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

SECY 98-027

February 18, 1998

Contact: D. Lange, OEDO

ENCLOSURE A

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2

The licensee began shutting down Salem Unit 2 on February 11, 1998, after the 2A emergency diesel generator (EDG) failed its post-maintenance test. An equipment operator noted a noise coming from the EDG turbocharger and generator load was dropping. Since only 14 hours remained in the current EDG Technical Specification action statement, the licensee determined that there was insufficient time to repair the EDG. The licensee plans to conduct a 10-to-14-day outage that will also include such other items as the replacement of the primary safety valves and repairs to a control rod drive vent fan, a power-operated relief valve, and a heater drain pump. The licensee is determining whether some additional maintenance and surveillance tests can be completed during this outage.

Salem Unit 1 is currently in cold shutdown (Mode 5). The licensee is proceeding on a schedule to enter Mode 4 during the week of February 16, 1998, with restart estimated in March 1998. The 2-week NRC Readiness Assessment Team Inspection (RATI) began on February 9, 1998. The RATI exit meeting is scheduled for February 27, 1998. The licensee is also tentatively scheduled to brief the Regional Administrator on its readiness for restart on that same day. There are no technical and 2 programmatic items that need to be closed before the unit can restart.

Crystal River 3

On February 11, 1998, Crystal River Unit 3 (CR3) tripped from 100% power due to loss of Integrated Control System (ICS) power. All systems operated as expected following the reactor trip. A preliminary investigation by the licensee has attributed this problem to a faulty power supply monitor. The licensee is continuing to troubleshoot the problem and is installing a new power supply monitor to restore power to ICS.

Presently, the plant is in Mode 3, with emergency feedwater supplying water to the steam generators and secondary steam is being dumped to the atmosphere by the dump valves. The licensee also is monitoring a small pre-existing steam generator tube leak (approximately 17 gallons per day) in the "B" steam generator.

Both the Region and the NRR staff are monitoring the licensee's actions.

Prairie Island Unit 2

Prairie Island Unit 2 remains shutdown to remove all 4 part length control rod drive mechanisms (CRDM) because a leak was identified on the motor tube base of the part length CRDM housing at location G9 in the reactor. This leak is a reactor coolant system (RCS) pressure boundary leak. The licensee finished cutting and removing the G9 CRDM on February 8 and performed preliminary ultrasound testing (UT) of the flaw location onsite. The preliminary UT results indicated one 5 inch circumferential indication and one 3 inch circumferential indication in the same plane on the transition weld joint of the G9 CRDM motor tube. After the CRDM was cut into pieces in preparation for transporting offsite, the licensee inspected the inside diameter of the weld with a mirror and identified a continuous circumferential crack approximately 9 inches in length which was visible without magnification. The licensee has sent the G9 offsite to a laboratory for metallurgical analysis.

The licensee cut a second part length CRDM on Unit 2 and it was removed on February 11, 1998. The licensee will perform preliminary UT of the transition weld joint area to look for indications similar to those identified on G9. If similar indications are identified on I7 as were found on G9, the licensee intends to revisit its operability analysis for Unit 1, which is currently operating at 100% power.

The structural transition weld joint in question only exists on part length CRDMs. The full length CRDMs are castings rather than welded pieces. Each Prairie Island unit has 4 part length CRDMs that are no longer in use. The licensee plans to remove all 4 part length CRDMs on Unit 2 during this current outage and replace them with penetration caps.

The NRC staff has contacted the Westinghouse Owners Group (WOG) regarding the generic implications of this issue. The WOG is gathering information to determine how many plants have similarly fabricated part length CRDMs.

The NRC staff continues to follow this issue very closely for both Prairie Island plant specific and generic implications.

D.C. Cook, Units 1 and 2

The licensee has made substantial progress and is nearing completion on the cracked covers on the solid state protection system relays and the balancing of the hydrogen distribution system (CEQ) fans.

