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SECY-00-0054

March 1, 2000

Contact:  M. Satorius, OEDO

ENCLOSURE A

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1 - Leakage Detected from RCS Instrument Nozzles

Entergy Operations, Inc., has reported the discovery of through-wall leakage from 6 out of 7 reactor coolant system (RCS) instrument nozzles used for hotleg level indication. Metallurgical examinations demonstrated that indications did exist in the 7^th nozzle but they had not yet extended through-wall. These nozzles were constructed from Alloy 600 which is susceptible to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). PWSCC is believed to be the primary cause of the cracking. However, the licensee is pursuing the potential that other degradation mechanisms (e.g., fatigue, thermal stress) were contributors. The licensee has indicated that they plan to implement code repairs to 6 of the nozzles using a less susceptible material combined with design enhancements. A full core offload would be required to perform a code repair on the 7^th nozzle due to its elevation. Therefore, the licensee has indicated that they will be requesting an alternative to allow a non-code repair which encapsulates the existing flaws. All repairs will be implemented prior to startup. An 8^th nozzle used for measuring RCS hotleg level was inspected. This nozzle is constructed from 316 stainless steel which is less susceptible to PWSCC. This nozzle was inspected and no indications were identified.

Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 2 (ANO-2) - Steam Generator Meeting

On February 17, 2000, the NRC met with the licensee to discuss the licensee's deterministic operational assessment for the remainder of Cycle 14. Cycle 14 began in February 1999 and a "mid-cycle" steam generator (SG) inspection outage was conducted in November 1999. During the November outage, 6 indications were in-situ tested. Five met 4650 psi (3P, plus additional margin). One flaw was only taken to 4147 psi due to leakage in excess of the pump capacity. The licensee focused its presentation on their subsequent evaluation of this flaw and their rationale for determining that the tube would have met 3P if the test pump had a higher capacity. The licensee concluded that the results of their deterministic operational assessment demonstrate that ANO-2 can safely operate with adequate margin until the 2R14 refueling (and SG replacement) outage scheduled in September 2000.

NRC does not believe that there is an immediate safety concern with the SG tubes. However, the staff does have additional questions associated with continued operation until the September 2000 outage, and with the licensee's calculated burst pressure of the flawed tube that did not meet 3P and the growth rate of indications in the SG tubes in general. The NRC also noted that the licensee had not yet submitted an operational assessment that used a risk-informed approach. Subsequent to the meeting, the licensee informed the staff that it will submit a risk-informed approach. The NRC staff expects that it will be engaging the licensee in requests for additional information on both their deterministic and risk-informed approaches and resolving the outstanding questions in the near future.

Licensing Action Task Force

A public meeting of the Licensing Action Task Force (LATF) was held on February 17, 2000. The LATF is comprised of industry and NRC representatives and its meetings are intended to foster open and frank communications between industry, regulators, and the public. Regulatory process improvements and initiatives are discussed in an effort to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden placed on licensees, improve NRC effectiveness and efficiency, while maintaining public health and safety.

Specific topics discussed at the February 17^th meeting included an NRC presentation for standardizing licensing submittals, consolidated processing of Technical Specification (TS) line item improvements, a Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)/industry recommendation for processing changes to TS bases, NEI's plan on pursuing the processing of unintended TS actions, NEI future plans for industry LATF, and process details regarding relief requests, exemption requests and security and emergency plan changes.

These meetings are conducted approximately every other month and the next meeting will be held in April, 2000, and the public will be notified of the exact time and place. Meeting summaries are published shortly after each meeting.

Meeting with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)

On February 17 - 18, 2000, members of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and regional operator licensing managers, and selected members of their staffs participated in a national operator licensing workshop sponsored by NEI in Orlando, Florida. The workshop, which was open to the public, was widely attended by training, operations, and plant managers representing the majority of facility licensees. Representatives from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) also participated in the meeting. NEI convened the workshop to review issues related to the implementation of Revision 8 of NUREG-1021, "Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors." The topics included reviews of the lessons learned by licensees that have previously prepared their licensing examinations, a review of the pros and cons associated with preparing the examinations, changes in the INPO eligibility guidelines for license applicants, and an update on the INPO national examination question bank.

NRC provided updates on various issues including the rulemaking plan that will allow facility licensees to use their simulators to conduct reactivity manipulations for operator license eligibility and a proposed supplementary revision to NUREG-1021 that will amend the restrictions on repeating written questions from prior examinations and quizzes and clarify the guidance regarding the documentation of examination quality issues in NRC examination reports. The workshop was beneficial because it provided an opportunity for the NRC to clarify the current program requirements and solicit industry feedback on outstanding issues that will require further review.

ENCLOSURE B

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Cardiovascular Radiation Therapy

On February 16-18, 2000, a staff member of the Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety attended the "Cardiovascular Radiation Therapy IV" conference held in Washington, D.C. Two invited talks were given entitled "Vascular Brachytherapy Approval for Marketing - The NRC Perspective" and "Misadministrations and Other Events in Vascular Brachytherapy Trials." The staff member served as a panelist at the luncheon with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewers of brachytherapy regulatory submissions entitled "What Does the FDA Need for Approval" to address any audience questions related to issues jointly regulated by FDA and NRC.

