Information Notice 1989-45, Metalclad, Low-Voltage Power Circuit Breakers Refurbished with Substandard Parts

Metalclad, Low-Voltage Power Circuit Breakers Refurbished with Substandard Parts

ML031190357
Person / Time
Site:	Beaver Valley, Millstone, Hatch, Monticello, Calvert Cliffs, Dresden, Davis Besse, Peach Bottom, Browns Ferry, Salem, Oconee, Mcguire, Nine Mile Point, Palisades, Palo Verde, Perry, Indian Point, Fermi, Kewaunee, Catawba, Harris, Wolf Creek, Saint Lucie, Point Beach, Oyster Creek, Watts Bar, Hope Creek, Grand Gulf, Cooper, Sequoyah, Byron, Pilgrim, Arkansas Nuclear, Three Mile Island, Braidwood, Susquehanna, Summer, Prairie Island, Columbia, Seabrook, Brunswick, Surry, Limerick, North Anna, Turkey Point, River Bend, Vermont Yankee, Crystal River, Haddam Neck, Ginna, Diablo Canyon, Callaway, Vogtle, Waterford, Duane Arnold, Farley, Robinson, Clinton, South Texas, San Onofre, Cook, Comanche Peak, Yankee Rowe, Maine Yankee, Quad Cities, Humboldt Bay, La Crosse, Big Rock Point, Rancho Seco, Zion, Midland, Bellefonte, Fort Calhoun, FitzPatrick, McGuire, LaSalle, 05000000, Zimmer, Fort Saint Vrain, Shoreham, Satsop, Trojan, Atlantic Nuclear Power Plant
Issue date:	05/08/1989
From:	Rossi C Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:
References
IN-89-045, NUDOCS 8905020148
Download: ML031190357 (7)

I

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 May 8, 1989 NRC INFORMATION NOTICE NO. 89-45: METALCLAD, LOW-VOLTAGE POWER CIRCUIT BREAKERS

REFURBISHED WITH SUBSTANDARD PARTS

Addressees

All holders of operating licenses or construction permits for nuclear power

reactors.

Purpose

This information notice is being provided to alert addressees to the discovery

of defects in metalclad, low-voltage power circuit breakers, including missing, nonstandard, and substandard parts, and improper assembly and misadjustment.

It is expected that recipients will review this information for applicability

to their facilities and consider actions, as appropriate, to avoid similar

problems. However, suggestions contained in this notice do not constitute

NRC requirements; therefore, no specific action or written response is required.

Description of Circumstances

The NRC has learned of the discovery of defects in metalclad, low-voltage, power circuit breakers which had been installed at the Quad Cities nuclear

power plant. The breakers had missing, nonstandard, and substandard parts

that were identified during maintenance at the General Electric (GE) switch- gear service shop in Hammond, Indiana.. The breakers were GE type AKF-2-25, DC field discharge breakers used as anticipated transient without scram (ATWS)

breakers for the reactor coolant recirculation pump motor-generators.

Commonwealth Edison Company (CECo) purchased the AKF-2-25s for Quad Cities

from the Satin American Corporation. In a recent inspection at Satin American, the NRC reviewed the records pertaining to these breakers. The Quad Cities

purchase order and the Satin American invoice and shipping documents indicated

that the breakers were purchased as commercial grade equipment. The shipping

documents contained no certifications and described the breakers only by model

number and serial number. Satin American's Inspection and testing records for

the breakers indicated that they had been taken from the vendor's stock of

reportedly new breakers and only inspection and testing was documented before

they were shipped to Quad Cities. Satin American's catalog defines "new" as

RETURN TO REGULATORY CENTRAL ELr

} A. . .

IN 89-45 May 8, 1989 never used and obtained from the manufacturer. The catalog classifies

I'unused" those breakers that have never been used, but

as

were obtained from

sources other than the manufacturer. However, the vendor's stock

is obtained

from various sources, and consists predominantly of ostensibly never-used

surplus switchgear. The information available at the time of the inspection

did not establish clear traceability to the source of these breakers, could the circumstances under which they were purchased be confirmed. nor

Records at Quad Cities reviewed thus far indicate that only routine

nance had been performed on the breakers at the plant. The deviations mainte- discovered by the GE Hammond Switchgear Service Shop during the course were

of

their overhaul of the breakers for Quad Cities. The NRC has not determined

who was responsible for the condition of the AKF-2-25s at Quad Cities

or why

these conditions remained undetected during intervening maintenance activities.

