Protecting People and the EnvironmentUNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555
January 4, 1991
Information Notice No. 91-01: SUPPLIER OF MISREPRESENTED RESISTORS
Addressees:
All holders of operating licenses or construction permits for nuclear power
reactors.
Purpose:
This information notice is intended to notify addressees of the potential
for improperly marked and/or misrepresented resistors from Impala
Electronics, an electrical parts distributor located in Tampa, Florida. It
is expected that recipients of this notice will review the information for
applicability to their facilities and consider actions, as appropriate, to
avoid similar problems. However, suggestions contained in this information
notice do not constitute NRC requirements; therefore, no specific action or
written response is required.
Discussion:
On September 25, 1990, and on November 15, 1990, the Government-Industry
Data Exchange Program (GIDEP) office issued Alert data sheets that discussed
concerns regarding the sale by an electrical parts distributor, Impala
Electronics, of improperly remarked Qualified Product List (QPL) resistors
and non-QPL resistors that are misrepresented as QPL resistors. All
remarked resistors obtained from or through Impala were identified in the
Alert to be suspect. These resistors may be remarked with incorrect
information that may include failure rate (FR) levels, tolerances, date
codes, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), etc.
In the Alert, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service recommended the
following actions for the disposition of all remarked products obtained from
or through this distributor:
a. All remarked products in stock should be returned to the original
manufacturer for replacement or credit, or
b. All products in stock should be screened to verify that the TCR
and tolerance are correct as marked, or that the parts are usable
as is. Because there are no known effective screens to verify the
correctness of marked date code or FR level, all parts used, or to
be used in applications in which proper date code or FR level are
critical should be removed and returned to the manufacturer.
9012270289
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IN 91-01
January 4, 1991
Page 2 of 2
The Defense Criminal Investigative Service has informed the NRC that Impala
Electronics, known for its responsiveness to requests for quick delivery of
resistors, was suspended from government contracting in December 1989,
closed its doors for business as of January 1990, and was indicted in August
1990.
This information notice requires no specific action or written response. If
you have any questions about the information in this notice, please contact
the technical contact listed below or the appropriate NRR project manager.
Charles E. Rossi, Director
Division of Operational Events Assessment
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Technical Contact: Walter P. Haass, NRR
(301) 492-3219
Attachment: List of Recently Issued NRC Information Notices
.