Meeting on Operating the International Atomic Energy Agency's Radiation Events

On February 12-18, 2000, a staff member of the Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety attended a meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on operating the IAEA's radiation events (RADEV). RADEV, currently under development by IAEA, is envisioned as an international events database for radiation accident and incidents involving the use of nuclear materials. The staff member was invited to the meeting to provide consultation to IAEA on the final development and implementation of RADEV. RADEV is similar to NRC's nuclear material events database for which the staff member is the project manager. RADEV is expected to be operational in early CY 2001.

Meeting with U.S. Customs Service

On February 18, 2000, the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards and the Incident Response Operations staff met with the U.S. Customs Service (Customs) to discuss the use of "rad pagers" by Customs agents in the field. The rad pagers are part of the Customs nuclear non-proliferation program and are used primarily as a passive device to alert an agent that radiation is present. The rad pagers have been in widespread use for approximately 18 months.

Customs agents follow a standard operating procedure when the rad pagers detect radioactive materials. This procedure describes what actions to take when the rad pager alarms at various levels from 0 to 9. A 9 reading on the rad pager indicates at least a 4 millirem reading. NRC, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Transportation are listed as contacts for assistance, but Customs recommends that its agents establish contact with local emergency responders for assistance. The procedure also lists contacts for the states as prepared by the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors.

Although agents are directed to contact local authorities for assistance initially, sometimes they contact the NRC Operations Center for assistance, and the Operations Center officers typically contact an emergency officer to assist the agent. With the information gained from this meeting, the number of times the Operations Center officers contact NRC technical staff for assistance should be reduced. Customs is working to bring their program into full and effective implementation, and solicited NRC feedback.

Non-Destructive Testing Management Association Annual Meeting

On February 16, 2000, a staff member of the Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety attended the Non-Destructive Testing Management Association annual conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. An invited talk entitled "Current Regulatory Issues, Industrial Radiography" was presented. Topics discussed included radiographer certification, 10 CFR 34.20 - associated equipment, safety testing of devices, recent events, enforcement actions, and offshore inspections.

Open Meeting of the Clearance Steering and Working Groups on Control of Solid Materials

On February 23, 2000, the Steering and Working Groups on control of solid materials held a joint meeting. This meeting was held to discuss items in a draft paper which is being developed to provide the Commission with a summary of stakeholder reactions and concerns with the Issues Paper on Control of Solid Materials (published in the Federal Register for public comment on June 30, 1999, the subject of discussion at four public workshops held in the fall of 1999). At the meeting, the Working Group discussed specific items for Steering Group focus during its review of the paper. This meeting was open to the public to provide the opportunity to observe development of the paper.

Also, the public was provided opportunity to make comments at the meeting. A comment was made that the NRC should consider prohibiting releases without starting a rulemaking. Another comment was that NRC should consider segregated standards for different materials and should focus on clean material and provide a standard to confirm this status. In addition, there were questions raised about the schedules for technical work to be done and for delivering the paper to the Commission.

The Steering Group noted that it would review the paper and consider proceeding toward office concurrence on the paper. The paper is due to the Commission in March 2000. The Commission will decide whether to make the paper public at that time.

The public indicated that the meeting was useful and that having a copy of the discussion outline helped make the meeting more meaningful.

ENCLOSURE F

Office of Administration
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Management Directive and Handbook 11.7

On February 17, 2000, the EDO approved Management Directive (MD) and Handbook 11.7, "NRC Procedures for Placement and Monitoring of Work with the U. S. Department Of Energy (DOE )." MD 11.7 was revised, in coordination with DOE, for determining responsibility for payment of costs associated with characterization, packaging, and disposal of radiological waste; to provide additional guidance for identifying fee billable work; and to make other clarifying edits. MD 11.7 will be distributed to NRC, DOE, and DOE laboratories' points of contact.

ENCLOSURE G

Chief Information Officer
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Requests received during the 5-Day Period of February 21, 2000 through February 24, 2000:

ENCLOSURE I

Office of Human Resources
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

ENCLOSURE M

Office of Public Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Media Interest

NRC HQ received calls from the press regarding the decision to move the Technical Training Center from Chattanooga to Rockville.

There was interest in the upcoming Calvert Cliffs hearing on license renewal.

The financial community was interested in USEC's credit rating and NRC's financial review of the enrichment facilities.

ENCLOSURE O

Office of the Secretary
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Commission Correspondence

1. Letter to Senator Paul D. Wellstone, dated February 15, 2000, response to letter expressing opposition to the proposal to allow radioactive metal and other materials from maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear power and weapons factories to be cleared for free release into the market place.
   
   
2. Letter to Congress dated February 8, 2000, transmits quarterly report (October 1 through December 31, 1999) on the denial of safeguards information.

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Subcommittee Meeting on Materials and Metallurgy; Notice of Meeting.
   
   
2. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Subcommittee Meeting on Thermal-Hydraulic Phenomena; Notice of Meeting.
   
   
3. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting of the Subcommittee on Human Factors.