Discussion:

Some of the deviations found by the GE Hammond service shop in one of

the

AKF-2-25s from Quad Cities were apparently the result of either substandard

or improper materials, poor quality workmanship and/or substitution

of non- standard parts and misrepresentation of condition and/or quality.

Deviations in one of the breakers' nameplates were reported to have

dlerted GE to the possibly refurbished condition of the breaker. On initially

an AKF-

type breaker, the nameplate should have included an "Inspected by" stamp,

"GEK" instruction book number, and the serial number should have included a

"ATL" designation for the GE facility in Atlanta that modifies AK the

breakers, built in Burlington, Iowa, to the AKF configuration. The nameplate

AKF breaker was missing the Inspection stamp and the instruction bookon this

and its serial number did not have the "ATL" designation. Also, the number, was loosely fastened by two improperly installed rivets. nameplate

During disassembly and inspection, GE identified the lower stud, the

pivot shims, the moving contact springs, a cam follower, and some movinglower

contact arms as nonstandard, non-GE parts. The paint was reported as

a glossy nonstandard type, of excessive thickness, and had been applied being

locations where a potential to jam the mechanism existed, particularly in

closing coil plunger assembly and the E-frame. Several layers of hand-cut the

black electrical insulation paper were found under the center stationary

contact mounting block where one thickness of insulation paper and machined

steel lower pivot shims would normally be installed. The mounting block

fastened to the breaker frame with two machine screws and two dowel is

one of the AKF-2-25s, the dowel pins were missing. The flat or leaf pins. In

type contact arm spring laminations are supposed to be machine stamped spring

copper-plated spring steel, whereas the breaker was found to contain from

made of untempered copper and mild steel that appeared to have been springs

roughly

.. 1 * Sl a*

IN 89-45 May 8, 1989 cut from sheet metal stock by hand with a hacksaw and metal shears. Also, these breakers have boomerang-shaped cam follower arms in the contact

mechanism cut or stamped from stock about 1/8-inch thick. The arms con- tain a machined slot of conforming shape. In genuine GE parts, the inside

edge of the slot at the elbow where the angle changes is machined to a point;

whereas, on the cam followers found in the Quad Cities breaker, this point

was rounded off to about a 1/4-inch radius. This could impair the breaker

function, possibly causing the mechanism to jam. Additionally, the closing

coil, which appeared to have been rewound, was cracked, and the leads exited

the windings in a manner inconsistent with GE standard practice.

During the inspection at Satin American, NRC inspectors examined about 20 of

the AK-type breakers in the Satin American warehouse that had been obtained

reportedly as unused surplus material and found only one or two of the name- plates exhibiting the inspection stamp. In addition, breakers were found

with nameplates missing most of the normal data, and one had two serial numbers.

The NRC is continuing its inquiry into this matter; however, similar to the

Quad Cities case, available information did not establish traceability to

the source of these breakers.

Although it has not been determined what party or parties are responsible for

the deviations identified on the Quad Cities AKF-2-25 ATWS breaker, it is clear

that breaker failures or malfunctions could result from the types of deviations

observed and that users of these and other breakers must exercise appropriate

controls when procuring commercial grade components. A properly implemented

commercial grade dedication program for circuit breakers would include measures

to ensure that the component design is suitable for the application, that the

component is traceable to the original manufacturer, and that the component, when received, is adequately inspected and tested to verify all critical

characteristics. Such a program would identify many of the deficiencies

described above.

In addition, licensees are responsible for assuring that all maintenance and

refurbishment and/or modification of equipment is performed properly by quali- fied personnel (including contractors) using correct parts and materials and

that all required retests are properly conducted and evaluated.

The NRC is particularly interested in obtaining information on these or other

types of circuit breakers that have been found with deficiencies similar to

those described in this notice. Documentation, in as much detail as practi- cable, of any such circuit breaker deficiencies discovered, especially in

cases where a breaker may have been improperly serviced or refurbished is

important. Licensees may communicate the availability of information of

this type by telephone to the NRC technical contact listed below.

