ML031680617

Summary of South Texas, Unit 1 Conference Call Regarding Bottom Mounted Instrumentation Leakage Issue; Status of Activities

ML031680617
Person / Time
Site:	South Texas
Issue date:	06/17/2003
From:	Thadani M NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD4
To:
Thadani M, NRR/DLPM, 415-1476
References
TAC MB8435
Download: ML031680617 (8)

Text

June 17, 2003 LICENSEE: STP Nuclear Operating Company FACILITY: South Texas Project, Unit 1

SUMMARY

OF HEADQUARTERS, REGION IV, AND STP NUCLEAR OPERATING COMPANY (STPNOC) MAY 15, 2003, TELEPHONE CONFERENCE CALL REGARDING SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT, UNIT 1, BOTTOM MOUNTED INSTRUMENTATION LEAKAGE ISSUE; STATUS OF ACTIVITIES (TAC NO. MB8435)

On May 15, 2003, the NRC Headquarters and Region IV staff held a telephone conference call with STPNOC, the licensee for South Texas Project, Unit 1. The conference call was a continuation of the ongoing discussions as a followup of the discovery of apparent leakage at the interface of reactor vessel bottom head and bottom mounted instrumentation (BMI) penetrations 1 and 46. Enclosure 1 is a list of participants. Enclosure 2 is a summary of scheduled deliverables. Enclosure 3 is the conference call agenda.

On this phone call the licensee briefed the NRC on the overall status of Unit 1, current status of nondestructive examination (NDE) activities, and repair design activities. The licensee briefly described its revised schedule of follow-on activities to address BMI penetration leakage.

Overall Unit 1 Status The fuel is offloaded. The core barrel and lower vessel internals are removed from the vessel.

Continuation of Planned NDE Activities STPNOC pursued two vendors as candidates for support. Both vendors had acceptable capabilities and were viable. However, STPNOC has selected Framatome. The licensee completed the onsite demonstration of delivery system. The licensee identified a problem of water depth for the full size mock-up. The licensee stated that it did not want to use the fuel pool due to potential contamination. The licensee will use 3 probes (circumferential, axial, and 0º) . It described the sequence of scanning as follows: (1) do the complete scan of penetrations 1 and 46, and (2) then scan the other 55 penetrations in production mode using 1 probe for 55 then swapping probes. Penetration 31 has the nozzle having stuck thimble. The licensee plans to use a separate examination process for the nozzle having the stuck thimble.

The licensee expects to see meaningful data available after a week. After that there will be a period of lull as the licensee examines and evaluates the data. During that period the investigation staff will communicate the results to STPNOC management daily. During the

next week, the licensee will assess the NDE results and make decisions on the course of its actions.

Design Activities The licensee has selected Framatome to perform the half-nozzle design as the repair option. The tooling and the preparation for welding are well under way. The licensee is fabricating a scale model for the vessel bottom penetrations at the site. The licensee expects to start repairs in the middle of June.

Root Cause Analysis The NRC staff asked if the root cause analysis will address the impacts on Unit 2. The licensee responded that it will.

/RA/

Mohan C. Thadani, Senior Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-498

Enclosures:

1. List of Participants

2. Summary of Scheduled Deliverables

3. Conference Call Agenda cc w/encls: See next page

next week, the licensee will assess the NDE results and make decisions on the course of its actions.

Design Activities The licensee has selected Framatome to perform the half-nozzle design as the repair option. The tooling and the preparation for welding are well under way. The licensee is fabricating a scale model for the vessel bottom penetrations at the site. The licensee expects to start repairs in the middle of June.

Root Cause Analysis The NRC staff asked if the root cause analysis will address the impacts on Unit 2. The licensee responded that it will.

/RA/

Mohan C. Thadani, Senior Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-498

Enclosures:

1. List of Participants

2. Summary of Scheduled Deliverables

3. Conference Call Agenda cc w/encls: See next page DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC RidsNrrLAMMcAllister RidsNrrAdpt (BSheron/MKotzalas)

PDIV-1 Reading RidsNrrDe (RBarrett/CGrimes) RidsNrrDlpm(JZwolinski/TMarsh)

RidsNrrPMMThadani RidsNrrDlpmLpdiv1(RGramm) AHiser DTerao BBateman SCoffin ESullivan MMitchell KManoly JFoster WCullen WReckley SBloom SLee CMoyer MHartzman EAndruszkiewicz RidsRgn4MailCenter (AHowell)

RidsOgc MFields, EDO RidsAcrsAcnwMailCenter RidsNrrDlpmLpdiv (HBerkow)

ACCESSION NO: ML031680617 *See previous concurrence NRR-001 OFFICE PDIV-1/PM PDIV-1/LA RIV (e-mail PDIV-1/SC concurrence)