However, the licensee has identified several issues recently involving their ice condenser. The upper compartment ice condenser doors and their supporting door frames (oriented horizontally at the top of the ice condenser compartments) have been walked on during maintenance periods which caused some door frames or jackets to deform and crack resulting in unintended accumulation of moisture or ice in the frames and potentially affecting the original design configurations of the ice condenser compartment framing. The licensee is investigating the breakage and loss of steel fasteners for ice baskets. The licensee has also identified a number of baskets with damage of various types (damaged rims, torn ligaments, accordion pleating). This damage is apparently from ice weighing in the past. The most severe damage is the accordion pleating which is a potential threat to basket collapse and damage to adjacent baskets.

The licensee also has concerns about the amount of ice in the baskets in row 9 (against the crane wall or closest to the reactor). They can't remove these or even get a good weight on them due to beams/piping that are above them. If they have to go into these baskets they will have to remove the steel beams that support the intermediate deck doors. Finally, a new issue just identified involves the alignment of seams at the ice basket joints. Procedures indicate that the seams should not line up, but the licensee has identified a number of baskets where the seams do line up. The licensee is currently assessing the impact of these issues.

In addition, due to the shutdown, the licensee is working to remove the zebra mussels which have accumulated in the forebay. Divers have estimated that approximately a 6 ft. depth of mussels have accumulated.

The licensee has preliminarily discussed having the next meeting with the NRC to discuss the CAL. No official request for such a meeting has been made to date.

Meeting w/Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) on Offsite Power/ Grid Reliability

On February 9, 1998, the Electrical Engineering Branch and other NRR staff met with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) staff representatives at OWFN to discuss the status of NRC and NEI generic activities related to the grid reliability issue and what impact deregulation and industry restructuring changes may have on the offsite power reliability to nuclear power plants.

NRR staff discussed key aspects of its action plan. Specifically, the staff with support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory has completed about half of the total planned trips to the load dispatch centers. These trips are to be completed by the end of May and the staff expects to report to the Commission on its findings later this year.

NEI staff discussed its parallel activities. Specifically, the subject of grid reliability has been discussed at two senior level meetings and NEI feels confident that the utilities are aware of the importance of assuring the reliability of offsite power to nuclear power plants as changes occur in the industry.

The following additional points were noted during the subject meeting:

• The staff discussed some of the significant findings from the load dispatch center visits. The staff highlighted the fact that the nuclear licensees in California have been instrumental in establishing a nuclear protocol with the independent system operator, which as endorsed by the state Public Utility Commission guarantees priority for offsite power supplies to the nuclear units in that state. The staff noted that this was a good initiative and perhaps it should be established as a standard in future reliability governance structures as deregulation becomes implemented by other States.

• In addition, the staff noted that an information notice (IN) which discusses staff's concerns about the potential impact of deregulation on the reliability and stability of offsite power supplies for nuclear plants is expected to be issued in the very near future. NEI had considered sending a guidance letter to utilities but has decided to wait until the staff's IN is issued after which time they will consider sending a separate correspondence.

Mcguire Dropped Rod Event

While the licensee was replacing a failed power supply, there was a momentary loss of power to 8 control rods (Shutdown Bank B, Group 2 (4 rods) and Control Bank B Group 2 (4 rods)) and the rods dropped into the core. A manual scram was initiated, however, an automatic scram on pressurizer low pressure would have protected the plant had the operators not taken action. Contrary to the 50.72 report that indicated operation outside the design basis, the licensee's subsequent evaluation has determined that this event is well bounded by the current FSAR analysis. SRXB is following this issue and will evaluate further information when it becomes available.

Callaway Axial Offset Anomaly Update

Power was raised from 77 percent to 80 percent on January 30, 1998. The map taken on February 2, 1998, showed that the AO had drifted negative to -1.87 percent and the shutdown margin (SDM) was 1513 pcm (TS limit is1300 pcm). It was anticipated that the AO would drift negative with the power increase as additional boron was precipitated but that it would become more positive as the core burned at the new power level. AO was -0.3 percent as of February 10, 1998. The next map is scheduled for February 11, 1998. The licensee plans a COLR change to the rod insertion limits before raising power above 80 percent. SRXB will continue to follow this issue.

Management Changes

On February 6, 1998, Unicom announced that John W. Rowe was named as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Unicom and ComEd effective March 16, 1998. Mr. Rowe will replace James O'Connor, who will be retiring as Chairman and CEO, and Samuel Skinner who will be leaving Unicom as President.

