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SECY 98-265

November 12, 1998

Contact: B. McCabe, OEDO

ENCLOSURE A

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Nine Mile Point Unit 1

The staff approved Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation's (NMPC) request that the schedule for reinspecting the core shroud vertical welds be extended from 10,600 hot operating hours to 14,500 hot operating hours. The reinspection interval of 10,600 hours had been proposed by NMPC during the 1997 refueling outage when cracks were found in the vertical welds and NMPC's analyses (based on a bounding crack growth rate of 5 x 10^-5 inch/hour at the minimum available ligament) indicated that a mid-cycle reinspection was appropriate to ensure that structural margins required by the ASME code were being maintained. When submitting this prior analysis, NMPC also indicated in its letter of April 8, 1997, that additional analyses were planned, and would be submitted to the NRC, to justify extending the reinspection interval for the shroud vertical welds. The extension allows completion of the normal operating cycle before reinspecting the welds, as the reinspection, in effect, is deferred from late November 1998 to early April 1999. In approving the extension, the NRC staff agreed with NMPC that all of the conditions for application of the slower crack growth rate (2.2 x 10^-5 inch/hour) supported by the recently-approved BWR Vessel and Internals Project document, BWRVIP-14, are met at NMP1. During its review of the request, the staff conducted a meeting with the public in Oswego, New York, on September 24 to obtain comments on the request.

Limerick Generating Station Units 1 and 2

The NRC approved security arrangements for trucking a bundle of irradiated nuclear fuel from the Limerick Generating Station near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a facility near Pleasanton, California. The purpose of the shipment to General Electric Company's Vallecitos Nuclear Center in California is to test the feasibility of burning fuel in commercial reactors for a longer period than is the current practice.

The ten 12-foot long fuel pins, contained in one fuel bundle, will be contained in a 23-ton NRC-certified steel shipping cask hauled by tractor-trailer. As is required for spent fuel shipments by road or rail, security arrangements will be followed, including armed escorts, special communications, frequent contact with a dedicated communications center, and close coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies along the entire route.

Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant

On November 4, 1998, the staff issued license amendments to Northern States Power Company (NSP) for Prairie Island 1 & 2 which change the design basis of the cooling water system emergency intake line flow capacity. The changes also reclassify the intake canal for use during a seismic event, which would be an additional source of cooling water available during a design-basis earthquake. The amendments also reflect the completion of license conditions that were implemented to reflect compensatory measures taken by Northern States Power until a seismically qualified emergency cooling water source could be provided.

NSP discovered in 1996 that the emergency intake line did not have the full flow capacity as described in the Prairie Island USAR and an additional source of cooling water would be needed during a design-basis event (DBE). The USAR stated that the emergency intake line was the sole source of water from the Mississippi River (the ultimate heat sink) to the cooling water system following a DBE. The plant design basis previously assumed that the banks of the intake canal collapsed into the canal and blocked this cooling water source during a DBE. In order to take credit for the water in the intake canal, the licensee had to perform an in-depth seismic analysis of the canal embankments which included soil borings and test pit excavations. The staff also performed its own independent confirmatory seismic analysis. The results of the seismic analysis indicated that although some of the banks could slough off into the canal during a DBE, a sufficient amount of cooling water still would remain in the intake canal to safely shut down both units. The licensee also had to change its operating procedures to strip nonessential cooling water loads during a DBE so that enough water would remain available to supply safety related equipment.

The issuance of the amendments and accompanying safety evaluation culminated an approximately 2-year long review by the staff of a complex technical issue (involving four different technical branches) dealing with the seismic capability of the cooling water intake canal embankments, operator actions during a seismic event, cooling water system aspects and quality controls.

ENCLOSURE B

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

International Review of INFCIRC 225/Revision 3

During the week of October 26, 1998, the Director of the Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards led the U.S. delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, to review and update INFCIRC 225/Revision 3, The Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities. The international review conference developed a new version (Revision 4) of the document which will be published in the near future by the IAEA.

