Search Options
Index | Site Map | FAQ | Facility Info | Reading Rm | New | Help | Glossary | Contact Us

SECY 97-255

October 29, 1997

James L. Blaha
Assistant for Operations, OEDO

Contact: K. Kennedy, OEDO

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

TMI - Pressurizer PORV Anomaly

TMI-1 has one PORV installed on the pressurizer. The licensee replaces the PORV with a spare PORV each refueling outage. During the 11R refueling outage, about 2 years ago, the PORV was replaced with the spare PORV. When the new spare PORV was installed, it was incorrectly wired to a shorting bar instead of to the solenoid valve. Moreover, no post maintenance testing was performed on the new spare, as required by the ASME Code. This resulted in the PORV being inoperable during the last operating cycle (~2 years) i.e. the PORV was failed in the closed position and could not be manually opened and also would not open on an automatic signal. During this refueling outage, which commenced 9/97, a new spare was installed with the same wiring mistake. When the licensee attempted to cycle the PORV, it caused blown fuses. At this point, using the Vendor Manual wiring diagram, the licensee identified the wiring error. The Technical Specifications allow continued power operation with the PORV isolated or with power removed. The PORV is now operable.

Duke Energy Corporation - Acquisition of Yankee Nuclear Services

Yankee Atomic Electric Company has accepted Duke Engineering and Services (DE&S) Letter of Intent To Acquire Yankee's Nuclear Services Division (NSD) consisting of some 500 personnel. NSD would be integrated into DE&S. The acquisition involves personnel only; ownership and operation of the Yankee plants will not change.

LaSalle, Units 1 and 2

Projected Restart Date Extended

The licensee announced on 10/22/97 that the projected restart date for Unit 1 would be extended from 12/15/97 to 5/1/98 (mode change on 04/02/98 with the plant at 100% power by 5/1/98). Both units have been shut down since 09/96 to address a number of material condition and performance issues. The licensee has determined that it will take longer to complete implementation of its Restart Plan based on emergent work that was identified as a result of its system reviews. The licensee has no firm plans for restart of Unit 2. The LaSalle Performance Review Panel continues to meet on a monthly basis with the licensee to discuss its progress with implementation of the Restart Plan.

First Regional Seminar on Risk-Informed Regulation

On October 16, 1997, the first of several mandatory regional seminars on risk-informed regulations was conducted in Region IV. Dr. John Flack, acting Branch Chief of NRR's PRA branch, presented the seminar during the annual Division of Reactor Safety counterparts meeting. The purpose of these mandatory seminars is to motivate and familiarize the staff on the uses of risk-informed regulatory initiatives. The seminar provided attendees with a brief background on the PRA policy statement and associated PRA implementation plan, the scope of risk-informed regulation, staff expectations and responsibilities. In addition, headquarters SRA Pete Wilson provided an overview of objectives and expectations for the use of PRA insights in inspection activities. Participant feedback was positive and indicated a high degree of interest in risk-informed regulation.

Update on BWR Fuel Channel Seal Spring Failures

Siemens informed the Reactor Systems Branch (SRXB) members that a recent inspection of fuel from Susquehanna Unit 2 revealed one assembly with intact seal springs, one assembly with one damaged seal spring, and a third assembly with seven broken springs. The seal springs are located at the lower tie plate (LTP), and are designed to minimize the bypass flow between the channel box and LTP as well as to maintain alignment between the fuel bundle and channel box. Broken springs could become loose parts, and damage fuel rods if the coolant carried the loose parts back into the fuel bundle. The damaged or broken springs in Susquehanna Unit 2 all came from the same material lot used for the broken seal springs initially discovered in a foreign reactor. Siemens attributed the cause of failure as intergranular stress corrosion cracking followed by fatigue cracking of the oscillating spring. All of the assemblies were irradiated for 45 months at an exposure of 40,000 MWD/MTU. Siemens speculated that a seal spring design change in 1988 could have contributed to this problem. Additionally, residence time and material lot may play an important role in this problem. Siemens plans to perform additional visual inspection on some longer exposure assemblies with the pre-1988 seal spring design.