Mr. Rowe is currently President and CEO of New England Electric System (NEES), the second largest electric utility in New England. NEES serves customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island through four retail subsidiaries. Prior to becoming CEO of NEES, he was President and CEO of Central Maine Power. NEES was one of the first utilities to operate in a competitive environment. In August 1997, NEES signed an agreement to divest its fossil and hydroelectric plants, while retaining its transmission system and partial ownership of six nuclear plants. Proceeds from the sale will be applied to reduce by half the company's stranded costs. ComEd has indicated that it is looking to Mr.  Rowe's leadership in bringing the company into the

ENCLOSURE B

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Meeting with Nuclear Fuel Services

On February 11, 1998, staff from the Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards and Region II met with representatives of Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS), to discuss the current status of several major licensing reviews. The meeting focused on NFS' safety assessment of proposed downblending activities. During the meeting, the staff discussed preliminary results of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review of the content and quality of NFS's licensing submittals. NFS expresssed concerns that NRC have adequate resources available to support review of their licensing amendments. As a result of this meeting, NFS and NRC agreed to conduct additional meetings during the next several weeks on each of the licensing actions.

Atlas Meeting

On February 5, 1998, staff from the Division of Waste Management met with the Atlas Corporation, staff from the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) personnel at ORNL's Grand Junction, Colorado, facility to discuss potential future analysis by ORNL related to Atlas' reclamation of its uranium mill tailings pile near Moab, Utah. Atlas has proposed reclamation of the tailings in place at a location near the Colorado River. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff have requested a biological opinion from FWS under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. FWS' June 1997 draft biological opinion was found by Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff to be significantly flawed. As a result of meetings held under the auspices of the Council on Environmental Quality, the parties agreed to delay the final biological opinion while ORNL collected additional data and performed analysis. ORNL's results were reported in two January 1998 documents. FWS then requested additional analysis from ORNL. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the plans for additional analyses to be performed by ORNL. However, at the beginning of the meeting, ORNL presented a report on additional analysis it had already performed at the request of FWS. As a result, the parties agreed that no further analysis from ORNL should be done and that FWS should proceed to completion of a revised draft biological opinion on March 2, 1998. Atlas and NRC staff agreed to provide FWS with their views on the new information in the recent ORNL reports and on other relevant information by February 13, 1998.

New Jersey Suspends Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility Siting Process

In a February 5, 1998, letter to Governor Christine Todd Whitman, the Chairman of the New Jersey Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility Siting Board announced that the Board had voted to suspend the siting process for a low-level waste (LLW) disposal facility in the State. New Jersey is a member of the Northeast Compact with the State of Connecticut. Both States had planned to develop disposal facilities. The Board noted that the continued, though unpredictable, availability of out-of-State disposal, combined with dramatic reductions in the volume of LLW, have created a situation in which a disposal facility is not needed at this time. The Board also noted that the development of a facility in New Jersey may not be economically feasible. The Board intends to reduce its staff, but will continue to implement its responsibilities for waste management, monitoring, and education. It also intends to document its record of experience in working to site a disposal facility, so that the siting process can be quickly restarted, if necessary.

Spent Fuel Project Office Receives Sixth Dual-Purpose Cask Application

On February 3, 1998, Westinghouse Electric Corporation submitted an application for approval of the storage portion of the WESFLEX Spent Fuel Management System. WESFLEX is a dual-purpose cask that is designed to store and transport spent fuel from both pressurized and boiling water reactors. The transportation application was initially submitted in May 1997. However, the staff denied this application (on June 27, 1997) because of its incompleteness and improper proprietary designations. Westinghouse plans to resubmit the transportation application in the next few months.

The WESFLEX design is the sixth dual-purpose, spent fuel storage and transport cask design submitted to the Spent Fuel Project Office (SFPO) for certification. Other dual-purpose cask designs currently under review by SFPO are: Holtec's HI-STAR 100 System, Sierra Nuclear's TRANSTOR System, Transnuclear West's MP-187 System, NAC's NAC-UMS System, and NAC's NAC-STC/NAC-MPC System.

