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INFORMATION REPORT

SECY-00-0161

July 27, 2000

The Weekly Information Report is compiled by the Office of the EDO and includes highlights of Headquarters and Regional Office activities.

Contact: D. Lange, OEDO by E-mail: DJL@nrc.gov.

ENCLOSURE A

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Watts Bar Unit 1 - Meetings with the Public on Fabrication and Use of Mixed Oxide Fuel

The NMSS Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, with support from the NMSS Division of Waste Management, the OPA, OGC and NRR, conducted two public meetings on the NRC's licensing role for a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility to be prospectively constructed on the Savannah River Plant site. The project would provide for the disposition of weapons grade plutonium by a consortium consisting of Duke Energy, Cogema fuels and Stone & Webster (DCS). This would include use of MOX fuel at Duke Energy's Catawba and McGuire plants. DCS plans to propose the insertion of several MOX lead test assemblies (LTAs) into McGuire Unit 2 by submittal of an application in August 2001. After irradiation, the LTAs would be shipped to Oak Ridge for examination. DCS plans to use information from the examination of the LTAs to support its license application to use MOX fuel on a larger scale in the McGuire and Catawba reactors in 2007.

The first meeting was held in Columbia, South Carolina, on July 12, 2000, and the second meeting was held in North Augusta, South Carolina, on July 13, 2000. Each meeting was attended by about 90 people. After presenting information about NRC's role and licensing process, the staff listened to comments and responded to questions about MOX and related issues.

Several citizen group representatives urged the Commission to deny licenses to fabricate and use MOX fuel. The NRC staff emphasized the next opportunity for public involvement will occur in early 2001 following receipt of the application for the license for the MOX fuel fabrication facility, which is expected in late December 2000.

Haddam Neck Plant

On July 7, 2000, Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company submitted the License Termination Plan (LTP) for the Haddam Neck Plant. With the LTP the licensee also submitted a license amendment request to add a license provision that provides criteria by which the need for NRC approval of changes to the approved LTP is determined. The Office of NMSS is now performing an acceptance review of the LTP.

Sequoyah/Watts Bar Low-Level Radwaste (LLRW) Amendment

An amendment was issued to Sequoyah that would allow storage of LLRW generated by operation of the Watts Bar plant at the Sequoyah onsite LLRW storage facility.

The Sequoyah onsite facility was constructed and licensed (Part 30 Materials License) in 1982 but has never been used for storage because of the NRC's long-standing preference for licensees to ship LLRW offsite for permanent disposal. In the case of TVA, the only option for permanent disposal is Barnwell, South Carolina (230 miles away). Barnwell has a history of restricting LLRW shipment, such as in 1994 when they excluded shipments from 31 states and the District of Columbia for a period of time. TVA sought authorization for onsite storage for Sequoyah and Watts Bar LLRW at their Sequoyah facility because of escalating costs and unpredictability associated with the Barnwell repository.

TVA can store Sequoyah-generated waste at the Sequoyah onsite facility under 10 CFR 50.59 without specific NRC approval (per Generic Letter 81-38). However, to do so with Watts Bar-generated waste, TVA required an amendment to the License Condition that authorizes

them "to possess, but not separate, byproduct and special nuclear materials as may be produced by the operation of the facility" to include the words "as may be produced by operation of the Sequoyah and Watts Bar Unit 1 Nuclear Plants." An Environmental Assessment was also prepared and published in the Federal Register to support the amendment.

There appears to be no precedents to this action (i.e., authorizing storage of LLRW generated at on site at another licensed site owned by the same licensee). Therefore, the staff worked closely with OGC and NMSS and kept OCA, OSP, OPA informed of the amendment and its status. On July 17, NRR and NMSS jointly briefed the Commissioners' Technical Assistants prior to issuance of the license amendment.

Indian Point Unit 2

The staff continues its review of the Consolidated Edison Company of New York (ConEd, the licensee) steam generator inspection condition monitoring and operational assessment reports submitted on June 2, 2000, and as supplemented on July 7, 2000. The staff will be continuing its discussions with the licensee regarding issues related to the probability of detection of flaws in small radius U-bends, eddy current sizing data, and material properties assumed in the analysis supporting the operational assessment. On July 20, 2000, the staff issued a letter from ComEd describing concerns it had with the July 7^th assessment submittal, and attaching a request for additional information.

On July 14, 2000, representatives from the White House's National Economic Council met with senior officials from ConEd to discuss electrical energy supply and demand, effects of deregulation, and grid stability in their distribution area.

