Information Notice 2003-20, Derating Whiting Cranes Purchased Before 1980
| ML032960205 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/22/2003 |
| From: | Beckner W, Chris Miller NRC/NMSS/IMNS, NRC/NRR/DIPM |
| To: | |
| Foster J, NRR/IROB, 415-3647 | |
| References | |
| IN-03-020 | |
| Download: ML032960205 (7) | |
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY AND SAFEGUARDS
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 October 22, 2003 NRC INFORMATION NOTICE 2003-20: DERATING WHITING CRANES PURCHASED
BEFORE 1980
Addressees
All holders of operating licenses for nuclear power reactors, except those who have
permanently ceased operations and have certified that fuel has been permanently removed
from the reactor vessel; applicable decommissioning reactors, fuel facilities, and independent
spent fuel storage installations.
Purpose
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this information notice (IN) to notify
licensees of a recent report from Whiting Corporation concerning the derating of Whiting cranes
sold before 1980. It is expected that recipients will review the information for applicability to
their facilities and consider actions, as appropriate, to address this problem. However, suggestions contained in this IN are not NRC requirements; therefore, no specific action or
written response is required.
Description of Circumstances
On January 29, 2003, Whiting Corporation submitted a 10 CFR Part 21 report (Event
Notification No. 39545 and Part 21 No. 2003-002-00) to the NRC. The concern described in
this report was specific to the Whiting #25 Hoist Unit (Gear Case). When the crane is lifting a
load at or near its nominal rating, the stress in one or possibly two internal support bolts in this
assembly may be significantly over the design allowable stress. These bolts connect the gear
case housing to an open frame that supports bearings and other components in the gear train.
If a bolt failed, the open frame might deform, affecting gear alignment. Whiting identified this
problem during an engineering analysis, and Whiting Corporation was not aware of any crane
failures due to this concern.
The exact extent of the overstressed condition can only be determined by analyzing each hoist;
however, based on its findings, Whiting Corporation stated that a 50 percent reduction in rated
hoist capacity of the affected cranes would allow continued use of the cranes without
compromising design safety factors. Whiting indicated that this limitation should be enforced
until the overstressed bolts have been replaced or analysis shows that an overstressed
condition does not exist.
On February 12, 2003, Whiting Corporation submitted a followup Part 21 report to the NRC
related to the above notification. As a result of the ongoing investigation and resolution of the
January 29, 2003, notification, Whiting identified five cranes that utilize a different hoist
configuration that was also subject to a similar overstress condition. This condition applied to
special hoist arrangements using a Whiting #10 Hoist Unit, rather than the previously identified
Whiting #25 Hoist Unit. The cranes are installed at the following nuclear power plants: Indian
Point, Cooper, Columbia Generating Station, Vermont Yankee, and Millstone. Whiting
Corporation stated that these hoist units are to be limited to 20 percent of rated capacity to
avoid compromising design factors and that this limitation should be enforced until the units are
upgraded.
Discussion
The identified conditions involve calculated stresses in the support bolts that exceed design
limits specified in applicable design standards. No actual failures have occurred. Failure of the
components subject to the overstress condition would not directly result in failure of the crane to
retain its load. However, the failure of a support bolt may result in deformation of the frame
housing the gear train bearings. The deformation would allow misalignment and potential
overstress of gear teeth to develop. The gear teeth transmit torque from the hoist motor and
holding brake to the load drum. Therefore, this concern is a facility and personnel safety issue.
This Part 21 report is applicable to a wide variety of cranes purchased prior to 1980, including
reactor building cranes, turbine building cranes, fuel handling cranes, spent fuel cranes, intake
structure cranes, auxiliary building cranes, refueling cranes, cask handling cranes, fuel gantry
cranes, radwaste handling cranes, screenwell cranes, heater bay cranes, and pumphouse
cranes. Other cranes may also be impacted.
During the Part 21 evaluation process, Whiting Corporation failed to identify a decommissioning
reactor facility (Fermi 1) that utilized one of the affected hoist units. This particular Part 21 report is applicable to decommissioning reactors as well as operating reactors because
decommissioning facilities continue to utilize cranes for fuel handling, radioactive waste
handling, and related activities for handling contaminated or activated structures, systems, and
components in support of decommissioning.
The Part 21 report requests crane owners to contact Whiting Corporation at e-mail address
Whiting-Nuclear@WhitingCorp.com and provide the following information: customer name, contact person, e-mail address, telephone number, crane serial number, and date of next
scheduled outage. The above Part 21 reports may be obtained from NRCs home page at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/part21/. This IN requires no specific action or written response. If you have any questions about this
notice, contact one of the persons listed below or the appropriate project manager.
/RA/ /RA/
William D. Beckner, Chief Charles L. Miller, Director
Reactor Operations Branch Division of Industrial and
Division of Inspection Program Management Medical Nuclear Safety
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards
Technical Contacts: Steven Jones, NRR Jack Foster, NRR
301-415-2712 (301) 415-3647 E-mail: srj@nrc.gov E-mail: jwf@nrc.gov
William C. Huffman, NMSS
301-415-1141 E-mail: wch@nrc.gov
Attachment: List of Recently Issued NRC Information Notices
ML032960205 *See Previous Concurrence
OFFICE IROB:DIPM Tech Editor DSSA:SPLB BC:DSSA:SPLB DWM:DCB
NAME JWFoster PKleene* SRJones JNHannon WCHuffman
DATE 09/09/2003 08/07/2003 08/18/2003 08/21/2003 08/25/2003 OFFICE SC:DWM:DCB TA:FCSS:DO SC:SFPO:SFLS BC:IMNS:MSIB DD:IMNS
NAME SWMoore JDavis JMonninger TEssig (RTorres for) CMiller (JHickey for)
DATE 08/29/2003 10/16/2003 10/16/2003 10/20/2003 10/21/2003 OFFICE SC:IROB:DIPM BC:IROB:DIPM
NAME TReis WDBeckner
DATE 10/22/2003 10/22/2003
Attachment 1 LIST OF RECENTLY ISSUED
NRC INFORMATION NOTICES
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Information Date of
Notice No. Subject Issuance Issued to
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2003-19 Unanalyzed Condition of 10/06/2003 All holders of operating licenses
Reactor Coolant Pump Seal or construction permits for
Leakoff Line During Postulated pressurized water reactors
Fire Scenarios or Station (PWRs).
Blackout
2003-18 General Electric Type SBM 09/26/2003 All holders of operating licenses
Control Switches With for nuclear power reactors, Defective Cam Followers except those who have
permanently ceased operations
and have certified that fuel has
been permanently removed from
the reactor vessel.
2003-17 Reduced Service Life of 09/29/2003 All holders of operating licenses
Automatic Switch Company for nuclear power reactors.
(ASCO) Solenoid Valves With
Buna-N Material
2003-16 Icing Conditions Between 10/06/2003 All 10 CFR Part 72 licensees and
Bottom of Dry Storage System certificate holders.
and Storage Pad
2003-15 Importance of Followup 09/05/2003 All holders of operating licenses
Activities in Resolving for nuclear power reactors except
Maintenance Issues those who have permanently
ceased operation and have
certified that fuel has been
permanently removed from the
reactor vessel.
Note: NRC generic communications may be received in electronic format shortly after they are
issued by subscribing to the NRC listserver as follows:
To subscribe send an e-mail to <listproc@nrc.gov >, no subject, and the following
command in the message portion:
subscribe gc-nrr firstname lastname
______________________________________________________________________________________
OL = Operating License
CP = Construction Permit