Request for Additional Information Returned to Portland General Electric

On February 9, 1998, the Spent Fuel Project Office (SFPO) informed Portland General Electric (PGE) that its response to request for information (RAI-2) dated July 31, 1997, regarding the Trojan Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation application will be returned because of its poor overall quality. In addition, SFPO is returning two subsequent PGE submittals which contain excessive corrections to the initial response. Furthermore, the correction submittals contained proprietary information for which PGE failed to provide the required affidavits as required by 10 CFR 2.790. The staff also informed PGE that work will not resume on its application until PGE submits a high quality response.

Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program Review of Region I's Nuclear Materials Program

On January 26-30, 1998, a multidisciplinary review team led by the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), and composed of technical staff from NMSS, the Office of State Programs, and the State of Texas conducted an Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) review of Region I's nuclear materials program. The review assessed the five common performance indicators for materials programs (quality of licensing, quality of inspections, technical staffing and training, status of the inspection program, and response to incidents and allegations). The review also focused on two non-common performance indicators: the Site Decommissioning Management Plan and decommissioning actions, and performance with respect to the Operating Plan goals and resource utilization. The team held exit meetings with the Regional Administrator, the Region I Division of Nuclear Material Safety (DNMS) managers, and the DNMS staff on January 30, 1998, to report preliminary results. The review team made a small number of recommendations to Region I and commented that the team will recommend a finding of adequacy for the DNMS program, based on the review team's recommendations of "Satisfactory" for each of the indicators (the highest IMPEP finding). The review team is currently preparing a draft report, to be followed by Regional review of the draft report in March and a Management Review Board (MRB) meeting in late April. Final determination of DNMS' program adequacy is made by the MRB.

ENCLOSURE C

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

IPEEE Senior Review Board Meeting

The Senior Review Board (SRB) for the Individual Plant Examination of External Events (IPEEE) program met on January 20-23, 1998, to discuss the IPEEE submittals from eight licensees (Byron 1-2, Davis-Besse, Browns Ferry, Nine Mile Point 1, Cooper, Summer, Fitzpatrick, and Perry). The SRB is comprised of RES and NRR staff members and RES consultants (Sandia National Laboratories) with probabilistic risk assessment expertise in seismic, fire, high winds, floods, and other external events. The overall purpose of the reviews is to determine if the IPEEE submittals meet the intent of Supplement 4 to Generic Letter 88-20. The technical findings related to the fire analysis in the Summer IPEEE were of particular interest. The licensee estimated that the core damage frequency (CDF) due to fire-initiated sequences at Summer is about 4x10^-4 per year, which is relatively high compared to other plants. The licensee concluded that actual vulnerabilities due to fire do not exist at the Summer nuclear plant, and, therefore, they did not propose any plant improvements in the fire area. The Summer fire IPEEE analysis assumes that, given a fire sequence, Summer will trip offsite power and the diesel generators, thereby producing a self-induced station blackout (SISBO). The SRB recommended that the staff follow up with a request for additional information (RAI) to the licensee in order to better understand why the CDF due to fire-initiated sequences is so high, how the licensee would cope with a SISBO due to fire-initiated sequences, and why there were no plant improvements. A follow-up visit to Summer may be needed if the licensee's response to the RAI does not provide sufficient information for the staff to conclude that the submittal meets the intent of the IPEEE generic letter. RES and NRR will also focus more closely on other plants that voluntarily enter a SISBO in the event of a fire.

