Protecting People and the EnvironmentUNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
SSINS No.: 6835
IN 83-72
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555
OCTOBER 28, 1983
Information Notice No. 83-72: ENVIRONMENTAL QUALIFICATION TESTING EXPERIENCE
Addressees:
All holders of a nuclear power reactor operating license (OL) or
construction permit (CP).
Purpose:
This information notice is provided to inform the licensees of environmental
qualification test failures. These test failures are based on (1)
Construction Deficiency Reports and 10 CFR Part 21 Reports submitted to the
NRC, and (2) results from the NRC-sponsored environmental qualification
methodology research program. This information notice also serves to inform
the licensees of findings that resulted from inspections conducted by the
licensee or its agent of equipment that has been environmentally qualified
and is being delivered or installed at the sites.
Because of the potential safety significance and related generic
implications of these test failures and inspection findings, addressees are
expected to review the information for applicability to their facilities. No
specific response to this information notice is required.
Description of Circumstances:
The NRC has received a number of Construction Deficiency Reports and 10 CFR
Part 21 Reports from licensees and vendors of safety-related equipment.
These reports describe a number of test failures and the circumstances under
which the equipment failed to function during environmental qualification
testing. These reports also indicate that there are a number of instances in
which delivered equipment and components contained material that did not
conform to standards for safety, thus rendering the qualified equipment and
components unqualified. In addition to the monitoring and assessing of
environmental qualification information received from the industry, the NRC
has also sponsored a number of qualification tests of certain safety-related
equipment under its environmental qualification methodology research
program, which has resulted in a number of adverse test results. This
information notice is published with the following objectives:
1. To disseminate the information on matters related to the environmental
qualification of equipment and on test results, as received from the
licensees and equipment vendors.
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IN 83-72
October 28, 1983
Page 2 of 2
2. To disseminate the results of NRC-sponsored environmental qualification
tests which have been completed.
The enclosed continuing series of Equipment Environmental Qualification
Notices (Attachment 1) describes the circumstances of each failure, failure
mode, and qualification concerns as described in various reports and sources
indicated. Please note that for items in Qualification Notices No. 14
through 19 the vendors have issued service instructions to the affected
users regarding corrective action to be taken.
Questions regarding the details of tests described in Attachment 1 should be
directed either to the equipment manufacturer or the cognizant design/test
agency. If you have other questions regarding this information notice,
please contact the Regional Administrator of the appropriate NRC Regional
Office, or this office.
Edward L. Jordan Director
Division of Emergency Preparedness
and Engineering Response
Office of Inspection and Enforcement
Attachments:
1. Series of Equipment Environmental Qualification Notices
2. List of Recently Issued IE Information Notices
Technical Contact: N. B. Le, IE
(301) 492-9673
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