On September 13, 2004, NRC issued NRC Generic Letter 2004-02 , "Potential Impact of Debris Blockage on Emergency Recirculation During Design Basis Accidents at Pressurized-Water Reactos." The generic letter required licensees to perform an evaluation of the potential for the adverse effects of post-accident debris blockage and operation with debris-laden fluids to impede or prevent the recirculation functions of the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) and Containment Spray System (CSS).

In a letter dated November 14, 2006, the NRC acknowledged agreement with NEI that the due date for supplemental responses would be December 31, 2007. Subsequently, in a letter dated November 30, 2007, the NRC authorized licensees to provide these responses as late as February 29, 2008. The NRC staff plans to review the licensee’s GL responses to help verify adequacy of licensee’s evaluation and corrective actions intended to show compliance with regulatory staff positions concerning the availability of PWR sumps for long-term recirculation during a LOCA and to support eventual closure of GL 2004-02 and GSI-191. The staff will also consider the results of Temporary Instruction TI-2515/166, which will verify through inspection that licensees have completed corrective actions to which they have committed.

Once NRC staff concludes that plant has satisfactorily addressed Generic Letter 2004-02, and is either in compliance with applicable regulations or will be once specified remaining sections are complete, the NRC will issue a closure letter to the licensee for that plant documenting the NRC’s conclusions on the matter and closing the Generic Letter for that plant.

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