related to development and use of a medical incident reporting system and performing accident investigations. The NRC staff member described a proactive approach, Human Factors Evaluation, based on a system, function, and task analysis. This approach has proven to be valuable to the NRC in analyzing nuclear power plants, as well as medical therapy systems. Another approach, Critical Incident Evaluation, was also mentioned. These approaches complement incident reporting and accident investigation, and have a number of advantages, including identification of system problems prior to the occurrence of events with adverse consequences.

Industry Presentations on the Use of Mixed Oxide Fuel

On February 21, 1997, staff of the Regulatory and International Safeguards Branch attended nuclear industry presentations on the use of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The meeting was held at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Headquarters Auditorium. Presentations by industry representatives on the use of MOX fuel in nuclear reactors included: (1) History of MOX Use Around the World, presented by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; (2) MOX use in Asea Brown Boveri/Combustion Engineering (ABB/CE) Reactors, presented by ABB/CE; (3) MOX Use in Westinghouse Reactors, presented by Westinghouse; (4) MOX Use in General Electric (GE) Reactors, presented by GE; (5) European Pressurized Water Reactor Experience, presented by Mr. Jean-Luc Provost, Fuel Operations and Strategy Group, Nuclear Fuel Branch, Electricite de France; and (6) European Boiling Water Reactor Experience, presented by Mr. Dieter Krebs, Siemens AG-KWB-B. This meeting was also open to the public.

Meeting with the Department of Energy on Fort St. Vrain

On February 20, 1997, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff met with the Department of Energy-Idaho (DOE-ID), and its associated contractors to discuss transfer of the Fort St. Vrain Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) license from Public Service Company of Colorado to DOE-ID. The purpose of the meeting was to allow DOE-ID to present information on transition plan activities supporting the license transfer. The information presented included: organizational structure, quality assurance, training, operations, technical specifications, emergency planning, employee concerns program, and the tracking and verification of turnover activities. Security matters involving sensitive information were discussed in a separate session.

Babcock and Wilcox Confirmatory Order Rescinded

On February 25, 1997, the Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, rescinded a Confirmatory Order (Order) that had been issued to Babcock and Wilcox (B&W), Naval Nuclear Fuels Division, on December 13, 1996. The Order required B&W to obtain prior Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for shipments of radioactive materials containing beryllium (Be) and uranium (U). The Order was issued after B&W identified a potential criticality safety issue with respect to shipments of Be-U material. The Be-U material was produced during B&W's downblending of highly enriched uranium received from Kazakstan as part of Project Sapphire. An emergency final rule (10 CFR 71.53, "Fissile Exempt Materials") was published in the Federal Register on February 10, 1997, to address this safety issue; consequently, the December 1996 Order has been rescinded.

Meeting with Portland General Electric Company

On February 26, 1997, staff from the Spent Fuel Project Office (SFPO) met with the Portland General Electric Company (PGE), regarding PGE's application to construct and operate an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) at its Trojan facility. A representative of the State of Oregon's Office of Energy also attended the meeting.

Discussion focused primarily on numerous technical issues resulting from PGE's response to a Request for Additional Information issued to PGE on November 25, 1996. The technical exchange portion of the meeting involved Proprietary Information. Technical topics discussed included: basket coatings; pad design; transfer station (including seismic structural analysis); basket design features; criticality; fuel cladding temperature limits (methodology and assumptions); fuel debris program; and ISFSI operating procedures. Licensing topics were also discussed regarding site construction; component fabrication and related quality assurance controls at PGE's vendors; and interfaces between 10 CFR Parts 50, 71 and 72. The SFPO staff noted that there are still numerous technical issues to be resolved in the ISFSI design to facilitate the license review.

Assumption of Jurisdiction Over Gaseous Diffusion Plants

On Monday, March 3, 1997, as of 12:01 a.m., local time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will assume regulatory jurisdiction from the Department of Energy over United States Enrichment Corporation's (USEC's) operations at the gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants located at Paducah, Kentucky, and Piketon, Ohio. This step completes a process set in motion by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which called for NRC to establish standards and a process for certification within 2 years, and for the Corporation to apply to NRC for Certificates of Compliance with those standards.

As required by the Energy Policy Act, the NRC issued new Part 76, "Certification of Gaseous Diffusion Plants," on September 23, 1994. After its first application for certification was rejected by the NRC for lack of sufficient information, USEC reapplied for initial certification on September 15, 1995. A proposed certification decision was prepared and issued on September 19, 1996, and the actual certificates were issued to USEC on November 26, 1996.

ENCLOSURE D

Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Meeting with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) on the Arthur Andersen Study

On February 25, 1997, Ed Jordan from the EDO's office and Charles E. Rossi from AEOD met with representatives of NEI to brief them on the Arthur Andersen study of the Senior Management Meeting Process for determining plants to be placed on the NRC's watch list.

