San Onofre - T.S. Violation for additional operator... This is a must read for all Operators

by Bob Meyer

The NRC gave San Onofre a violation of Technical Specification 5.5.1.1 for failure to provide a written procedure to define authorities and responsibilities of all work process area operators. Specifically, on July 13, 2010, the work process area had an additional operator, identified on the watchbill as the Control Room Coordinator, who performed activities normally performed by the Work Process Supervisor, including providing oversight for pre-job briefs and authorizing start of tasks. The authority and responsibilities of the Control Room Coordinator were not described in plant procedures, and the Control Room Coordinator routinely performed the duties of the Work Process Supervisor without receiving a turnover and formally accepting the position of Work Process Supervisor. The licensee documented this finding in Nuclear Notification 201014984. The short-term corrective actions included required reading and coaching to instruct Work Process Supervisors not to delegate their authority to authorize work without a formal turnover. The licensee will also add guidance to procedures SO123-0-A-1, “Operations Division Procedure” and SO123-0-A-2 “Operations Division Personnel Responsibilities”.

The inspectors concluded that the finding was more than minor because it could be reasonably viewed as a precursor to a significant event. Specifically, lack of a procedure to define the roles, responsibilities, and authorities of all personnel who may simultaneously hold work process area authority may lead to inadequate coordination of concurrent work and inadvertent authorization of multiple activities that could cause a plant transient or reactor trip. The inspectors determined the finding has a cross-cutting aspect in the area of Human Performance associated with decision-making because the licensee did not make safety-significant decisions using a systematic process, including formally defining the authority and roles for decisions affecting nuclear safety.

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