Trojan Reactor Vessel

On October 29, 1998, the Spent Fuel Project Office issued a letter to the Portland General Electric (PGE) Company granting two exemptions from 10 CFR Part 71 packaging requirements and authorizing the Trojan Reactor Vessel Package (TRVP) for transportation. The letter constitutes Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval to ship the TRVP by barge up the Columbia River to the Port of Benton, Washington, where it will be off-loaded to a heavy-haul transporter and moved to the U.S. Ecology waste disposal facility near Hanford, Washington. Extensive operational controls will apply to the shipment. Chairman Jackson notified NRC's oversight committees, the governors and congressional delegations of Oregon and Washington, and other elected officials, of NRC's action by letter. PGE is in the process of obtaining other approvals (U.S. Department of Transportation and State of Washington) required for the shipment which is currently planned for August 1999.

10 CFR Part 35 Workshop

On October 31, 1998, representatives of the Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety conducted a workshop on the proposed 10 CFR Part 35 at the All Agreement States Meeting in Bedford, New Hampshire. Agreement State participants, as well as members of the public that attended the meeting, provided comments on the proposed rule. The Agreement States endorsed a request made by several professional societies to extend the comment period on the proposed rule and to conduct a risk assessment in support of the rulemaking. The States were particularly interested in the levels of compatibility that were assigned to the rule and the basis for the assignment. Other comments were received on the training and experience requirements for authorized users and radiation safety officers; criteria for medical events; and the deletion of the requirement for a Radiation Safety Committee.

ENCLOSURE C

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Public Meeting on Containment Coating Failure and PWR Sump Blockage Studies

The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) conducted a public meeting on November 5, 1998, at NRC Headquarters for the purposes of describing recently initiated research programs and soliciting stakeholder input on program objectives, output, and expected application of findings. Detailed presentations were made by Savannah River Technology Center staff on the containment coating failure program and by Los Alamos National Laboratory staff on PWR sump blockage studies (GSI-191). The majority of the near 40 attendees represented reactor licensees, containment coatings firms, and nuclear industry engineering consulting firms.

RASPLAV Program Review Group Meeting

The 9^th meeting of the RASPLAV Program Review Group was held on 14-16 October, 1998, in Pertuis, France. The overall objective of the RASPLAV program is to provide analytical and experimental information which can be used to assess whether and under what conditions a molten core materials can be cooled/retained inside a reactor pressure vessel (RPV). In this meeting recent progress of the RASPLAV project was discussed. The 4th and last RASPLAV integral (utilizing 200Kg corium in a geometry representing the lower head of the RPV) experiment will be performed in late 1999. The corium composition for this test is similar to those used in the first two integral tests i.e., 81.5w% UO_2, 5w% ZrO_2, 13.5w% Zr, where molten corium stratified into two layers. Reactor severe accident analysis assumes uniform mixing of corium in the lower head. The stratification observed in the tests would effect molten corium pool natural convection, therefore, would influence the thermal load distribution on the lower head of the RPV. In those tests, however, it is believed that carbon, unintentionally added to the corium may have contributed to the stratification. However, the next integral test will be conducted with minimum amount of carbon, also representative of PWRs. Small scale tests in support of the last integral test have been carried out to look further into corium melt chemistry effects. Separate effects experiments were performed using simulant material (molten salt). Preliminary results indicate that the heat transfer coefficient correlation developed for simulant molten pool natural convection is applicable to prototypic material.

Following post-test analysis, in mid FY2000, Division of Systems Technology staff will evaluate the fourth integral test results and their implications on lower head integrity.

ENCLOSURE D

Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

FRPCC Meeting

On November 5, 1998, NRC representatives led by the AEOD Director participated in the Federal Radiological Preparedness Coordinating Committee (FRPCC) quarterly meeting. The FRPCC comprises seventeen Federal departments and agencies with responsibilities in radiological emergencies. The key agenda item of this meeting was the NRC's proposed revised Federal KI Policy.

The AEOD Director requested FRPCC's approval of the NRC's proposed revision to the Federal KI policy. He presented the background and the highlights of the NRC's proposal and how it compared with the FRPCC's latest position. The FRPCC members agreed to provide their comments to the Committee by January 1999. The FRPCC Chairman indicated that the KI Subcommittee will review those comments and make its recommendation to the full Committee. Two areas of concern were identified: 1) The expectation that the sources of funding for the purchase of KI for those States that request it must be committed in writing; the NRC currently has not budgeted for this; and 2) the recognition of the NBC stockpiles of KI may now be misleading, since they would not be nearly enough to be relied upon in case of a major radiological event; the four regional stockpiles would have 4500 doses each and FEMA was not sure what the level of stockpiling would be at the city level.