IN 89-45 May 8, 1989 No specific action or written response is required by this information notice.

If you have any questions about this matter, please contact the technical

contact listed below or the Regional Administrator of the appropriate

regional office.

arles E.ossi, director

Division of Operational Events Assessment

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

S. Alexander, NRR

(301) 492-0995 Attachment: List of Recently Issued NRC Information Notices

Attachment

IN 89-45 May 8, 1989 LIST OF RECENTLY ISSUED

NRC INFORMATION NOTICES

Information Date of

Notice No. Subject Issuance Issued to

89-44 Hydrogen Storage on the 4/27/89 All holders of OLs

Roof of the Control Room or CPs for nuclear

power reactors.

88-82, Torus Shells with Corrosion 5/2/89 All holders of OLs

Supp. 1 and Degraded Coatings in or CPs for BWRs.

BWR Containments

89-43 Permanent Deformation of 5/1/89 All holders of OLs

Torque Switch Helical or CPs for nuclear

Springs in Limitorque power reactors.

SMA-Type Motor Operators

88-97, Potentially Substandard 4/28/89 All holders of OLs

Supp. 1 Valve Replacement Parts or CPs for nuclear

power reactors.

89-42 Failure of Rosemount 4/21/89 All holders of OLs

Models 1153 and 1154 or CPs for nuclear

Transmitters power reactors.

89-41 Operator Response to 4/20/89 All holders of OLs

Pressurization of Low- or CPs for nuclear

Pressure Interfacing power reactors.

Systems

88-75, Disabling of Diesel 4/17/89 All holders of OLs

Supplement 1 Generator Output Circuit or CPs for nuclear

Breakers by Anti-Pump power reactors.

Circuitry

89-40 Unsatisfactory Operator Test 4/14/89 All holders of OLs

Results and Their Effect on or CPs for nuclear

the Requalification Program power reactors.

89-39 List of Parties Excluded 4/5/89 All holders of OLs

from Federal Procurement or CPs for nuclear

or Non-Procurement Programs power reactors.

89-38 Atmospheric Dump Valve 4/5/89 All holders of OLs

Failures at Palo Verde or CPs for nuclear

Units 1, 2, and 3 power reactors.

OL = Operating License

CP = Construction Permit

IN 89-45 May 8, 1989 No specific action or written response is required by this information notice.

If you have any questions about this matter, please contact the technical

contact listed below or the Regional Administrator of the appropriate

regional office.

Charles E. Rossi, Director

Division of Operational Events Assessment

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

S. Alexander, NRR

(301) 492-0995 Attachment: List of Recently Issued NRC Information Notices

• See previous page for concurrence.

OFC  :*VIB:DRIS  :*SC/VIB:DRIS :*TECH ED  :*BC/VIB:DRIS:*DIR:DRIS

NAME :SAlexander: :UPotapovs :BCalure* :EWBrach :BKGrimes

DATE :4/26/89 :4/27/89 :4/20/89 :4/27/89 :4/27/89 OFC  :*OI/RIII  :*BC/GCB:DOEA :DIR:DOEA  :  :

NAME :EPawlick :CBerlinger:

DATE :4/14/89 :5/1/89 :5/.l89  ::

IN 89-XX

April XX, 1989 If you have questions about this matter, please contact the Regional Admini- strator of the appropriate NRC regional office or this office.

Charles E. Rossi, Director

Division of Operational Events Assessment

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

S. Alexander, NRR

(301) 492-0995 Attachment:

1. List of Recently Issued NRC Information Notices

OFC :VIB:DRIS :SC/Yj :DRIS :TECH ED :BC/J l;IS :D~f I

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___________

NAME :SAle er: :UPot Vos  : Jvi&W :f h 5

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DATE:4 :4/:/289 :4/20/89 :4/1/89 :4/4-/89  :

OFC :0IVIII A C UG~tXC A :DIR:DOEA  ::::

NAME :EPawlick :CBerlinger :CERossi  :  :

DATE : 4/i/1/89  : j/ 1/89  : 4/ /89  : 4/ /89  :