Currently, the Susquehanna Unit 1 core has more than 200 assemblies with seal springs from the problematical material lot, and Unit 2 contains no such material lot. Siemens will perform an inspection during the Unit 1 outage scheduled for the spring of 1998. Safety analysis of possible debris effects due to broken springs on the fuel assemblies was provided for the inspection team review. A safety evaluation of the broken seal springs will be incorporated in the final inspection report. In a recent telecon to the NRC, Siemens informed us that the safety evaluation of the potential defect in seal spring design concluded that it is not safety significant and is not reportable under 10 CFR Part 21.

NEI Fire Protection Information Forum

Nuclear Energy Institute held a Fire Protection Information Forum during October 13-15, 1997. L.B. Marsh, Chief, Plant Systems Branch; K.S. West, Chief, Fire Protection Engineering Section (FPES); and P.M. Madden, Senior Fire Protection Engineer, FPES, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) attended the forum. A large percentage of the forum agenda and discussions focused on the fire protection functional inspection program and the performance-based, risk-informed fire protection rulemaking.

The general consensus among industry participants (more than 100 fire protection professionals and mid-level managers) is that industry does not want a new fire protection regulation. Industry representatives expressed the following opinions during the forum: (1) no interest in an expanded rule (new requirements), (2) performance-based, risk-informed rule will add more confusion to reactor fire protection, (3) tools and methods are not available to support performance-based, risk-informed decisions (4) data is not available to support performance-based, risk-informed decisions, (5) expertise is not available to apply, review, or inspect performance-based, risk-informed decisions, (6) the new rule will not be cost beneficial, (7) licensees already have the flexibility needed to modify fire protection programs, (8) industry is mature and plants have finite life spans; it does not make sense to apply performance-based, risk-informed methods to such programs/plants, (9) there is no demonstrated need for a new regulation. Rather than a new or revised fire protection regulation, industry would prefer that the staff issue guidance (or adopt industry guidance) for preparing 50.59 evaluations for fire protection and clarify existing guidance (e.g., circuit analyses) where needed.

NEI is conducting a survey of CNOs. NEI indicated that it will use the results of that survey to establish a position regarding industry's interest in the new rule. NEI stated that it would meet with the staff to discuss the results of the survey and industry's position.

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

License Renewal--Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation

On October 20, 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission renewed Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation (SMC) license SMB-743 for the company's facility in Newfield, New Jersey. SMC has two NRC licenses to possess and process source material, one each for facilities in Newfield, New Jersey, and Cambridge, Ohio. Both sites are included in NRC's Site Decommissioning Management Plan.

The new license was issued for a 5-year period, expiring October 20, 2002. A notice of opportunity for hearing on the proposed renewal was published on July 1, 1997 (62 FR 35531), and no parties requested a hearing. The renewal was supported by an Environmental Assessment and a Finding of No Significant Impact, which were published in the Federal Register on September 22, 1997 (62 FR 49538).

One of the key issues in the renewal of this license was SMC's financial status and limited ability to provide sufficient decommissioning funding for the removal of all slag and baghouse dust from the site. The Commission was informed of these issues by the staff on October 1, 1996. SMC is currently seeking to sell the slag to steel manufacturers for use in the smelting process, and to transfer the baghouse dust for offsite use. If successful in arranging these transfers and demonstrating that they were in accordance with NRC requirements, SMC could dramatically reduce the on-site inventory of source material and the amount of financial assurance necessary for decommissioning. Consistent with recent Commission decisions, the new license includes conditions to ensure that SMC makes timely progress in securing users for the slag and baghouse dust and provides sufficient financial assurance for decommissioning the site in accordance with NRC requirements. If these requirements cannot be met, a license condition requires SMC to cease operations by October 20, 1999, and to initiate the decommissioning process.

Draft Standard Review Plan - In Situ Uranium Extraction

On October 22, 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a Federal Register Notice announcing the availability of NUREG-1569, "Draft Standard Review Plan for In Situ Uranium Extraction License Applications" for public comment. This review plan will be used by the NRC staff to determine whether activities described in new applications, license renewals and amendments for in situ uranium recovery facilities will protect the public health and safety and be environmentally acceptable. The draft review plan was developed by the NRC staff and the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses using: staff review precedents and inspection experience; public meetings with industry; and the experience of the State of Texas as an Agreement State for uranium recovery with 15 licensed in situ uranium leach operations.