NRC Staff Participation in Maintenance Rule Implementation Plan

As part of the Quality Assurance, Vendor Inspection, Maintenance and Allegations Branch's (IQMB) rollout plan for implementing NRC's oversight of the new Paragraph (a)(4) of the maintenance rule, 10 CFR 50.65, NRR staff members from IQMB, Probabilistic Safety Assessment Branch (SPSB), Inspection Program Branch (IIPB) and regional staff members from Division of Reactor Safety (DRS) and regional Senior Reactor Analysts (SRAs) performed a 1-day visit at five plants. The objective of each visit was to determine the processes and tools used by licensees to assess and manage risk before performing maintenance while at power and shutdown. The information gained from these visits will be used to help the NRC staff refine applicable portions of the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) inspection guidance.

Sites visited included: Calvert Cliffs, Brunswick, McGuire, Braidwood, and SONGS.

ENCLOSURE B

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Waste Convention Ratification Package Signed by the Department of State

The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention) was prepared following a recommendation made in the Convention on Nuclear Safety effective October 24, 1996. On July 13, 2000, the Deputy Secretary of State signed the treaty ratification package for the. On the same day, the package was transmitted to the White House. Upon White House approval, the package will be transmitted to the U.S. Senate for advice and consent to ratify. Preparations are in progress for briefing U.S. Senate staff on the pertinent issues.

Thus far, 20 countries have ratified the Joint Convention. It will become effective 19 days after the 25th ratification, of which 15 contracting parties must have an operational nuclear power plant. Currently, 14 countries with an operating nuclear plant have ratified the Joint Convention.

An Interagency Steering Committee with members of federal government agencies, such as the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and State, has been formed to expedite a coordinated U.S. effort in the implementation of the provisions of the Joint Convention, as well as to cooperate in the U.S. treaty ratification process. Much of the work up to now has been directed toward moving the ratification package through the various federal agencies and addressing the Joint Convention provisions for generating the Contracting Parties' national reports. One of the main provisions of the Joint Convention is the obligation for each participating country to generate a national report. This report is to address the status of its regulatory infrastructure; the scope and extent of spent fuel management, including storage and disposition; and the status of radioactive waste management, including disposal.

ENCLOSURE C

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Meeting on Risk-Informed Regulation

On July 11, 2000, the NRC Risk-Informed Regulation Steering Committee met in a public meeting with their counterpart industry committee (organized by NEI) to discuss a number of topics related to the status and issues associated with risk-informed regulation activities. These counterpart meetings are planned every 2 months, with the next scheduled for September 21, 2000, at NEI Headquarters.

The activities discussed included:

• risk-informing 10 CFR Part 50 (OPTIONS 2 and 3)
  
• industry priorities for risk-informed regulation
  
• PRA quality
  
• plans for risk-informing non-reactor activities
  
• risk-informing technical specifications

A key followup action from the meeting is that industry will explore and make a proposal regarding how to provide NRC with up-to-date risk information (the IPEs are 10 years old) that can be factored into the agency's risk-informed activities.

Interagency Working Group Meeting on Wire System Safety

On Thursday, July 13, Ashok Thadani and members of RES staff participated in the second Interagency Working Group meeting on Wire System Safety, which was established by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The meeting was held at the FAA headquarters with representatives from the Office of the Vice President, Department of Energy (DOE ), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA ), National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA ), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA ), Department of Transportation (DOT ), Department of Defense (DOD ), Department of Commerce (DOC ), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB ). The working group is developing a report on wire system safety that will be presented to the Science Advisor and the President in October 2000. For this effort, a wire system is defined as hardware to provide power, control, and information distribution.

The purpose of the meeting was to (1) finalize the Terms of Reference (TOR) document that summarizes the purpose, scope, functions, membership, and deliverables and milestones for the working group, (2) identify common issues and gaps related to wire system safety research conducted at the various agencies, and (3) discuss preparation of the report. RES staff provided significant inputs to the development of the TOR and identified common issues and science and technology gaps related to wire system safety. The next meeting of the working group is scheduled for September 15, 2000.