NAME MThadani:sab MMcAllister* WJohnson RGramm*

DATE 6/17/03 6/04/03 6/17/03 6/13/04 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Licensees Participants Ed Halpin Plant General Manager Dave Rencurrel Manager Plant Operations Mark McBurnett Manager, Quality & Licensing Steve Thomas Manager, Plant Design Engineering Alex Kent Manager, Testing Program Paul Serra Manager, Plant Protection Michael Lashley Supervising Engineer, Testing Engineering Wayne Harrison Sr. Staff Licensing Engineer Scott Quety Outage Shift Refuel Manager NRC Participants Headquarters Region IV Robert Gramm Art Howell William Reckley Dwight Chamberlain Sam Lee Gail Good Carol Moyer William Johnson Mark Hartzman Charlie Marschall Ed Andruszkiewicz M. Runyan Steve Bloom Tom Farnholtz Kamal Manoly Steve Doctor David Terao Wayne Sifre Allen Hiser (from home) Jack Keeton Stephanie Coffin Victor Dricks Matt Mitchell Brian Tindle Enclosure 1

SUMMARY

SCHEDULE FOR CURRENT KEY DELIVERABLES The following is a list of key deliverables and the date we anticipate having them available. These are subject to change, as more information becomes available.

These deliverables will be submitted for NRC review or available for NRC inspection as appropriate.

 Relief Request submittal for use of weld material - 5/20

 Preliminary root cause report - 6/12 To include -

- Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

- Predicted failure mechanisms

- Dilation and contraction analysis

 Relief Request submittal for half nozzle repair and temper bead welding - 6/13

 SBLOCA analysis - 6/13

 Design change package - 6/14 To include -

- Section XI Analysis

- Fracture mechanics analysis

- Residual stress analysis

- Corrosion analysis

 Final root cause report - 7/24 Enclosure 2

CONFERENCE CALL AGENDA What How Who Time (minutes)

1. Desired Outcomes & Agenda Review McBurnett 1400 CDT (2)

2. Overall status of unit 1 Discuss Rencurrel (5)

3. NDE status and communication plan Discuss Thomas (10)

4. Status of repair design activities Discuss Thomas (5)

5. Revised Level 1 Schedule (includes licensing milestones) Discuss McBurnett (10)

6. Schedule for next call and handle any coordination Discuss McBurnett (5) needed for inspections or other communications Enclosure 3

South Texas, Unit 1 cc:

Mr. Cornelius F. OKeefe A. H. Gutterman, Esq.

Senior Resident Inspector Morgan, Lewis & Bockius U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW P. O. Box 910 Washington, DC 20004 Bay City, TX 77414 Mr. T. J. Jordan, Vice President A. Ramirez/C. M. Canady Engineering & Technical Services City of Austin STP Nuclear Operating Company Electric Utility Department P. O. Box 289 721 Barton Springs Road Wadsworth, TX 77483 Austin, TX 78704 S. M. Head, Manager, Licensing Mr. L. K. Blaylock Nuclear Quality & Licensing Department Mr. W. C. Gunst STP Nuclear Operating Company City Public Service Board P. O. Box 289, Mail Code: N5014 P. O. Box 1771 Wadsworth, TX 77483 San Antonio, TX 78296 Environmental and Natural Resources Mr. C. A. Johnson/A. C. Bakken Policy Director AEP Texas Central Company P. O. Box 12428 P. O. Box 289 Austin, TX 78711-3189 Mail Code: N5022 Wadsworth, TX 77483 Jon C. Wood Matthews & Branscomb INPO 112 East Pecan, Suite 1100 Records Center San Antonio, TX 78205 700 Galleria Parkway Atlanta, GA 30339-3064 Arthur C. Tate, Director Division of Compliance & Inspection Regional Administrator, Region IV Bureau of Radiation Control U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Texas Department of Health 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 1100 West 49th Street Arlington, TX 76011 Austin, TX 78756 D. G. Tees/R. L. Balcom Brian Almon Texas Genco, LP Public Utility Commission P. O. Box 1700 William B. Travis Building Houston, TX 77251 P. O. Box 13326 1701 North Congress Avenue Judge, Matagorda County Austin, TX 78701-3326 Matagorda County Courthouse 1700 Seventh Street Bay City, TX 77414

South Texas, Unit 1 cc:

Susan M. Jablonski Office of Permitting, Remediation and Registration Texas Commission on Environmental Quality MC-122 P.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087 Mr. Terry Parks, Chief Inspector Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Boiler Division P. O. Box 12157 Austin, TX 78711 Mr. Ted Enos 4200 South Hulen Suite 630 Ft. Worth, Texas 76109 Mr. James J. Sheppard President and Chief Executive Officer STP Nuclear Operating Company South Texas Project Electric Generating Station P. O. Box 289 Wadsworth, TX 77483