The FRPCC Chairman stated that he expected this effort to be completed on schedule by June 1999.

Sequoyah Exercise

NRC emergency response teams participated in a full-scale exercise with Sequoyah Nuclear Plant on November 4, 1998. Chairman Jackson led the NRC response from the Headquarters Operations Center, then tested for the first time our ability to transfer the lead to a Commissioner (in this case, Commissioner McGaffigan). Finally, operational authority was delegated to the Site Team from Region II under Luis Reyes. The exercise satisfied its objectives, including providing a number of significant lessons learned from a more realistic set of challenges for the Executive Team, a significant expansion of required protective action recommendation decisions driven by a severe accident scenario with loss of ECCS and containment bypass, the first attempt to respond with smaller teams, and the annual News Center exercise.

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATIONS

ENCLOSURE F

Office of Administration
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Acquisition Training

On November 5, 1998, the Division of Contracts and Property Management conducted its Acquisition for Project Managers module entitled "Developing the Independent Government Cost Estimate." This module focuses on the importance of establishing an independent Government cost estimate, the mechanics of the process and components which can be used in its development.

Facility Management and Maintenance Contracts

ADM is competing two new contracts for the OWFN and TWFN buildings; (1) operation and maintenance (O&M) and (2) custodial services. The O&M request for proposals has been issued and contractor proposals are due December 4, 1998. The custodial services request for proposals will be issued the week of November 9, 1998.

Employee Building Satisfaction Survey

ADM conducted an employee building satisfaction survey during September 4-16, 1998, arranged through the General Services Administration and the Gallup Organization. A response rate of 45% was achieved. Results from the survey are scheduled to be reported to NRC by November 16, 1998, and will be shared with employees.

ENCLOSURE G

Chief Information Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Requests received during the 5-Day Period of October 30, 1998 - November 5, 1998:

ENCLOSURE I

Office of Human Resources
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Employee Assistance Program Workshop Held

On November 5, 1998, Kathleen T. Mitchell, Certified Counselor in Washington, D.C., presented a lunchtime workshop called, "Whose Responsibility Is It, Anyway?" Ms. Mitchell's lecture focused on the characteristics of a syndrome, sometimes referred to as co-dependency, which leads people to get involved in unhealthy relationships and repeatedly take on the responsibilities of others. After discussing the possible causes of such behavior and the serious health problems which can result from living in this manner, she shared with the group a number of tools to help a person begin to make positive changes in his life; i.e., how to separate oneself from the unhealthy behavior of others and make healthy choices for one's own life. Twenty-one employees participated in the workshop, which was very well received.

ENCLOSURE M

Office of Public Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Media Interest

Dick Rosano, NRR, and Bill Beecher, OPA, conducted several interviews with newspapers around the country regarding the elimination of the Operational Safeguards Response Evaluation (OSRE) program at reactors.

ENCLOSURE N

Office of International Programs
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Foreign Visitors

Eight foreign visitors from Belgium (1), Hong Kong China (5), and the United Kingdom (2), observed the Sequoyah NPP emergency preparedness exercise November 4-5, 1998. The extended 50 mile zone exercise included activating the NRC Headquarters, Region II, and State of Tennessee Emergency Operation centers.

HEU Export License Application

OIP has received an application (XSNM03060) from Transnuclear, Inc. for a license to export 130 kilograms of high-enriched uranium (HEU) to Canada for use in the Maple 1 and Maple 2 reactors for production of medical isotopes. The HEU would be shipped as fabricated targets over the next five years in increments of five kilograms or less per shipment. This is expected to be a high-visibility case. A decision paper will be prepared for Commission consideration after the staff receives the views of the Executive Branch and completes its own review. Copies of the application have been sent to the PDR and posted on the NRC external internet site.