Reactor Pressure Vessel Lower Head Failure Experiments at Sandia National Laboratories

The lower head of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) can be subject to significant thermal and pressure loads in the late phases of core melting during a severe accident. An understanding of the mode, timing, and size of lower head failure is important in evaluating the consequences of a severe accident, because it defines the initial conditions for many of the subsequent challenges to containment integrity. Lower head failure (LHF) tests are being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) under the auspices of OECD/NEA. This program extends and builds upon the completed USNRC LHF program, but at more prototypic conditions (i.e., large temperature gradient across the vessel wall). This program involves both experimental and analytical work, and it is estimated to end in 2002. A total of 5 tests will be performed over the program. The first test (OLHF-1) was successfully conducted on June 30, 2000. This experiment was conducted at a test pressure of 12 MPa (i.e., reactor coolant system equivalent pressure of 5 MPa). A photograph (showing vessel creep) of the test vessel immediately after the test is shown below. Experimental data from these experiments will be used to assess and validate analytical models of RPV lower head failure which will be implemented in severe accident codes.

NRC Participation in International Cancer Study

The Director of RES signed an arrangement for collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to participate in a worldwide epidemiological study of the incidence of cancer deaths among nuclear workers. IARC's study includes approximately 600,000 workers in 17 countries. The U.S. commercial participation in the study includes 52 reactors and over 60,000 nuclear plant workers. The study will review the complete work history of nuclear workers between 1979 and 1997 and compare the data with death and cause data in the U.S. National Death Index (NDI).

Fifteen U.S. utilities that operate nuclear power plants are providing radiation exposure records for their current workers for 1979 through 1997. The NRC and DOE are providing radiation exposure records for the same workers for any time they did not work at those fifteen utilities in order to obtain as complete a work history as possible. The NRC data will be provided from the Radiation Exposure Information and Reporting System (REIRS) database, which contains the exposure records that are submitted annually by NRC licensees. REIRS is managed by the Division of Risk Analysis and Applications in RES. DOE has a similar database that contains exposure records for DOE nuclear workers.

IARC was founded in 1965 as a research agency within the World Health Organization, and it serves as a coordinator of multinational pooled epidemiological studies. This study was begun in 1993, with completion scheduled for 2001 and issuance of a report targeted for 2001. The primary purpose for industry to participate in the study is to better understand the risks associated with occupational exposure to ionizing radiation at commercial nuclear power plants.

IPEEE Senior Review Board Meeting

The Senior Review Board for the Individual Plant Examination of External Events (IPEEE) program met on July 12-13. The SRB is composed of RES and NRR staff and RES consultants (Sandia National Laboratories) with expertise in seismic and fire, as well as high winds, floods, and other (HFO) external events. Staff from Brookhaven National Laboratory who have been reviewing the seismic events also attended the meeting. This meeting represented an important milestone for the IPEEE program since it was the last of such meetings for the seismic team, which has essentially completed the IPEEE seismic reviews for all operating plants. At this meeting, the SRB discussed licensees' responses to requests for additional information (RAIs) in the seismic area for Beaver Valley, Crystal River, Davis Besse, Dresden, Cooper, Ginna, LaSalle, Oyster Creek, Prairie Island, Seabrook, Vermont Yankee, and WNP2. The objective of the seismic reviews is to determine whether the information provided by licensees in their submittals and responses to RAIs is sufficient to meet the intent of Supplement 4 to Generic Letter 88-20. RAI responses in the HFO area were also discussed during the meeting for Cooper, LaSalle, Prairie Island, and Vermont Yankee. As a result of this meeting, the Technical Evaluation Reports for the seismic and HFO areas of the IPEEEs can be finalized.

Regulatory Guide on Protective Coatings

RES has issued Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.54, "Service Level I, II, and III Protective Coatings Applied to Nuclear Power Plants." Revision 1 was issued to provide current guidance on practices and programs that are acceptable to the NRC staff for the selection, application, qualification, inspection, and maintenance of protective coatings applied in nuclear power plants. This guide endorses multiple standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials to provide this guidance.

Spent Fuel Cladding Behavior Following Loss-of-Water Accident During Pool Storage

RES has recently prepared a report for NRR that contributes to the technical basis for addressing the material aspects of spent fuel cladding behavior following a loss-of-water accident during pool storage. The work is part of an effort to evaluate spent fuel pool accident risks at plants during decommissioning. The evaluation is intended to provide an interim, risk-informed technical basis for reviewing exemption requests, as well as to provide a regulatory framework for integrated rulemaking.

Many of these findings discussed in the report are based on experimental data on fresh cladding or on irradiated cladding in a steam environment. As such, some confirmatory work is necessary to verify the robustness of the findings.