Meeting with INPO on the Exchange of Operational Experience Data

On February 26, 1997, Denwood Ross, Charles E. Rossi, Patrick Baranowsky, and Jack Rosenthal of AEOD and Al Chaffee of NRR met with INPO representatives to discuss the exchange of operational experience information in accordance with the INPO/NRC Memorandum of Agreement.

Agreement State Visits and Training on the Nuclear Material Events Database

Samuel Pettijohn of the Nuclear Materials Events Section, Reliability and Risk Assessment Branch, met with Agreement State Program staff in Tennessee on February 18 and Alabama on February 19. The visits were to discuss with the Agreement State staff issues on using the Nuclear Material Events Database (NMED).

The NMED was provided to all Agreement States in September 1996. Subsequently training on NMED was offered at NRC headquarters in which staff from 14 Agreement States attended. Visits to selected Agreement States are part of a follow-up effort to encourage Agreement States to use the NMED to report events to NRC on a monthly basis. Experience derived from visits to selected Agreement States will be shared with other Agreement States.

Prior to the visit, Tennessee Program staff were using NMED to submit material event reports to the NRC. Alabama Program staff were not using the NMED prior to the visit but committed to begin using it. Among other remarks on using NMED, the staff in Tennessee and Alabama indicated that:

In addition to visiting the Agreement States above, Mr. Pettijohn conducted a one day training session on the operation and use of NMED for 11 members of the Region II staff in the Division of Nuclear Materials Safety on February 20.

Budget Review Group

Three Information Resource Division (IRD) staff members visited Regions I, II, and III during the week of February 24, 1997 to discuss the impact of the EDO's Budget Review Group findings on the Incident Response program.

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATIONS (PNs)

ENCLOSURE F

Office of Administration
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Contract Award

On February 27, 1997, NRC awarded a contract to Gray Personnel Services to provide short-term temporary support for secretarial, accounting and word processing. The total value of the contract is $1,115,792 which includes a one-year base and two one-year option periods. NRC streamlined this procurement by setting a deadline for questions; using less than three SEP members; simplifying evaluation criteria; limiting the number of pages for offerors' proposals; using oral presentations; and waiving audit requirements.

RESTACK Project

Phase 1 of the Restack Project in OWFN has been completed with the completion of the fourth and second floors. The Office of Public Affairs and the Administrative Service Center moved back to the second floor on 2/24/97 and 2/25/97, respectively. The staff from the Office of International Programs, the Office of Investigations and the Office of State Programs have been relocated to the fourth floor in preparation for Phase 2. Phase 2 of the Restack project which is the renovation the third floor began 2/27/97 and is scheduled to be completed on 5/7/97.

RULEMAKING ACTIVITIES

Safety-Conscious Work Environment: This document which announced the Commission's intention to consider several strategies for addressing the need for its licensees to establish and maintain a safety-conscious work environment was published in the Federal Register on February 26 1997 (62 FR 8785). The Commission is considering the development of a standardized approach that would require licensees to establish and maintain a safety-conscious work environment with clearly defined attributes, establish certain indicators that may provide evidence of an emerging adverse trend, and outline specific remedial actions that the Commission may require when it determines a particular licensee has failed in this regard. The comment period for this action closes May 27, 1997.

U.S. Enrichment Corporation (USEC)

Effective March 3, 1997, ADM assumes security cognizance and oversight of the facility security programs for the protection of classified material at USEC's gaseous diffusion plants (GDPs). A portion of this oversight and the facility security process includes making final determinations as to whether the companies operating the GDPs or certain of their contractors are free from foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI). Discussions with DOE Security have revealed that DOE's Acting Secretary and the DOE's Office of the General Counsel have questions concerning USEC's privatization efforts, and in particular about the impact of FOCI determinations on prospective bidders or owners. DOE Security/General Counsel are scheduling a briefing for the Acting Secretary and has requested NRC representation to respond to security and FOCI related questions.

Division of Security (SEC), IRM and NMSS personnel met with USEC's Headquarters (HQs) Security Officer on February 27, 1997, to discuss various issues associated with the March 3, 1997, transition from DOE to NRC security cognizance of USEC leased portions of the gaseous diffusion plant (GDP) sites. Discussion topics included the arming of security guards at the Paducah GDP, overlapping DOE and NRC security reviews, communications security and automated information systems oversight, personnel security clearances, FOCI and various access control issues. USEC will request derivative classification authority for its HQs Security Officer and plans to revise its NRC approved security plans for the protection of classified matter because of changing circumstances.