ENCLOSURE P

Region I
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Indian Point 2 Activities

Overview - The NRC continues to review the circumstances leading to and the actions during the February 15, 2000, steam generator tube leak. An Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) was dispatched on February 18 and has been reviewing the event. Additionally, there has been significant external stakeholder interest in the event. On February 22, a DRP Branch Chief and the RI State Liaison Officer met with local officials in Westchester County and responded to questions about the event and the NRC response. They also responded to questions from the media.

General Update - The plant remains in cold shutdown. The licensee, Consolidated Edison Company of New York (ConEd) is preparing for inspection of the steam generator (SG) tubes. This action currently is expected to begin on February 26, 2000.

Region I Administrator, Congresswoman Sue Kelley, and several local officials toured the site on February 25 and observed a simulator demonstration.

The Resident Inspection staff, augmented by inspectors from other sites, continued around-the-clock coverage.

AIT - The AIT continued its evaluation of steam generator maintenance history, radiological assessments during the event, and the licensee's sequence of events. The team also is reviewing the effectiveness of operator actions and management support during the event.

Enforcement - On February 25, 2000, the NRC issued a Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in the amount of $88,000 to ConEd. The action was based on a Severity Level Il problem at Indian Point 2 involving failures to fully implement a design modification to 480 V vital bus degraded voltage relays, a failure to properly calibrate circuit breaker trip units, and a failure to identify and correct problems associated with reactor protection system circuitry. These problems were disclosed in a August 31, 1999 reactor trip and loss of offsite power event. The event was complicated by the failure of one emergency diesel generator (EDG) to load and resulting depletion of one of four safety related batteries and loss of most of the control room annunciators for safety related systems. The violations were a direct cause or contributors to both the initiating event and the event complications. The event was determined to be risk significant.

Congressman LoBiondo Visits Salem

On February 22, 2000, Congressman LoBiondo of New Jersey and his Chief of Staff visited the Salem site to discuss, with Public Service Electric & Gas (PSEG) management and NRC representatives, items of interest to him and his constituents. Specifically, the NRC Senior Resident Inspector and a Regional Branch Chief briefed the Congressman on fire protection findings discussed in Salem Inspection Report 1999010. That report included a "white" finding. In addition, PSEG managers briefed the Congressman on ongoing corrective actions regarding fire protection, and the Congressman toured parts of the Salem plant.

To further address the Congressman's interests, a briefing by Headquarters and Regional staff is planned in his office on March 2, 2000, to cover additional fire protection perspectives and assessments of general plant performance.

ENCLOSURE P

Region II
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Commissioner Merrifield Visits the General Electric Company

On February 24, 2000, the Deputy Regional Administrator accompanied Commissioner Merrifield to the General Electric Company in Wilmington, North Carolina for a plant tour and met with licensee management.

Commissioner Merrifield Visits the Carolina Power and Light's Brunswick Steam Electric Plant

On February 25, 2000, the Deputy Regional Administrator accompanied Commissioner Merrifield to the Carolina Power and Light's Brunswick Steam Electric Plant in Southport, North Carolina for a plant tour and met with licensee management.

Office of the Inspector General's Visit to Region II

On February 22, 2000, representatives from the Office of the Inspector General visited the Region II office to meet with the senior management and regional staff.

Region II Licensing Managers' Counterpart Meeting

On February 25, 2000, the Regional Administrator and Director of the Division of Reactor Projects attended the Region II Licensing Managers' Counterpart Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee on License Renewal Visits Oconee Nuclear Station

On February 23, 2000, the ACRS Subcommittee on License Renewal visited Oconee for a plant tour and to meet with licensee representatives.

On February 24, the ACRS held a public meeting to discuss the staff's final safety evaluation report and the resolution of open items from the staff's review of the Oconee license renewal application.

ENCLOSURE P

Region III
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Regulatory Oversight Process Pilot Program Workshop

Region III hosted the first regional workshop February 22-24, 2000, at the Hilton Hotel in Lisle, Illinois, to discuss the revised reactor oversight program with industry representatives. There were about 80 participants from diverse areas. A press release was issued the week before the conference. Region III conducted one radio interview with a local radio station about the conference.

Deputy EDO and Regional Administrator Visit LaSalle (Illinois) plant

The Deputy Executive Director for Reactor Programs and Regional Administrator visited the LaSalle Nuclear Power Plant on February 23, 2000, to tour the site.

D.C. Cook Closed Predecisional Enforcement Conference

On February 23, 2000, the staff conducted a predecisional enforcement conference with representatives of American Electric Power Co. to discuss an alleged discrimination case. Consistent with NRC policy for these types of matters, the conference was closed to the public.

ENCLOSURE P

Region IV
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000

Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3

On February 22, 2000, members of the Region IV staff and an NRC contractor met with representatives of Waterford Steam Electric Station Unit 3 at the NRC Region IV office in Arlington, Texas. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the application of instrument uncertainties relative to design basis parameters associated with safety-related systems. At the meeting, the licensee provided an indepth response to previous NRC questions associated with safety-related pump flow rates.

ENCLOSURE R

Office of Congressional Affairs
Items of Interest
Week Ending February 25, 2000