IAEA

IAEA Nuclear Safety Workshop from October 20-31, 1998, John Ramsey, OIP, participated in an IAEA-sponsored Nuclear Safety Workshop at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Taejon, Republic of Korea. Representatives from China, Vietnam, Phillippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia participated in the workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the participants to nuclear power plant design, licensing and safety analysis requirements, using NRC (Regulatory Guide 1.70 and the Standard Review Plan), Japanese and Korean requirements as examples. The workshop also included a tour of the Kori nuclear power plant.

ENCLOSURE O

Office of the Secretary
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Commission Correspondence

1. Letter to President Clinton dated October 23, 1998 concerns cutting greenhouse gases through energy savings performance contracts (incoming letter dated July 25, 1998 also released).
   
   
2. Letter to Senator Pete Domenici dated October 23, 1998 responds to concerns regarding the potential disposal of radioactive materials from the Metcoa site at a Waste Control Specialists site in Texas (incoming letter dated September 10, 1998 also released).
   
   
3. Letter to Senator Frank Murkowski dated October 23, 1998 concerns the NRC's conduct of adjudicatory proceedings (incoming letter dated September 14, 1998 also released).
   
   
4. Letter to Representatives Edward Markey and John Dingell dated October 23, 1998 provides an additional response to concerns regarding a potential reduction in nuclear safety regulation in light of the proposed severe cuts to the NRC's budget and staff.
   
   
5. Letter to Arkansas Mike Huckabee dated October 23, 1998 concerns request to relinquish Arkansas' authority to evaluate and approve sealed source and device applications.
   
   
6. Letter to John Conway, U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, dated October 23, 1998 concerns the collection of regulatory cost data on DOE defense nuclear facilities (incoming letter dated September 9, 1998 also released).
   
   
7. Letter to Christian Bataille, French Conseiller Régional, dated October 23, 1998 concerns an exchange of views on the French and U.S. approaches to nuclear safety and radiation protection (incoming letter dated September 9, 1998 also released).
   
   
8. Letter to Ing. Miroslav Lipar, Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic, dated October 23, 1998 concerns an invitation to visit Slovakia (incoming letter dated September 10, 1998 also released).
   
   
9. Letter to Congress dated October 29, 1998 provides the Annual Report to Congress on Collection of Fees.
   
   
10. Letter to Congress, Mayor of St. Helens (OR), Mayor of Rainier (OR), Governors of the States of Oregon and Washington dated October 29, 1998 informs of the NRC's final decision of Portland General Electric Company's request for approval of a one-time shipment of he decommissioned reactor vessel package from the Trojan facility.
    
    
11. Letter to Yasumasa Togo, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, dated October 29, 1998 concerns the establishment of the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (incoming letter dated October 1, 1998 also released).

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Advanced Medical Systems; Docket No. 30-16055-ML; Designation of Presiding Officer (B. Paul Cotter, Jr.).
   
   
2. Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Notice of Meeting on December 15-17, 1998.
   
   
3. Advanced Medical Systems, Inc.; Docket No. 30-16055-ML; Order Granting Hearing and Federal Register Notice of Opportunity to Intervene.
   
   
4. Yankee Atomic Electric Company (Yankee Nuclear Power Station); Docket No. 50-029-LA-R; Notice of Prehearing Conference (December 16-18, 1998).

ENCLOSURE P

Region I
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Inspection of Sterigenics Facility, Franklin Township, NJ

On October 28, 1998, and November 3, 1998, an inspector from the Region I Civil, Mechanical and Materials Engineering Branch, DRS, performed an inspection of construction activities for a new irradiator for Sterigenics International. Sterigenics has applied for an NRC license for this wet-source-storage gamma irradiator. Construction activities observed included placement of rebar as well as placement of structural concrete.

Management Meeting on Former Tenneco Polymers Site, Fords, N.J.

On Tuesday, November 3, 1998, members of the Region I Decommissioning and Laboratory Branch, DNMS, met with the present owners (El Paso Energy), of the former Tenneco polymers facility, their consultants (SECOR International), and representatives for the potential new owners of the property, to review proposed actions to release the site for unrestricted use. This site had been identified by the ORISE survey as a formerly-licensed site needing additional evaluation. Contamination requiring remediation was identified onsite, and remediation has occurred over the past two years. A Radiological Risk Analysis was submitted to Region I in September 1998. The owners stated that remediation work on the site buildings is complete and the buildings meet the criteria for release for unrestricted use. Contamination remains in some surrounding soils onsite, but conservative dose analyses using RESRAD show that annual dose projections are less than 25 mRem. NRC stated that an independent survey and dose projection analysis will be conducted to validate this work and that use of the industrial use scenario for this site is appropriate. If the owner's analysis is validated, the release of this site for unrestricted use is expected by the end of this calendar year.

