ML031530176

Request for Downgrade of Condition Report 02-03668 Persistent Leakage of Casing to Cover Joints for RCPs

ML031530176
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	05/29/2003
From:	- No Known Affiliation
To:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
FOIA/PA-2003-0224
Download: ML031530176 (1)

Text

Request for Downgrade of Condition Report 02-03668 Persistent Leakage of Casing to Cover Joints for RCPs Condition:

Condition Report 02-03668 was written on 8/3/02 by the Reactor Coolant System (RCS)

Latent Issues Team. This CR expressed the concern of the team that the site has lived with known inner gasket leakage on RCPs since 1996 without aggressive corrective action.

Analysis:

The Davis-Besse RCPs have the original style gaskets installed. The pump vendor has upgraded the gasket material based on industry experience to reduce leakage. Obtaining a leak free joint can be accomplished with proper gasket material, proper bolt stretch, and proper restretching of the bolts after 2-3 thermal cycles to account for relaxation. The issue of this CR is one of standards in that no attempt to replace the leaking gaskets has been made. Management practices have been addressed by a team root cause investigation under CR 02-00891. Lack of engineering rigor is the subject of CR 02-02434 (classified SR).

A specific root cause investigation into the reasons that RCP innner gasket leakage was "managed" instead of resolved is not warranted.

Summary:

A downgrade of this CR to "CA" with an apparent cause investigation will provide adequate resolution of the hardware condition.