ML100330043
| ML100330043 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/04/2010 |
| From: | Spivack I F NRC/NRR/DLR/RPOB |
| To: | Nuclear Energy Institute |
| Spivack I F, DLR/RPOB, 415-2564 | |
| References | |
| NUREG-1800 | |
| Download: ML100330043 (11) | |
Text
February 4, 2010
ORGANIZATION: Nuclear Energy Institute
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE LICENSE RENEWAL MEETING BETWEEN THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF AND THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE REGARDING GENERIC AGING LESSONS LEARNED REPORT AND NUREG-1800, "STANDARD REVIEW PLAN FOR REVIEW OF LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATIONS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS" The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff (NRC or the staff) and representatives of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) met on January 4-7, 2010, in a Category 2 public meeting, to discuss draft license renewal guidance document material prepared by the NRC staff. Enclosures to this letter are: (1) list and affiliation of meeting participants, (2) meeting agenda, and (3) a summary of information requested by the NRC regarding small-bore piping socket weld failures. A summary of the meeting's discussions follows.
- 1. Draft License Renewal Guidance Documents Prepared by the NRC Staff
- a. In advance of the public meeting, the NRC staff made portions of the draft Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report revision (NUREG-1801, Revision 2) publicly available.
The material was posted on the NRC public web-site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/guidance/updated-guidance.html
- b. The draft material prepared by the staff was discussed during the multi-day meeting between the NRC and NEI. The NEI participants provided numerous verbal comments and suggested changes for NRC staff consideration. The staff agreed to consider the suggested changes, but did not promise that any particular change would be incorporated.
- c. The staff discussed the topic of buried piping at length. The staff acknowledged the industry initiative on buried piping and that the draft NUREG-1801, Revision 2, Aging Management Programs in this area will be influenced by ongoing interactions between the staff and external stakeholders.
- d. The topic of inspector qualifications to perform visual inspections of mechanical items was discussed. The draft material prepared by the staff typically mentioned American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) type qualifications. NEI comments were made that inspectors of mechanical items are qualified in a variety of ways depending upon the plant licensing bases, the types of inspections being performed, and availability of non-ASME standards organization qualifications. The staff acknowledged the industry comments and indicated the draft material would be re-examined in light of the industry feedback.
- 2. Staff Request for Information Pertaining to Small-Bore Piping Socket Weld Cracking During the meeting, the staff discussed aspects of a telephone conference call held with NEI on December 4, 2009. The NRC staff requested that NEI evaluate aging management aspects associated with operating experience of small-bore piping socket welds failing by stress corrosion cracking, thermal fatigue, and high cycle fatigue. The staff requested that NEI provide information in response to the topics identified in Enclosure 3 of this meeting summary. The staff and NEI discussed several aspects regarding the socket weld failures including: (1) the fact that some socket weld failures do not have full root cause evaluations, (2) no qualified examination techniques exists for socket welds, (3) staff belief that potential GALL revisions will depend on the types and number of socket-weld failures that are age-related, and (4) handling of related requests for additional information for plants currently undergoing license renewal reviews.
NEI indicated that it would take about one month to gather the information in response to the staff request and that they planned on submitting a letter in mid-February. The staff and NEI will either arrange a follow-up telephone conference call or will discuss the topic again at the next quarterly NEI - Division of License Renewal meeting (February 24, 2010).
- 3. Follow-On Activities For the License Renewal Guidance Documents Update NEI indicated that some additional information will be provided to the staff in January and February 2010. NEI and the staff agreed to meet during the upcoming NEI - Division of License Renewal quarterly meeting (February 24, 2010) to discuss further the draft GALL update material.
The staff plans to issue the draft updates for the GALL Report and "Standard Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants" for a 45-day formal public comment period in late-March 2010. A public workshop to discuss the draft updates is planned for mid-April 2010. Following receipt and resolution of public comments on the draft updates, the staff will prepare the final revisions of the license renewal guidance documents for planned issuance in December 2010.
- 4. Public Participation No member of the public provided comments or asked questions at the meeting.
