ML032120244

Summary of 05/28/03 Exit Meeting for Special Inspection of Bottom Mounted Instrumentation Nozzle Leakage in South Texas Project, Unit 1

ML032120244
Person / Time
Site:	South Texas
Issue date:	07/31/2003
From:	Gody A Division of Reactor Safety IV
To:	Sheppard J South Texas
References
IR-03-008
Download: ML032120244 (46)

Text

July 31, 2003 James J. Sheppard, President and Chief Executive Officer STP Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 289 Wadsworth, Texas 77483

SUBJECT:

SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT ELECTRIC GENERATING STATION, UNIT 1 -

SUMMARY

OF EXIT MEETING FOR SPECIAL INSPECTION OF BOTTOM MOUNTED INSTRUMENTATION NOZZLE LEAKAGE IN SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT, UNIT 1 (NRC INSPECTION REPORT 05000498/2003008)

Dear Mr. Sheppard:

This refers to the public exit meeting conducted at the Civic Center in Bay City, Texas, on July 28, 2003, between your staff and the NRC. The participants discussed the results of the special inspection conducted between May 5 and July 28, 2003. The final inspection results will be available in NRC Inspection Report 05000498/2003008 within 30 days. Additionally, your staff presented the status of your root cause assessment, repairs made, readiness for restart of Unit 1, and plans for future condition monitoring in both units.

The list of attendees is enclosed with this summary (Enclosure 1). Copies of the NRC presentation slides and your staffs presentation slides are also enclosed (Enclosures 2 and 3).

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and its enclosure will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRCs document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

Sincerely,

/RA/

Anthony T. Gody, Acting Director Division of Reactor Safety Docket: 50-498; License: NPF-76

Enclosures:

1. Attendance List

STP Nuclear Operating Company 2. NRC Presentation

3. Licensee Presentation cc w/enclosures:

Tom Jordan, Vice President Engineering & Technical Services STP Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 289 Wadsworth, Texas 77483 S. M. Head, Manager, Licensing Nuclear Quality & Licensing Department STP Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 289, Mail Code: N5014 Wadsworth, Texas 77483 A. Ramirez/C. M. Canady City of Austin Electric Utility Department 721 Barton Springs Road Austin, Texas 78704 L. D. Blaylock/W. C. Gunst City Public Service Board P.O. Box 1771 San Antonio, Texas 78296 D. G. Tees/R. L. Balcom Houston Lighting & Power Company P.O. Box 1700 Houston, Texas 77251 Jon C. Wood Matthews & Branscomb 112 E. Pecan, Suite 1100 San Antonio, Texas 78205 A. H. Gutterman, Esq.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004 C. A. Johnson/A. C. Bakken AEP Texas Central Company P.O. Box 289, Mail Code: N5022 Wadsworth, Texas 77483

STP Nuclear Operating Company INPO Records Center 700 Galleria Parkway Atlanta, Georgia 30339-5957 Director, Division of Compliance

& Inspection Bureau of Radiation Control Texas Department of Health 1100 West 49th Street Austin, Texas 78756 Brian Almon Public Utility Commission William B. Travis Building P.O. Box 13326 1701 North Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78701-3326 Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Director P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-3189 Judge, Matagorda County Matagorda County Courthouse 1700 Seventh Street Bay City, Texas 77414 Terry Parks, Chief Inspector Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Boiler Program P.O. Box 12157 Austin, Texas 78711 Susan M. Jablonski Office of Permitting, Remediation and Registration Texas Commission on Environmental Quality MC-122, P.O. Box 13087 Austin, Texas 78711-3087 Ted Enos 4200 South Hulen Suite 630 Fort Worth, Texas 76109

STP Nuclear Operating Company Electronic distribution by RIV:

Acting Regional Administrator (TPG)

DRP Director (ATH)

Acting DRS Director (ATG)

Senior Resident Inspector (GLG)

Branch Chief, DRP/A (WDJ)

Senior Project Engineer, DRP/A (TRF)

Staff Chief, DRP/TSS (PHH)

RITS Coordinator (NBH)

Mel Fields (MBF1)

STP Site Secretary (LAR)

ADAMS: G / Yes G No Initials: ____

G / Publicly Available G Non-Publicly Available G Sensitive G / Non-Sensitive R:\_STP\2003\ST7-28-03MS-DRS.wpd RIV:EMB SRA/TL D:DRS NFOKeefe RLBywater ATGody

/RA/ /RA/ /RA/

07/30/03 07/31/03 07/31/03 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY T=Telephone E=E-mail F=Fax

ENCLOSURE 1 MEETING ATTENDANCE LIST

Attendance Sheet NRC Public Exit Meeting Special Inspection for Bottom Mounted Instrument Tube Leaks July 28, 2003

.a_

Attendance Sheet NRC Public Exit Meeting Special Inspection for Bottom Mounted Instrument Tube Leaks July 28, 2003 Name: 1 Organization: 1 Name: Organization:

ENCLOSURE 2 NRC PRESENTATION SLIDES

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Special Inspection Team Exit Meeting Bottom Mounted Instrumentation Leakage Issue South Texas Project Unit 1 July 28, 2003

Agenda P Purpose of Meeting and Introductory Remarks P Introduction of NRC Personnel P Introduction of STPNOC Personnel P STPNOC Presentation P NRC Exit Presentation P Concluding Remarks P Public Comment