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

25th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting

Nearly 450 persons representing U.S industry, government, and academia as well 23 foreign countries attended the 25th Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel on October 20-22, 1997. NRC Chairman Shirley Ann Jackson gave the keynote address on future trends of nuclear safety research. Tuesday morning a panel discussed "Risk Informed Regulation." The panel members were NRC Commissioner Edward McGaffigan; Ashok Thadani, Acting Deputy Executive Director for Regulatory Effectiveness, NRC; Lawrence E. Martin, Vice President Nuclear Assurance and Licensing South Texas Project; Ralph Beedle, Sr., Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Nuclear Generation, Nuclear Engineering Institute; and Agustin Alonso, Counsellor, Spanish Nuclear Regulatory Council. Samuel Collins, Director, NRR, gave a talk entitled "Regulatory Trends and Current Issues" after the luncheon on Tuesday, October 21.

Papers were presented in the following areas: Pressure Vessel Research, BWR Strainer Blockage and other Generic Safety Issues, Environmentally Assisted Degradation of LWR Components, Update on Severe Accident Code Improvements and Applications, Human Reliability Analysis & Human Performance Evaluation, Technical Issues Related to Rulemakings, Risk-Informed Performance-Based Initiatives, High Burn-up Fuel Research, Thermal-Hydraulic Research and Codes (two sessions), Digital Instrumentation & Control, and Structural Performance.

Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

A member of the Technical Training Division (TTD) staff attended the 1997 annual meeting of the National Association of Test, Research, and Training Reactors (TRTR) held in Newport, Oregon from October 20-25, 1997. The meeting was sponsored by Oregon State University. The major objective of the meeting was the exchange of information regarding facility status: upgrades, health, decommissioning; reactor utilization: current, routine and new, and innovative uses for test reactors; funding for test reactor work: federal, state, private; reactor operations and maintenance; management and administrative controls to avoid violations and radiological issues. The meeting keynote speaker was NRC Commissioner Diaz. This forum provides for the transfer of information among TRTR members and the NRC staff responsible for test reactor safety and training.

Lee Miller of the TTD staff attended a workshop on the Review of Incidents organized by IAEA and the State Office for Nuclear Safety, Czech Republic in Prague, Czech Republic, October 20 - 24, 1997. Mr. Miller presented a paper on NRC Incident Investigation Teams and chaired a workshop following his presentation. The workshop was conducted for the professional staff of the nuclear regulatory bodies from former Soviet Union countries to reinforce regulatory frameworks for improving safety of nuclear power plants by learning from experience.

As part of Ukrainian Priority 2.1 (Analytical Simulator) of the Lisbon Initiative, two members of the TTD staff participated in Factory Acceptance Tests for the VVER-1000 load of the Analytical Simulator October 17-24, 1997 at the Russian simulator manufacturer's facility in Moscow, Russia. This simulator will be installed in the offices of the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Agency later this year to provide a tool for inspector training and operational assessment. The TTD staff assisted the Ukrainian regulators in completing a detailed set of acceptance tests, designed to assure that the simulator will adequately represent the reference plant (Zaporozhye 5) in all phases of normal, abnormal, and emergency operations. Tests included both steady state and transients cases and were based on ANSI/ANS 3.5 standards. The trip also included work needed to complete the required modifications to the office space for Gosatomnadzor of Russia (as part of Russian Priority 5.1) to be ready to accept a similar Analytical Simulator early in 1998.

Four personnel from the Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety, The Ukraine Radiation Training Center participated in the TTD sponsored "Environmental Monitoring for Radioactivity" course in Oak Ridge TN on October 20-24. The course was presented by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Engineering. Steve Roessler of the TTD coordinated the Ukrainian personnel attendance in Oak Ridge, and provided administrative and transportation assistance. This was the final training activity to be completed in support of Lisbon Initiative Ukrainian Priority 2 (Establishment of Regulatory Training Program).