Fuel Behavior

Zircaloy cladding on fuel rods experiences changes in strength and ductility at high burnup. Those mechanical property changes have resulted in degraded performance in tests under some accident conditions raising concern about fuel damage criteria used in accident analysis. To supplement the direct integral testing of such criteria, individual mechanical properties of the cladding itself are being measured in several laboratories. Under an educational grant from the NRC, the Pennsylvania State University has been examining some fundamental aspects of Zircaloy deformation using hydrogen-charged Zircaloy tubes to simulate irradiated cladding. Drawing on experience from the sheet metal industry, a graduate student, Todd M. Link, has studied deformation pathways and the effects of hydrogen concentration on Zircaloy fracture. In his master's thesis, just published, Link found that the customary uniaxial tensile tests do not produce results that can be used for fuel cladding failure modeling because of the constraints placed on the cladding by the pellets. Unique tensile specimens with plane-strain loading conditions were defined to provide loadings similar to those occurring in a fuel rod. Link also found that for hydrogen levels of 900-1500 ppm, similar to local concentrations in fuel with spalling oxide, Zircaloy fails in a brittle manner (essentially zero ductility). These results are being used at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to define test conditions for a major series of mechanical property measurements on high burnup cladding for the NRC. Because of the importance of the work at PSU, ANL has made financial arrangements with PSU to support further graduate student work and to obtain consulting from the two professors, D. Koss and A. Motta.

Development of Techniques in Two-Phase Computational Fluid Dynamics

Single-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques have been in use for several years by the NRC to study special problems, e.g., thermal mixing in the downcomer during the study of pressurized thermal shock. These single-phase CFD techniques provide detailed flow-field information but are limited to conditions of single-phase flow. Pipes and vessels are routinely broken down into as many as 10,000-100,000 computational cells for CFD analysis. Two-phase CFD techniques are needed to enable detailed CFD solutions to be obtained under conditions of two-phase flow as experienced in nuclear reactor vessels and piping during accident conditions.

The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research has awarded two contracts that will further develop techniques in two-phase CFD. Contracts have been awarded to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Florida for two-phase CFD research. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will develop physically based multidimensional models for mixing in large volumes subjected to non-uniform two-phase flows. These models will be developed for the FLUENT CFD code, also used by the RES staff. The University of Florida will further develop numerical schemes to track the interfacial boundary in certain two-phase flows while computing the transfer of mass, momentum, and energy across the interface. Both these research contracts will help the NRC further refine its future thermal-hydraulic modeling capabilities for nuclear reactor systems.

ENCLOSURE D

Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Analytical Simulator Project

In support of Lisbon Initiative technical assistance under Russian Priority 5.1 (Analytical Simulator), two members of the Technical Training Division staff participated in factory acceptance testing for the first phase of the Analytical Simulator project (development of a VVER-1000 simulation model) during the week of February 9-13, 1998 at the subcontractor's facility in Moscow, RF. The Analytical Simulators that will be installed in the offices of Gosatomnadzor of Russia (GAN RF) later this year will serve as a tool for inspector training and operational assessment. The second phase of the project (development and implementation of an RBMK model) was also discussed. Additionally the NRC team reviewed the progress of the preparations of the simulator facilities at headquarters offices of GAN RF in Moscow.

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATIONS

1. PNO-III-98-012A, Allied-Signal, Inc., AIT TO REVIEW SMALL URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE RELEASE WITH MINOR INJURIES TO THREE WORKERS (UPDATE)

2. PNO-IV-98-008, Nucor Corporation, FAILURE OF SOURCE SHIELD HOUSING OF A FIXED GAUGE

3. PNO-IV-98-009, United States Air Force, MISHANDLED RADIOACTIVE WASTE

ENCLOSURE F

Office of Administration
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Restack Meetings with NRR

On Tuesday, February 10, 1998, representatives from ADM participated in an NRR all-hands meeting devoted to the Restack project. ADM was joined by representatives from the OCIO and the NRR administrative staff to review the history of the project, the new NRR organizational placement in the building, the improvements to the building as a result of the project, the schedule for completing the NRR floors, and what the NRR staff responsibilities will be associated with moving to their final floor. Two sessions were held to accommodate the entire NRR staff.

Repairs to OWFN Building

The General Services Administration has awarded a contract to perform the following repair work in One White Flint North: (1) Replace the secondary condenser water loop pipe with new copper pipe throughout the building. Sections of the existing black iron pipe have deteriorated. (2) Increase the fresh air intake throughout the building by sealing each joint of the supply ducts above the ceiling on each floor. All work associated with this contract will be performed after hours and all systems will be operational at the start of the next business day. The work will begin February 16, 1998, and will be completed by June 30, 1998.