NRC Special Inspection Team Chartered to Review STP Unit 1 BMI Leakage Issue P Russ Bywater, Senior Reactor Analyst, Region IV, Team Leader P Neil Okeefe, Senior Reactor Inspector, Region IV P Wayne Sifre, Reactor Inspector, Region IV P Matthew Mitchell, Senior Materials Engineer, NRR P Mike Runyan, Senior Reactor Analyst, Region IV P Dr. Steve Doctor, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Description of Issue and Chronology P NRC Generic Letter 88-05 P NRC Bulletin 2001-01 P NRC Bulletin 2002-01 P STP Identification of BMI Leakage

Adequacy of Corrective Actions P Examination Campaign P Development and Implementation of Repairs P Examination of Removed Samples P Evaluation of Potential Root Causes P Implementation of Continued Monitoring Program

Safety Significance of Issue P Regulatory Requirements P Assumptions Used in Analysis P Preliminary Significance Determination

Acceptability of STP-1 Operation P Examination Results P BMI Nozzle Repair P Continued Monitoring Program

Concluding Remarks P STPNOC Response P Public Comments P NRC Concluding Comments P For More Information:

WWW.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/bottom-head-penetration-leakage.html

ENCLOSURE 3 STP PRESENTATION SLIDES

Bottom Mounted Instrument Penetration

/28/03 1 Condition Resolution

STP Participants Joe Sheppard President & CEO Tom Jordan VP, Engineering & Tech Services Gary Parkey VP, Generation Ed Halpin Plant General Manager

/28/03 2

/28/03 3 STP Used Worldwide Experts

/28/03 4

External Support Framatome ANP Westinghouse - PCI Dominion Engineering Performance Improvement International Exponent Failure Analysis Associates V. C. Summer Nuclear Power Plant Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station Arkansas Nuclear One Power Plant Japanese loanee to Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO)

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Electricite de France Tractabel (Belgium)

Harfang Industries Altran

/28/03 5

Full-Sized Mock-up at STP

/28/03 6

/28/03 7 EXTENT of CONDITION, CAUSE, CORRECTIVE ACTION Tom Jordan Vice President, Engineering & Technical Services

/28/03 8

BMI Guide Tube Penetration

/28/03 9

Our Inspection Process Works We inspect the exterior of our vessels every time we shutdown for a refueling outage. Previous nspections did not reveal indications of seepage.

/28/03 10

Evidence of Very Small Leakage Found in Routine Inspection

/28/03 11

Actual Amount of Residue

/28/03 12

Looking Down into Reactor Cavity

/28/03 13

Techniques and the Most Experienced People in the World

/28/03 14

/28/03 15

/28/03 16 Examination Scope

• Ultrasonic examination (UT) from penetration tube ID

• Enhanced visual exam of J-groove weld surface

• Volumetrically interrogate vessel base metal for wastage

• Eddy current examination (ET) from penetration tube ID

• ET of J-groove weld surface

• Profilometry [tube inside roundness / ovality]

• Borescope [tube inside visual] examinations

• Helium tests

• Metallurgical analyses of removed nozzle remnants

• Boat sample analyses

/28/03 17

Examination Results

• Penetration #1

- Three axial indications, one leak path

• Penetration #46

- Two axial indications, one leak path

/28/03 18

Investigation Results STP Unit 1 BMI Flaw Consequences Leak Investigation July 8, 2003 Results Axial Crack in Nozzle and/or Weld Crack Propagation PWSCC Low-Cycle Fatigue Nozzle and/or Weld Nozzle or Weld Crack Initiation Fabrication Flaw PWSCC Over-Stress Nozzle and/or Weld Nozzle and/or Weld

/28/03 19

Permanent Half-Nozzle Repair

/28/03 20

Completed Repair

/28/03 21

Condition Limited to the Two Identified Nozzles

• Routine inspection identified very low leakage

• Extensive NDE confirmed condition limited to two penetrations

- Axial cracks in tubes

- No wastage

• Substantial safety margin existed

• Repairs are complete

• Monitoring / inspection plan developed

/28/03 22

MONITORING / INSPECTION PLAN and RETURN to SERVICE Ed Halpin Plant General Manager

/28/03 23

Monitoring / Inspection Plan Confirms Effective Corrective Action

• Continue bare metal visual inspections under boric acid control program

• Perform UT and EVT of penetrations at next Unit 1 vessel inservice inspection

• Perform periodic UT of vessel base material around repaired penetrations

• Perform volumetric examination of Unit 2 penetrations at next refueling outage with core barrel removal

• Online monitoring plan developed

/28/03 24

Outage Philosophy Three-phase outage approach for long-term focus on nuclear safety and reliability

- Phase One: Discovery

- Phase Two: Repair

- Phase Three: Return to Service

/28/03 25

Return to Service

• Plant readiness

- Comprehensive communications plan

- PORC reviewed selected activities

- Just-in-time training for plant operators

- Weekly plant walkdowns with key station management to assess readiness

- Increase in staff and manning onshift

- Specific readiness reviews including

• Integrated schedule review

• Refuel project readiness review

• Secondary plant startup review

/28/03 26

Return to Service (contd)

/28/03 27