Lost Source Exercise

On Wednesday, October 22, 1997, a member of the Incident Response Division facilitated a Lost Source Exercise in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. This exercise focused on the interaction of the EPA, NRC, and State and local organizations in response to a radiological event where the EPA is Lead Federal Agency (LFA) under the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP). The exercise simulated the discovery of a highly contaminated shipment of material at a land fill. The State responded and requested the support of the Federal government to identify, contain, and clean up the contamination. According to the FRERP, the LFA uses the authorities it already has to respond to a radiological emergency. In this exercise, EPA demonstrated the use of the National Contingency Plan and Superfund to respond. At the request of EPA, NRC supported the LFA by providing technical advice. The exercise was the field portion of a two-day exercise, the first day of which was a tabletop conducted on September 30, 1997. EPA Region III and NRC Region I organized and developed the exercise. A lessons learned report and video will be developed based on the two-day exercise.

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATIONS

1.PNO-I-97-065, Geocore Environmental Services, STOLEN PORTABLE GAUGE

2.PNO-II-97-057, Tennessee Valley Authority (Sequoyah 2), EQUIPMENT DAMAGE

3.PNO-III-97-086, Indiana Michigan Electric Co. (Cook 1 2), RADIATION EXPOSURE FROM SHOE CONTAMINATION

4.PNO-III-97-087, Commonwealth Edison Company, TVA OFFICIAL SELECTED AS COMMONWEALTH EDISON'S CHIEF NUCLEAR OFFICER

5.PNO-IV-97-055, Speedie and Associates, STOLEN TROXLER MOISTURE/DENSITY GAUGES

6.PNO-IV-97-056, Cti, Inc. (Prudhoe Bay Field Site), RADIOGRAPHY EVENT

7.PNO-IV-97-057, Integris Southwest Medical Center, POSSIBLE BRACHYTHERAPY MISADMINISTRATION

8.PNO-IV-97-058, Arizona Public Service Co. (Palo Verde 2), SHUTDOWN EXPECTED TO BE GREATER THAN 72 HOURS AFTER MANUAL SCRAM

Office of Administration
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Codes and Standards; IEEE National Consensus Standard (Part 50)

A direct final rule amending the regulations to incorporate by reference the most recent version of a national consensus standard for power, instrumentation, and control portions of safety systems in nuclear power plants was published in the Federal Register on October 17, 1997 (62 FR 53932). The direct final rule becomes effective January 1, 1998.

The companion proposed rule to this direct final rule was published in the Federal Register on October 17, 1997 (62 FR 53975). The comment period closes December 1, 1997.

Chief Information Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

FOIA Requests Received during the 4-Day Period of October 17-23, 1997:

Maine Yankee, OI report 1-96-040, specific exhibits. (FOIA/PA-97-401)

Privacy Request, access to OHR records. (FOIA/PA-97-402)

Salem and Hope Creek, OI report 1-96-024. (FOIA/PA-97-403)

IMPAC listing. (FOIA/PA-97-404)

ABB, custodial contractor Adams and Adams, Windsor, CT. (FOIA/PA-97-405)

Training curricula, decommissioning/decontamination workers. (FOIA/PA-97-406)

Fukushima BWR plant, core shroud replacement. (FOIA/PA-97-407)

Office of Human Resources
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Vice Chair Meeting Attended

On October 22, 1997, Jan Clemens represented the NRC at a mid-campaign meeting for CFC Vice Chairs at the Department of Transportation. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater, who is the 1997 CFC Campaign Chair, was also in attendance at this meeting. To date, NRC has raised approximately $90,000, which is 32% of its 1997 CFC dollar goal.

Office of Public Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Media Interest

There has been press interest in Isomedix, a company proposing to build an irradiator facility in Hawaii.

The Public Broadcasting Service is planning a television documentary on the accident at Three Mile Island

School Volunteers Program

Charles Gaskin, NMSS, spoke about "Visiting Web Sites for the Home Teacher" at the Home and Hospital Teaching Association's fall conference at Benjamin Banneker M.S.