ENCLOSURE G

Chief Information Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Requests Received during the 5-Day Period of February 6, 1998 - February 12, 1998:

Mallinckrodt Chemical, License # STB-401, St. Louis, MO, characterization and D & D plans. (FOIA/PA-98-057)

IG investigation on self. (FOIA/PA-98-058)

Inspection & Enforcement Manual Chapter 0800 from 1970's. (FOIA/PA-98-059)

Indian Point, OI report 1-96-020. (FOIA/PA-98-060)

MLTS database, state of MI, on disk. (FOIA/PA-98-061)

OMB Circular A-11, FY 1999 and Item 43.2(c), Cost of Year 2000 Activities. (FOIA/PA-98-062)

NRC Organizational Chart. (FOIA/PA-98-063)

Whittaker Metals Corp., License # SMA-1018, Docket 40-7455. (FOIA/PA-98-064)

Wellman Automotive Products; Anamag, Inc.; and General Electric Co., located in Shelbyville, IN. (FOIA/PA-98-065)

Uranium mill tailings, Moab, UT site. (FOIA/PA-98-066)

Brachytherapy misadministration past two years. (FOIA/PA-98-067)

Duane Arnold plant, allegation file RIII-97-A-0099, potential falsification of records. (FOIA/PA-98-068)

Westec, Inc., 1997 investigation report. (FOIA/PA-98-069)

Puerto Rico nuclear medicine licenses. (FOIA/PA-98-070)

New England Nuclear Corp., Newton, MA site, inspections and/or violations. (FOIA/PA-98-071)

Salary history on named individual for 1983 through 1997. (FOIA/PA-98-072)

ENCLOSURE H

Chief Financial Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

NRC FY 1997 Financial Statements

On February 13, 1998, the OIG issued the report on the audit of the NRC FY 1997 financial statements as required by the CFO Act. Their independent CPA audit contractor, R. Navarro and Associates, issued an unqualified (clean) opinion on the statements. This is the fourth year in a row that the NRC has received an unqualified opinion on the financial statements.

ENCLOSURE I

Office of Human Resources
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Staff Member Speaks at Training Officers Conference (TOC) Luncheon

On February 10, 1998, August Spector, of the Human Resources Development staff, conducted a presentation entitled "Toward Implementation of HRD Theory: One Agency's Approach," at the TOC luncheon. His presentation described thirteen underlying assumptions on which the NRC executive, management, and supervisory learning programs are based. Mr. Spector also discussed how NRC is meeting the challenge of implementing a performance improvement system to integrate these underlying assumptions, delivered in a timely and high quality fashion; and he described his role in various organizational development activities which NRC sponsors for offices and regions.

Staff Member Attends Meeting on Electronic Performance Support Systems

On February 10, 1998, Carolyn Bassin, of the Human Resources Development staff, participated in a meeting of the Federal Education and Training Association on the use of electronic performance support systems (EPSS) in Federal agencies. EPSS originated as a concept for using the desktop computer to organize reference, instructions, and short training pieces around job tasks for the purpose of providing what was necessary to generate performance and learning at the moment of need. This concept is now being applied in a few areas of government, using a combination of new software and Web-based technologies and ways of handling content. Some of the examples presented were from Defense, Veterans Affairs, National Security Agency, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. For more information on EPSS, visit the web site at http://www.epss.com.

ENCLOSURE M

Office of Public Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Media Interest

Chairman Jackson was interviewed by Cable TV 16.

Three reporters attended Commissioner Diaz' press conference at Diablo Canyon.

The San Francisco Examiner published an article on spent fuel shipments through California.

School Volunteers Program

Forty students from the Presidential Classroom toured NRC's Operations Center and the Technology Center. The students are from high schools all over the U.S. who visit Washington, D.C. for a week to learn about government and technology. Rita Albright, OCFO, spent a week with students as a facilitator for their seminars.

Doug Coe, NRR, used the reactor model and grandmother's attic classroom activity to teach Cub Scouts about nuclear energy.