ENCLOSURE P

Region II
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Tennessee Valley Authority - Sequoyah

On November 4, 1998, Region II and NRC Headquarters participated in the Sequoyah Emergency Exercise. Region II participation included a Base Team for the Monitoring Mode and a full Site Team for the Expanded Activation Mode. Headquarters participated with a full team for the Standby and Initial Activation Modes. Also, Region II hosted eight foreign dignitaries from United Kingdom, China, and Belgium who were observing the Sequoyah exercise at the site, the EOF, and the State EOC in Nashville, Tennessee.

Region II Training and Operations Manager's Meeting

On November 5, 1998, Region II held the annual Training and Operations Manager's Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. The Executive Director for Operations, Dr. William D. Travers, was present at the beginning of the meeting and made opening remarks. Major topics of discussion between the Region II staff and licensee representatives included proposed changes to 10 CFR Part 55, lessons learned from recent operator licensing examinations, examination communications, and examination development and coordination.

ENCLOSURE P

Region III
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

Management Meeting with Commonwealth Edison Company

On November 2, 1998, a management meeting was conducted in the Training Building at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Cordova, Illinois, between management representatives from Commonwealth Edison Company and members of the NRC staff. The meeting discussion focused on the recent operation at Quad Cities and the status of issues raised prior to the startup of Units 2 and 1. Acting Regional Administrator James Caldwell participated in the meeting.

ENCLOSURE P

Region IV
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

River Bend Fuel Leakage and Recirculation Pump Seal Degradation

River Bend previously experienced a leaking fuel assembly on September 17. They reduced power on September 26, identified the leaking assembly, and shadowed it with three control rods to reduce the leakage. Off-gas pretreatment activity levels increased from 1.0 mCi/sec before the leak began to 22.5 mCi/sec, then dropped to 1.8 mCi/sec after inserting the control rods to shadow the affected assembly. On October 18, River Bend staff observed that off-gas pretreatment activity levels increased gradually to about 11 mCi/sec. On October 30, plant staff reduced power, identified the leaking assembly, and shadowed it with two control rods. After shadowing the assembly, off-gas pretreatment activity levels dropped to 2.6 mCi/sec. Both affected fuel assemblies were GE-11 fuel, first burned this operating cycle with successive serial numbers. After returning to 100 percent power, operators noted that Recirculation Pump A exhibited gradually decreasing upper seal pressure. The pressure, normally about 500 psig, dropped gradually to about 370 psig on November 6. In addition, Recirculation Pump A thrust bearing lower face temperature increased about 22°F, and operators received the low oil level alarm. The licensee currently plans to enter a forced outage on December 3 to replace the seal and reconstitute the two leaking fuel assemblies.

Entergy Management Changes

On November 2, 1998, Entergy Operations, Inc. announced corporate-level management changes that become effective on January 1, 1999. Mr. J. Wayne Leonard was selected as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In April 1998, Mr. Leonard joined Entergy, Operations, Inc. as President and CEO and now will focus solely on the position of CEO. Mr. Donald C. Hintz will assume the responsibilities as President and have oversight of fossil generation, power development, and transmission businesses, as well as his current oversight responsibilities for nuclear operations.

ENCLOSURE Q

Office of the Executive Director for Operations
Items of Interest
Week Ending November 6, 1998

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION

Proposed Rule to be Signed by the EDO

On November 9, 1998, the Executive Director for Operations approved a proposed rule that would revise the NRC Acquisition Regulation (NRCAR) to incorporate current agency practices, including streamlining of the procurement procedure. An example of such revision is found in the NRCAR sections covering instructions for proposal preparation and evaluation. The process-oriented instructions formerly included in those sections have been replaced with guidance which can be applied to fit the specific acquisition. The proposed rule would also restructure the NRCAR to eliminate obsolete coverage, and make necessary technical and conforming amendments as a result of changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

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.