John Lane, RES, used the reactor model to talk about nuclear energy to 4th and 5th graders at Sherwood E.S.

Boby Eid, NMSS, discussed radioactivity with Wolftrap E.S. students while using the classroom activity "Grandmother's Attic"

Office of the Secretary
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Commission Correspondence Released to the Public

1. Letter to Senators Dodd and Lieberman and Representative Gejdenson dtd 10/15/97 provides a status report on the use of supplemental projects in mitigation of proposed civil penalties against Northeast Utilities

2. Letter to Representative Whitfield dtd 10/15/97 concerns the termination of special nuclear material shipments from Paducah to Envirocare of Utah

3. Letter to Senator Fred Thompson dtd 10/15/97 regarding Diversified Scientific Services, Inc. concerns about NRC regulation of special nuclear material

4. Letter to Representative Oxley dtd 10/10/97 concerns the Superfund reauthorization legislation

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment; Notice of Meeting on November 13-14, 1997

2. Notice of Hearing by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in the matter of Magdy Elamir, M.D.

3. Proposed Rule: 10 CFR Parts 50 and 140; Financial Protection Requirements for Permanently Shutdown Nuclear Power Reactors

Region I
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Enforcement Conference with Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)

On October 23, 1997, an enforcement conference was conducted with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Defense Distribution Region East, to discuss an apparent security violation at the licensee's facilities at the Letterkenny Army Depot. The conference was attended by a representative of both the local and Headquarters DLA commands.

Maine Yankee

On October 16, 1997, Maine Yankee completed the first portion of its destaffing plan. Maine Yankee reduced staffing to approximately 250 through a combination of voluntary separations and early retirements. The organization has been restructured with William Odell as the Operations Director and Mark Ferri as the Decommissioning Director. Key activities at this time include: the development of the site characterization plan; development of the spent fuel pool island; and several regulatory submittals, such as defueled technical specifications and a defueled emergency plan.

Region II
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Tennessee Valley Authority

On October 17, 1997, Mr. Oliver D. Kingsley, Jr. announced his resignation as President, TVA Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer, to accept a position with Commonwealth Edison. On October 24, 1997, TVA announced that O. J. (Ike) Zeringue would succeed Mr. Kingsley. Mr. Zeringue has served as TVA's Senior Vice President of Nuclear Operations since 1993.

Watts Bar

Unit 1 completed its first refueling outage in 44 days. Power ascension is in progress. As part of reloading the core, four fuel assemblies containing Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rod(s) (TPBAR) were placed into the core. DOE, in conjunction with TVA, chose Watts Bar as the Lead Test Assembly project to demonstrate use of commercial reactors for producing tritium.

Sequoyah

On October 17, 1997, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant reported discovery of unexpected damage to several cables associated with a Unit 2 containment electrical penetration. Eleven instrument cables showed signs of attempts to cut them with a sharp tool. The unit was defueled at the time. The licensee determined that none of the damaged instrument cables were associated with safety-related equipment. The licensee initiated an investigation and implemented compensatory measures. The investigation included conducting interviews of personnel who may have knowledge of the condition. To date, no cause has been determined. The licensee conducted plant system walkdowns on both units. No other suspicious equipment problems were identified. Region II responded by notifying the IAT and sending a security inspector to the site. In addition, the resident inspector and project engineer conducted independent plant walkdowns of safety systems to verify proper configuration.

Region III
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

Meeting with Commonwealth Edison Company

On October 24, 1997, Regional Administrator A. Bill Beach and members of the regional and headquarters staffs met with Commonwealth Edison Company officials to discuss performance at the twelve Commonwealth Edison plants and the effectiveness of the actions taken to improve performance.

Office of the Executive Director for Operations
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997

OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH

Proposed Rule to be Signed by EDO

On October 27, 1997, the Executive Director for Operations approved a proposed rule that would amend 10 CFR Part 50, "Industry Codes and Standards, Amended Requirements."

This constitutes notice to the Commission that, in accordance with the rulemaking authority delegated to the EDO, the EDO has signed this proposed rule for publication in the Federal Register.

Office of Congressional Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending October 24, 1997