Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / May 5, 1994, edition 1 / Page 44
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New Approach Has NRC Regulatory Smiling BY SUSAN USHER While Carolina Power and Light's Brunswick Nuclear Plant may or may not come off the gov ernment's watch list of problem plants this summer, federal regula tors and CP&L officials agreed last WCCii mat 'he plant is continuing to change for the better. Stewart D. Ebneter. administrator of the Nuclear Regulatory Commis sion's Atlanta regional office, and other NRC officials met with com pany executives last Tuesday at the visitor and training center to discuss the status of the company's three year management plan. "Ebneter indicated they are mak ing good regulatory progress ana ap parently that is reflected in the oper ation of the plant." said NRC spokesman Ken Clark. "We ? the NRC ? arc not concerned with eco nomics but safety. However when a plant operates safely with respect to our regulations, that usually trans lates into good operation." St.!! NRC KP;Onn''' ?wAn'? NUM. late on whether the plan? will he tak en off !h*; watch list in June or July. Ebneter will be one of the 20 or so senior the flv#* member commission on which plants should be added to, removed from or continued on the list. !n Aprs! ! 992 the pisnt wss vc! untarily shut down because of fake bolts found in the diesel generation building. That July Brunswick's two reac tors were placed on the list of prob lem reactors marked for cioscr NRC scrutiny because of poor perfor mance. in June ana again in De cember! 993. the NRC said the plant would remain on the list at least un til the second unit was successfully returned to power and both units have demonstrated sustained perfor inucc. The NRC traced those perfor mance problem* io hamis-off man agement of the plant and lack of ad equate self-assessment and correc tion of problems that resulted in op erational and maintenance problems and degradation of the plant's physi cal condition. Since the plantwidc shutdown CP&L has made thousands of re pairs and improvements to the plant, successfully brought both units back into operation, and begun concen trating on improving plant perfor mance. currently down for refuel ing and repairs, operated 313 days in a "brcaker to-breaker" run with no significant operating problems and a capacity factor of 97 percent ? its best performance since the unit was first put into operation in the mid 1970s. CP&L expect, to begin modifica tions to tnt Unit 2 shroud sometime this week simi ar to those made on Unit ! earlier. Th: shroud is a steel cylinder that rests inside the reactor vessel. It mainly directs the flow of water through the reactor. Inspectors have found some evidence of stress corrosion cracking along its upper weld seam, but not to the same ex tent as in Unit 1. The Brunswick plant is the first in the United States to experience this problem within its GE-built boiling water reactors. ^ Uk Brunswick Plant and wiih 111 CP&L & iiucicar aivision, under the leadership of Vice President Roy Anderson, new standards and expec tations have been established and communicated, with greater ac countability and responsibility at every level for identifying and cor recting problems and producing re SU''S., ^oa' IS have a "world class" plant by the year 1996. " When people are afraid to take risks, that makes them dependent on management. When you can take some risks , then you /in?n) sic nfrstisi f/? IsirJr nt ui/i/-# d/mi 'm w?t %r?v V I*w wy f w ?wr% we rrrvm jxsim 0 v doing ? self-assessment ? a/ui create a group or team to address the concerns you have. " ? Paul Cowan, Carolina Power &. Light "When we say 'world-class' we arc talking about a balance between safe, reliable, economic and envi ronmentally sound operation," says Paul Cowan, who came to the plant 1 14 years ago as a loaned executive from INPO, a nuclear power organi zation, and was hired permanently by CP&L two weeks ago. He re places Scottv Hinnant, the CP&L veteran who was initially appointed to the position when it was created in March 1993. updating its plan CP&L has made extensive changes in organizational structure, and in corporate and plant ns?R?gcm?:t_ SHiss senior execu tive slots with experienced nuclear industry petsonnel from outside CP&L It is making a concentrated effort to liiiprcVv intCi ???*! coi* - cation at ail levels and interaction between management and front-line employees, and between operations, engineering support and mainte nance personnel. As a result, Co n'sns scco problems bciaag confront ~ ed and being resolved more easily. It s d totally different Bruns wick," he says. Part of the style of the new man agement is "to listen to the people working in the plant," says NRC spokesman Ken Clark, "and reward ing people who bting pfublcira to the attention of management." ? hoi pan vi uiv vuiiuiat tiiaugv under way to get employees to com mit to and work toward the site goal, to have reason to be proud of where they work and what they do and to enjoy their work. Cowan says up front the plant is a "tough environment." in which some hard decisions bive to be made and where stress is ever-pre sent. He adds, "That doesn't mean you can't enjoy your job." In the refurbished Unit 1 the aver age work-week tor maintenance per camimI A 1 l?<\iirc tk*l mil. ?WIUIVI M -??/ IIWMta HV*? m? ? IW age is over. "It shows you can operate a plant without working your self to death and improve your quality of life," says Cowan, who's hoping that the day will soon come when he will be working 40 hours a week instead of 80. Part of the new results-oriented culture "means managers have to communicate not only what we want and when, but why, and how it re lates to that vision." says Cowan. "If people start seeing results and it's tied to the vision, that starts snow balling." Creating change has meant pass ing to employees appropriate author ity and letting them know incy arc free to take a certain amount of cal culated risk in decision areas that don't affect the safety or reliability of plant operation. . "When people are afraid to take risks, that makes them dependent on management," said Cowan. "When you can take some risks, then you aren't as afraid to look at what J V>U aw uvillg .?v ? t MMIfMUIVIII and create a group or team to ad dress the concerns you have." "There's a big difference between holding someone accountable and chastising someone for their mis takes." Plant management is also looking beyond the site's responsibility to the community for safe operation to the idea of improving the communi ty that surrounds the plant. "Wc have an obligation to help make a good community," said Co wan. A new "Adopt A-Schooi" pro gram that puts individual volunteers is local schools is one example of how CP&L hopes to meet that re sponsibility. A drive to collect books for Supply Elementary School is an other. Undergoing the kinds of changes in progress ai the plant is consuming a time and energy, but Cowan likes the plant's status to that of metamor phosis, a transfiguration in progress. "We may not be a beautiful but terfly yet, but we're not the ugly caterpillar," he said. "! think pcopU. feel we are on the verge of some iKiwo very, very good." Removal from the NRC's watch list is just one step, a marker on the way to becoming a world class plant, evidence that progress is be ing made. "But it's not the goal," said Cowan. IT-.li. 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The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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May 5, 1994, edition 1
44
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