Meeting with EPRI Working Group on EMI/RFI

The electronics for instrumentation and control (I&C) safety-related systems is a fast-moving technology, and there is a heightened interest in electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI) and power surges because of the potential susceptibility of these safety systems. RES/ERAB staff was invited to participate at a recent EPRI EMI/RFI working group meeting held in Washington, DC, with representatives of utilities, test laboratories, vendors, and consultants. At the meeting, discussions focused on proposed revisions of the EPRI report on EMI and the technical basis for the recently published NRC Regulatory Guide 1.180, "Guidelines for Evaluating Electromagnetic and Radio-Frequency Interference in Safety-Related Instrumentation and Control Systems." These discussions also confirmed that the direction of research is compatible with industry's view of migration to the new international EMI standards.

ENCLOSURE D

Incident Response Operations
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Preliminary Notifications

ENCLOSURE F

Office of Administration
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Major Revision to 10 CFR Part 71: Compatibility With ST-1 - The IAEA Transportation safety Standards - and Other Transportation Safety Issues, Issues Paper, and Notice of Public Meeting (Part 71)

A document that announces the Commission's consideration of a major revision to its regulations governing the packaging and transportation of radioactive materials was published in the Federal Register on July 17, 2000 (65 FR 44360). The contemplated revision would make Part 71 compatible with IAEA safety standards and codify other requirements. The NRC requests early public input on the major issues associated with a Part 71 rulemaking and requests public comment on the issues paper included in this document. The NRC will also conduct three public meetings to discuss pertinent issues and solicit public comment. The comment period for this action closes September 30, 2000.

Antitrust Review Authority: Clarification (Parts 2 and 50)

A final rule that amends the NRC's regulations to reflect more clearly the Commission's limited antitrust review authority was published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2000 (65 FR 44649). The amendment explicitly limits the types of applications that must include antitrust information. The final rule becomes effective August 18, 2000.

ENCLOSURE G

Chief Information Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Requests received during the 5-Day Period of July 14, 2000 through July 20, 2000:

ENCLOSURE I

Office of Human Resources
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

ENCLOSURE M

Office of Public Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Media Interest

Several reporters inquired about the GAO report on differing radiation standards between the EPA and the NRC.

ENCLOSURE N

Office of International Programs
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Planning Meeting for Workshop in Russia on Digital I&C

On July 10 and 11, 2000, a member of NRC staff and an expert from LLNL met with the Russian regulator Gosatomnadzor in Moscow to plan a workshop on licensing digital instrumentation and control systems which are being installed in Russian nuclear power plants with DOE assistance. The workshop is tentatively planned for September 2000. This activity was approved at the annual planning meeting, documented in the Memorandum of Meeting of December 10, 1999.

NRC Assistance to Ukraine Being Put to Work

On July 19, 2000, the State Scientific and Technology Center of Ukraine began work on the first of several NRC-supported tasks to be undertaken on behalf of the Ukrainian regulator. These tasks were approved for negotiation at the January 2000 planning meeting. Support of these tasks signals a new stage in the evolution of NRC's assistance program in that the training and technology that NRC has transferred to the Ukrainian regulator will be applied systematically to actual regulatory matters. The first task involves licensing of operating nuclear power plants.

ENCLOSURE O

Office of the Secretary
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Commission Correspondence

Federal Register Notices Issued

ENCLOSURE P

Region I
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Indian Point 2

The AIT that reviewed the February 15, 2000, steam generator tube leak event at Indian Point 2 identified programmatic deficiencies with implementation of the licensee's emergency preparedness (EP) program. These programmatic deficiencies were: (1) untimely augmentation by the emergency response organization; (2) untimely accountability of onsite radiation emergency workers; and (3) inconsistent dissemination of information to the media and a local official during the course of the event. On July 17, 2000, Region I issued a follow-up inspection report (50-247/006) that reviewed the licensee's implementation of short-term corrective actions for the deficiencies. This inspection focused on the EP onsite exercise conducted June 1, 2000, and included a review of the EP program. The inspection team found that short-term corrective actions were adequate, but weaknesses continued to be exhibited in Joint News Center activities. The report discusses three preliminary findings of low to moderate safety significance (White Findings). These findings were determined to be apparent violations of NRC requirements for the failure to meet NRC emergency planning standards.