ENCLOSURE O

Office of the Secretary
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Commission Correspondence Released to the Public

1. Letter to Senator Frank Murkowski, dated 2/6/98, concerns the NRC's nuclear licensing process

2. Letter to Robert Gee, DOE, dated 2/6/98, concerns the Comprehensive National Energy Strategy

3. Letter to David Schor, State of Nebraska LLRW Program, dated 2/4/98, informs that NRC will not be providing comments on draft documents developed by the Nebraska Low-Level Radioactive Waste Program on US Ecology's application for a proposed low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Nebraska

4. Letter to New Hampshire State Senator Beverly Hollingworth, dated 2/3/98, concerns the decommissioning funding obligations of Great Bay Power Corporation

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. 10 CFR Part 71; Docket No. PRM-71-12; International Energy Consultants, Inc.; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking

2. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting Notice for March 5-6, 1998

3. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Subcommittee Meeting on Planning and Procedures; Notice of Meeting on March 2, 1998

4. Licensing Support System Advisory Review Panel; Notice of Location for Public Meeting on February 24 and 25, 1998

5. 10 CFR Parts 50 and 70; Criticality Accident Requirements; Direct Final Rule; Withdrawal

6. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting Notice for March 2-4, 1998

ENCLOSURE P

Region I
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Decommissioning Handbook Training

On February 11-12, 1998, Region I staff received training from NMSS staff covering NUREG/BR-0241, "NMSS Handbook for Decommissioning Fuel Cycle and Materials Licensees." The training covered the various types of decommissioning activities regulated by the NRC, and the NRC policies and procedures for performing the associated licensing and inspection activities leading to license termination.

Haddam Neck Workshop for Community Decommissioning Advisory Committee

On February 7, 1998, William Raymond, Senior Resident Inspector at Haddam Neck, participated in the licensee's workshop for the members of the Community Decommissioning Advisory Committee (CDAC). The day-long program included a presentation of the licensee's reactor coolant decontamination process and small group tours of the reactor facility.

ENCLOSURE P

Region II
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Florida Power and Light Company - St. Lucie

On February 13, 1998, representatives from Florida Power and Light Company attended a Predecisional Enforcement Conference in the Region II Office to discuss apparent violations associated with a set point calibration error identified in the Engineered Safeguards Actuation System for St. Lucie Unit 1. Issues discussed included identification of an incomplete instrument calibration following modification several years ago.

Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) Review

During the week of February 9-13, 1998, a team led by the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards conducted an IMPEP review of the Region II nuclear materials licensing and inspection programs and the fuel facility inspection program. The team consisted of representatives of NMSS, Region III and the State of California.

ENCLOSURE P

Region IV
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Management Meeting with Arizona Public Service Company

The Regional Administrator and members of the Region IV staff met with representatives of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station of the Arizona Public Service Company on February 13, 1998, to discuss the recent Unit 2 acid spill event which occurred on January 23, 1998. The discussion also included the status of the licensee's decommissioning activities relevant to a 1993 steam generator tube rupture which impacted the response and clean-up of the acid spill.

Meeting with Portland General Electric (Trojan Nuclear Plant)

On February 9, 1998, the Regional Administrator and members of the Region IV staff met with Portland General Electric (P.E.) managers to discuss changes to the protected area for the Trojan Nuclear Plant to facilitate ongoing decommissioning of the site. In proposing modification to the protected area, to encompass only the spent fuel pool area, P.E. provided detailed information concerning their new area boundary along with provisions for security of the spent fuel.

Commissioner Diaz Visit to Diablo Canyon and Press Conference

On February 11, 1998, Commissioner Diaz met with Pacific Gas & Electric Company managers and toured the Diablo Canyon facility. The Commission was accompanied by the Deputy Regional Administrator and other members of the Region IV staff. Discussion included licensee preparation for a deregulated market, outage preparation, and current regulatory policy issues. At the conclusion of the plant visit, a press conference was held in the licensee's community center.

Commissioner Dicus Visit to Palo Verde

On Thursday, February 12, 1998, Commissioner Dicus met with licensee senior management at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The Commissioner was accompanied by the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, the Deputy Regional Administrator, and other members of the NRC staff. Topics of discussion included a review of licensee's economic and safety performance, storage of high and low level radioactive waste and current regulatory policy issues.

ENCLOSURE R

Office of Congressional Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 13, 1998

Note: The Senate will return from recess on February 23 and the House will return on February 24.