ML072670514
| ML072670514 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Waterford  |
| Issue date: | 06/17/2003 |
| From: | Cwalina G Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Marinos E Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| FOIA/PA-2007-0255 | |
| Download: ML072670514 (1) | |
Text
Evangelos Marinos - Other Caldon Issue Page 1 From:
Gregory Cwalina To:
Marinos, Evangelos Date:
Tue, Jun 17, 2003 9:13 AM
Subject:
Other Caldon Issue NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS SENSITIVE FROM NRC ALLEGATION FILES AND SHOULD BE TREATED ACCORDINGLY I looked through our allegation files for the other issue that was brought to our attention this morning.
Here's what I found.
The original issue related to the accuracy of Caldon's LEFM. The allegation was, "Caldon Corporation has supplied inaccurate leading edge flowmeters (LEFM) to several licensees which has resulted in the licensees operating approximately 2% above their licensed power level."
NRC inspected the allegation and found that, "although there is significant error inherent in the Caldon external clamp-on flow meter design, this information is known by the industry and the NRC has granted no power uprates on the basis of the accuracy of this instrument. However, because several plants use this instrument for power recovery, we confirmed that Caldon re-evaluated all the installations of this instrument, prompted by their findings in ER-262, and determined that all were operating within required parameters except one which was replaced with an installed spool piece type unit. Our further actions included the following: (1) consultation with the staff of the Hydrodynamics Laboratory at the National Institute of Science and Technology, (2) a visit to Alden Research Laboratory to obtain technical information and to observe plant-specific testing of a Caldon Check-Plus@ System ultrasonic flow meter, (3) a visit to the manufacturing facility that fabricates the Caldon spool pieces, and (4) an inspection at Caldon of engineering and quality assurance aspects of their activities."
Based on that the NRC went on to say, "On the basis of those actions and review of additional technical information obtained from Caldon, we have concluded that the Caldon multi-path chordal LEFM systems are, by their nature, not susceptible to the kind of error inherent in the diametrical-path Caldon clamp-on flow meter. We further determined that Caldon's testing and calibration methodology is a viable and in-plant validated process. During our review, we found no evidence that contradicted or raised additional questions regarding Caldon's engineering reports."
Some of the above concerns were derived from an INPO synopsis of a Waterford SER.
I hope that answers the concerns that were passed on to us. Feel free to paSs on the information, but please emphasize the sensitivity, since it is allegation related.
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