Inspections of Extremity Exposure Controls at Radiopharmacies

Due to recent events involving extremity exposures in excess of the regulatory limits, Region I conducted inspections of all seven radiopharmacies in Region I operated by Mallinckrodt, Inc., to review extremity exposures of pharmacists, technologists, and other workers. The inspections focused on: 1) radiation protection during compounding and dispensing of radiopharmaceuticals; 2) licensee controls to ensure compliance with the NRC extremity dose limit; 3) trending of annual extremity exposures in relation to the number of dosages dispensed and total activity handled; 4) staffing and shift rotation;

5) ALARA program implementation including ALARA goals; and 6) proper placement of extremity dosimeters. In addition, Regions I and III, in coordination with NMSS, issued an Information Notice to alert licensees of the importance of radiation safety training, appropriate ALARA extremity dose minimization techniques, and appropriate assessments of extremity exposures. Significant findings identified during these inspections will be considered for development of a Temporary Instruction to refocus the NRC inspection activities on the licensees' extremity monitoring and dose assessment, and licensees' efforts in maintaining extremity exposures ALARA.

ENCLOSURE P

Region II
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Chairman visits Watts Bar Nuclear Plant and Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc.

On July 19, the Regional Administrator accompanied Chairman Meserve to the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, TN. The Chairman toured the facility and met with licensee management and NRC resident inspectors.

On July 20, the Regional Administrator accompanied Chairman Meserve to the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, TN. The Chairman toured the facility and met with licensee management and the NRC resident inspector. The tour included the licensee's activities to decommission waste burial sites, previously used by the licensee.

Tennessee Valley Authority - Sequoyah Nuclear Plant

On July 18, the Regional Administrator toured the Sequoyah Nuclear site and met with the new Site Vice President and NRC resident inspectors.

Duke Energy Corporation - McGuire Nuclear Plant

On July 18, Region II held a public meeting in the North County Regional Library, Huntersville, North Carolina. The purpose was to discuss the NRC's recently revised reactor inspection and oversight process for the McGuire nuclear facility.

Institute of Nuclear Power Operations

On July 20, the Deputy Administrator provided a talk at the New Engineering Managers Seminar, sponsored by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in Atlanta, GA. Discussion topics included challenges facing the NRC and industry.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Meeting

On July 18, the Regional State Liaison Officer participated in a meeting of the Regional Assistance Committee, chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IV Office in Atlanta, GA. Discussion included the revised strategic assessment criteria for evaluating nuclear power plant exercises.

Hospital Oncologico - Medical Licensee in Ponce, Puerto Rico

A Region II Materials inspector aided the Puerto Rico Department of Public Health in responding to radiation leaking from radium sources at the facility. The Department requested assistance, which included the performance of radiation surveys to determine the extent of the leakage. The radiation leakage was determined to be contained within the source storage containers.

ENCLOSURE P

Region III
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

NRC's Mobile Lab Open for Public Visits Near Big Rock Point, Michigan, Plant

An NRC environmental monitoring team and its mobile laboratory visited the Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant near Charlevoix, Michigan, the week of July 17 to collect and analyze environmental samples at the facility which is being decommissioned. The mobile lab was open to the public for an hour each day July 18-20. NRC team members also met with the Big Rock Point Citizen's Advisory Board on July 20.

NRC Holds Regulatory Conference with ComEd to Discuss Quad Cities Equipment Failure

NRC staff met with Commonwealth Edison Co. officials July 19 to discuss a valve failure associated with the safe shutdown makeup pump at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant that occurred during testing on January 19, 2000. The plant is located in Cordova, Illinois.

Mallinckrodt Follow-Up Inspection Completed

A Region III inspector completed a follow-up inspection at Mallinckrodt's Maryland Heights, Missouri, facility July 19. The inspection was conducted to review the AIT findings for possible enforcement action. Members of an AIT were at the site in May 2000 to review the circumstances surrounding possible radiation exposures above NRC limits to several workers. The inspector also reviewed the licensee's compliance with the NRC's confirmatory order issued June 22, 2000, requiring the company to improve its radiation protection and worker training programs as a result of the overexposures.

ENCLOSURE P

Region IV
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000

Public Meetings with Fort Calhoun Station and Cooper Nuclear Station

On Monday, July 17, 2000, the Chief of Branch C, Region IV, Division of Reactor Projects conducted a public meeting at Fort Calhoun Station to present the results of the end-of-cycle plant performance assessment. On Tuesday, July 18, 2000, a similar meeting was held at Cooper Nuclear Station to present their end-of-cycle plant performance assessment results. Both meetings had minimal public attendance.

Public Meeting at Burlington, Kansas, to present the new Reactor Oversight Program for the Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station

On July 20, 2000, the Director, Division of Reactor Projects (DRP), the Chief, Branch B, DRP, and the senior resident inspector held a public meeting to present the new NRC Reactor Oversight Program. The meeting was attended by some utility personnel and by members of the public including the mayor of Burlington, Kansas.

ENCLOSURE R

Office of Congressional Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending July 21, 2000