ENCLOSURE G

Chief Information Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Washington National Records Center

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission entered an Interagency Agreement with the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington National Records Center (WNRC) to reimburse the WNRC for retrieving and processing large volumes of NRC records stored at the WNRC. Although the WNRC normally provides its storage and services free of charge to federal agencies, the NRC needs to withdraw approximately 7,500 cubic feet of reactor docket and material license files from the WNRC to reorganize them in accordance with the new NRC record schedules. The new schedules establish decommissioning records as a permanent collection. The withdrawal of the large volume of records is above and beyond the routine services that the WNRC can provide free of charge. The WNRC will pull approximately 1,500 cu. ft. of records per month for the next seven months, and make them available to NRC.

NRC Vital Records Program

The Office of Information Resources Management (IRM) and the Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD) have met to discuss the agency's Vital Records Program and the Continuity of Government Program. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site where NRC currently maintains emergency operating records will no longer be used as an emergency relocation site. The agency will conduct emergency operations and maintain all of the necessary emergency operating records at the Headquarters Emergency Operation Center and in the event of an emergency or incident that affects the NRC Headquarters building, the NRC will conduct emergency operations from its four regional offices. Additionally, NRC is revising its Management Directive 6.2, "Continuity of Government Program (COG)," to reflect what constitutes vital emergency operating records. Therefore, offices will no longer be required to update Vital Records Plans for emergency operating records. Based upon comments received on the draft Management Directive, AEOD will now have responsibility for identification and maintenance of emergency operating records under the Vital Records Program. Offices will still be required to update their Vital Records Plans for Legal and Financial records which are retained at the NRC Archival Facility.

FOIA Requests Received During the Week Ending February 27, 1997

ENCLOSURE I

Office of Personnel
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Office of Personnel Home Page Added to NRC Internal Home Page

The Office of Personnel Home Page has now been added to the NRC internal home page under the title of "Human Resources Information" on the front page. Topics covered on this new home page include benefits programs, training information, the current NRC/NTEU bargaining agreement, Employee Assistance Program functions, and Personnel SmartLine information.

ENCLOSURE M

Office of Public Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Media Interest

The Christian Science Monitor is planning to write a story about NRC and its current enforcement practices.

Press Releases

ENCLOSURE N

Office of International Programs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Foreign Visitors -- Russia

The First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federal Authority on Nuclear and Radiation Safety, Alexander Gutsalov, and his delegation visited NRC during the period February 20-28 for the annual meeting on nuclear safety assistance. Members of his delegation were Alexander Matveev, Director, Scientific and Technical Department; Yuri Volodin, Director, Materials Protection, Control and Accounting and Physical Protection; Andrei Vistgof, Director, Inter-Regional Information Center and Irina Sokolova, International Relations Officer. During the visit, the delegation met with the Commissioners, the Executive Director for Operations and appropriate representatives of the NRC staff.

The purpose of this visit was to conduct the fifth annual meeting to review program results and accomplishments, to revise or reaffirm previous program commitments and to consider proposals for new initiatives. The results of these discussions are documented in a Memorandum of Meeting signed by the EDO, Joe Callan, and Mr. Gutsalov.

This visit was similar to the one held the previous week (February 10-14) with the delegation from the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Administration of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety. The head of this delegation was Oleksandr Smyshlyayev, First Deputy Minister. (A copy of the Memorandum of Meeting from this visit was sent to the Commission on February 27.)

IAEA Vacancy Notices

The following notice from the International Atomic Energy Agency has been posted on NRC bulletin boards:

ENCLOSURE P

Region I
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Schott Glass Technologies Confirmatory Survey

On February 19 and 20, 1997, Region I completed its confirmatory inspection at Schott Glass Technologies, Inc., in Duryea, Pennsylvania. The inspection at this SDMP site had begun in September 1996. Inspection activities included observations of the multi-layered cap installed on the onsite landfill and independent radiation measurements during three phases of the remediation project. With the exception of two small indoor areas (totalling less than 150 ft²) the indoor facility and onsite landfill meet the NRC release guidance for unrestricted use. The licensee has acknowledged the need for additional remediation of the indoor areas. Resolution of this issue will permit the NRC to issue the Federal Register Notice that will lead to removal of this site from the SDMP list. SECY 96-106 informed the Commission of the decommissioning plan, which included the multi-layered cap for the onsite landfill. The Commission approved the decommissioning plan and planned staff actions by an SRM dated June 4, 1996.

ENCLOSURE P

Region II
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) - Sequoyah

The Regional Administrator and additional Regional and headquarters staff met, in a public meeting, with TVA officials at the Sequoyah site to discuss the effectiveness of the licensee's performance improvement plans.

Issues discussed centered around implementation of TVA's maintenance and corrective action programs and how they related to several examples of equipment reliability problems. TVA also discussed several examples of self-assessments and root cause analysis that they have conducted.

