ML070170469

E-mail from J. Lipoti to A. Blough Dtd 01/12/2007; Letter to NRC

ML070170469
Person / Time
Site:	Oyster Creek
Issue date:	01/12/2007
From:	Lipoti J State of NJ, Dept of Environmental Protection
To:	Blough A Division of Nuclear Materials Safety I
References
Download: ML070170469 (4)

Text

From: "Jill Lipoti" <Jill.Lipoti@dep.state.nj.us>

To: <ARB@nrc.gov>

Date: 01/12/2007 12:50:49 PM

Subject:

Fwd: Letter to NRC

>>> Jill Lipoti 1/11/2007 4:30 PM >>>

Randy:

I want to go on record with a letter saying that we are hiring outside experts to help us with looking at the issue of corrosion of the OC drywell. As you know, we thought the NRC was thorough in investigating the issue before restart, but we reserved judgement with regard to license renewal.

I've drafted a letter. It is attached. I wanted to send it prior to the ACRS subcommittee meeting.

Last time I drafted a letter, you looked at it from the point of view of the sensitivity of NRC to certain words, phrases, etc.

Can you just give me an honest read of the attached letter? I don't want to raise eyebrows, and I just want to focus on the fact that we are hiring an outside expert. I'm worried that I may have said something unintentionallythat could be construed as criticizing NRC.

Thanks.

Jill

Mail Envelope Properties (45A7CA5A.OBE : 15 : 41150)

Subject:

Fwd: Letter to NRC Creation Date 01/12/2007 12:49:10 PM From: "Jill Lipoti" <Jill.Lipoti@dep.state.nj.us>

Created By: Jill.Lipoti@dep.state.nj.us Recipients Ill-c.gov kpl_po.KP-DO ARB (A Randolph Blough)

Post Office Route kp 1j o .KP-D 0 Ilrc.gov Files Size Date & Time MESSAGE 875 01/12/2007 12:49:10 PM Oyster Creek Drywell Corrosion - Expert Review.doc 261 12 Mime.822 38500 Options Expiration Date: None Priority: Standard ReplyRequested: No Return Notification: None Concealed

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I I

Division of Environmental Safety and Health P.O.Box 424 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0424 Phone: (609) 633-7964 Fax: (609) 777-1330 January 16,2007 Dr. Pao-Tsin Kuo Acting Director Division of License Renewal U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission One White Flint North Mail Stop 0-11 F1 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852

Subject:

Oyster Creek Drywell Corrosion - Expert Review

Dear Dr. Kuo:

During the recently concluded Oyster Creek refueling outage, AmerGen Energy Corporation, LLC, an Exelon company (AmerGen), as part of its license renewal process,

. performed extensive inspections of the drywell. During this time, NRC inspectors from Region 1 were on site conducting an inspection of aging management program implementation related to AmerGens license renewal application. The State of New Jersey Bureau of Nuclear Engineering (BNE) participated in the NRC inspection, as an observer, as specified by the current Memo of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the NRC. As required by this MOU, the BNE is restricted from making information relating to an ongoing NRC inspection public, The NRC scheduled the exit meeting for this inspection for January 11,2007.

I am writing to inform you of the BNEs intention to hire an independent expert in the field of corrosion mechanisms. This expert will review and comment on the technical report prepared by AmerGen, which represents its bases for concluding that Oyster Creek could restart from the outage and continue to operate for the extended period of license renewal.

The bases for our concerns is that during the outage inspections, water was unexpectedly discovered inside the drywell resulting in the saturation of the lower portion of the metal drywell shell which is embedded under the concrete floor located at the bottom of the drywell. The water was initially removed but reappeared, indicating a saturated condition. Also found during this inspection was a glass object, described by AmerGen and NRC as a soda bottle, partially embedded in the drywell concrete floor. Apparently the object was there since original

construction. This discovery of the foreign object raised the issue of other possible voids in the concrete floor which could exacerbate corrosion of the drywell shell. NRC Information Notice 2004-09 identifies the consequences of similar concerns at other plants.

I personally participated along with BNE, NRC and Oyster Creek management and staff in daily briefings during the outage as these events unfolded. AmerGen prepared a detailed technical report discussing the ultrasonic thickness measurements and water intrusion finding as its bases justifying restart of Oyster Creek fiom the refueling outage. This technical report was finalized only a day or two prior to restart. The BNE has completed its review of the report and has concerns over the bases on which AmerGen concluded that the water inside the drywe11 would not result in corrosion of the concrete embedded portions of the drywell shell over the extended period of operation if license renewal is granted. BNE has decided to solicit the assistance of an outside expert in the field of corrosion to review AmerGens technical bases for this conclusion. DEP plans to bring the findings of this outside review to NRCs attention for consideration in license renewal.

Should you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me directly at (609) 633-7964 or Mr. Kent Tosch, Manager of the Bureau of Nuclear Engineering, at (609) 984-7701.

Sincerely yours, Jill Lipoti, Ph.D.

Director c: Graham B. Wallis, Chairman, ACRS Richard Lopriori, Exelon Samuel Collins, Regional Administrator, NRC Region 1 A. Randolf Blough, Director, Division of Reactor Safety, NRC Region 1 Richard Conte, Chief, Engineering Branch, NRC Region 1 Nancy MacNamara, State Liaison Officer