Southern Nuclear Operating Company - Farley

The Region participated in a conference call between Southern Nuclear Operating Company management, Farley plant management, and NRC to discuss an issue associated with the Control Room, Penetration Rooms and Containment Purge Exhaust Filtration System. This call addressed a request for enforcement discretion (NOED) after a determination that all testing required by ANSI N510-1980 as referenced in the Technical Specification surveillance had not been performed. NRR granted the NOED February 26.

This issue was identified by the resident staff during review of penetration room surveillance testing.

ENCLOSURE P

Region III
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

AIT Dispatched to Zion Nuclear Power Station and CAL issued

On February 24, 1997, a seven-person Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) was dispatched to the Zion Station to review an incident involving improper control rod movements while Unit 1 was being shutdown. On February 21, 1997, a control room operator was moving control rods into the reactor core to take the reactor to very low thermal power level. The operator shut the reactor down completely rather than maintaining it at the intended low power level. The operator recognized his error, and after consulting with a nuclear engineer in the control room, partially withdrew the control rods he had inserted.

The NRC inspection team will review the actions by the operator and the engineer and the monitoring of control room activities by plant management. The team will also assess the response of the utility to the incident.

Region III also issued a Confirmatory Action Letter on February 25, 1997, which requires, prior to the startup of either Zion unit, that Commonwealth Edison discuss the event investigation results, associated generic performance concerns, and corrective actions with the NRC and implement a remediation plan.

Predecisional Enforcement Conference with Commonwealth Edison-Dresden Station

On February 28, 1997, a predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region III Office, Lisle, Illinois, between managers from Commonwealth Edison Company and members of the NRC staff. Discussion focused on the utility's failure to test the control room ventilation system after modifications were made to the main control room in 1992 and 1993.

Predecisional Enforcement Conference Commonwealth Edison-Quad Cities Station

On February 27, 1997, a predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region III Office, Lisle, Illinois, between managers from Commonwealth Edison Company and members of the NRC staff. Apparent violations involving the safety-related control room ventilation system and reactor building siding was discussed. An NRC inspection in November and December determined that the system was inoperable longer than permitted and that the utility failed to adequately test the system and perform a required safety evaluation.

Predecisional Enforcement Conference with Cerac, Inc.

On February 26, 1997, a predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region III Office, Lisle, Illinois, between managers from Cerac, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and members of the NRC staff. The meeting focused on the company's overall failure to properly implement its radiation safety program and conduct proper safety evaluations. The company operates a thorium reprocessing and uranium repackaging facility.

ENCLOSURE P

Region IV
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997

Region IV Utility Group Meeting

On February 25, 1997, representatives of Arizona Public Service, Entergy Operations, Inc., Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha Public Power District, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, TU Electric, and Washington Public Power Supply were in the Region IV offices, in Arlington, Texas, to meet with the Acting Regional Administrator, Director of the Office of Enforcement and members of the Region IV staff to review the results of the Region IV Utility Group (RUG IV) review of the NRC's Enforcement Policy and nonescalated enforcement process.

Construction Testing & Engineering, Inc.

A predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region IV, Walnut Creek Field Office (WCFO) on February 26, 1997, with Construction Testing & Engineering, Inc. (CTE) to discuss a repeat failure to obtain authorization under either a specific or general NRC license, as required by 10 CFR 30.3, prior to performing licensable activities in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction. Also under discussion was the apparent failure to provide complete and accurate information regarding CTE's activities in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction.

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital

A predecisional enforcement conference was conducted in the Region IV, Walnut Creek Field Office (WCFO) on February 27, 1997, with Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (FMH). A separate enforcement conference was also held on the same day and location with an employee of FMH. The conferences were conducted to discuss the findings of a reactive inspection and OI Investigation conducted in response to a misadministration reported by FMH. The OI Investigation determined that there was a deliberate failure on the part of the licensee's radiation safety officer to obtain the dated signature of an authorized user prior to administering the radiopharmaceutical (I-131) to the patient. Apparent violations of 10 CFR 35.32(a) and 30.10(a)(1) were identified.

Arizona Public Service Management Meeting

A management meeting was held between NRC and Arizona Public Service management on February 24, 1997, in the Region IV office to discuss the status of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station business plan, the progress on goals set in the plan, and initiatives to assure continual improvement.

Southern California Edison Management Meeting

On February 27, 1997, a management meeting was held with Southern California Edison in Arlington, Texas. The meeting was held at the request of the licensee to discuss three radiation protection violations identified in a recent inspection report. The licensee both presented information relative to both the technical adequacy of the violations and their regulatory characterization. A written response to the Notice of Violation is required to be submitted within two weeks. Any final decisions concerning these issues will be made after the formal response is received and reviewed.

ENCLOSURE R

Office of Congressional Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 28, 1997