/RA by Linda Yee for/
Ian F. Spivack, Mechanical Engineer Program Operations Branch Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosures:
As stated cc w/encls: See next page
ML100330043 OFFICE ME:RPOB:DLR LA:RPOB:DLR SME:RARB:DLR BC:RARB:DLR NAME ISpivack (LYee for) YEdmonds RGramm JDozier DATE 02/04/10 02/03/10 02/03/10 02/ /10 OFFICE BC:RPOB:DLR ME:RPOB:DLR NAME DVotolato ISpivack (Signature) (LYee for) DATE 02/03/10 02/04/10 ENCLOSURE 1 Participant List License Renewal Meeting Between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute January 4-7, 2010
Participant Affiliation Jerry Dozier U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) David Stroup NRC Bruce Lin NRC Amy Hull NRC Abdul Sheikh NRC Barry Elliot NRC Bart Fu NRC Bob Gramm NRC Brian Holian NRC Cliff Doutt NRC Duc Nguyen NRC Hans Ashar NRC Lee Banic NRC Rachel Vaucher NRC Raj Auluck NRC Rui Li NRC Samson Lee NRC Seung Min NRC Dave Alley NRC Matt Yoder NRC Albert Wong NRC Emma Wong NRC Keith Hoffman NRC Dave Pelton NRC Bob Hardies NRC Keith Hoffman NRC Jerome Bettle NRC Ted Ivy Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
Alan Cox NEI Anthony Ploplis NEI Chris Mallner NEI David Clohecy NEI Eric Blocker NEI Gene Kelly NEI Jake Lefman NEI Julie Keys NEI Ky Nguyen NEI Michael Heath NEI Mike Fallon NEI Phillipe Soenen NEI Participant Affiliation Rick Cliche NEI Sharon Merciel NEI William Holston NEI Kathryn Sutton Morgan Lewis Bob Jackson Advanced Technology and Laboratories (ATL) Erach Patel ATL Jim Davis ATL Katy Makeig ATL Roland Royal ATL
ENCLOSURE 2 Tentative Agenda U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) - Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Meeting Generic Aging Lessons Learned Update (GALL) - Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS) Topics January 4, 2010
9:00 am - 9:30 am Introductions, logistics, NRC overview of draft revision
9:30 am - 9:40 am Standard Review Plan (SRP) Appendix A1 9:40 am - 9:45 am Use of American Society of Mechanical Engineers code (Chapter 1) 9:45 am - 10:00 am In-service Inspection (M1)
10:00 am - 10:15 am Class 1 small bore (M35) (Additional discussions about small bore on the morning of January 6, 2010) 10:15 am - 11:00 am Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Aging Management Programs (AMPs) (M4, M5, M6, M7, M8) 11:00 am - 11:15 am Break 11:15 am - 12:15 pm BWR AMPs - continued (M4, M5, M6, M7, M8)
12:15 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm General (M31, X.M1, SRP 4.3, M2, M3, M12, SRP 4.2)
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm Pressured Water Reactor (M10, M19, M37) 3:15 pm- 4:00pm Open time for NEI NSSS comments Tentative Agenda NRC - NEI Meeting GALL Update - Balance Of Plant (BOP) Topics January 5, 2010
9:00 am - 9:15 am Introductions, logistics 9:15 am - 10:00 am Buried piping (M28, M34) 10:00 am - 11:00 am Miscellaneous (M17, M18, M22, M30, M39) 11:00 am - 11:15 am Break 11:15 am- 11:35 am Fire Protection (M26, M27)
11:35 am - 12:15 pm Open-cycle and treated water (M20, M21A) 12:15 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm Miscellaneous (M23, M24, M25, M29) 1:45 pm - 2:30 pm One-time and selective leaching (M32, M33) 2:30 pm - 3:15 pm Internal and external surfaces (M36, M38) 3:15 pm - 4:00 pm Open time for NEI BOP comments
Tentative Agenda NRC - NEI Meeting GALL Update - Mechanical Carryover Topics January 6, 2010
9:00 am - 9:15 am Introductions, logistics
9:15 am - 12:00 pm Small-bore piping (including M35), SRP A1, other carryover topics from prior days Tentative Agenda NRC - NEI Meeting GALL Update - Structural Topics January 6, 2010 1:00 pm - 1:05 pm Introductions, logistics 1:05 pm - 1:20 pm Protective coatings (S8) 1:20 pm - 1:35 pm Appendix J (S4)
1:35 pm - 3:30 pm Structural topics (SRP 4.6, S1, S2, S3, S5, S6, S7, SRP 4.5) 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Open time for NEI structural comments Tentative Agenda NRC - NEI Meeting GALL Update - Electrical Topics January 7, 2010 9:00 am - 9:15 am Introductions, logistics 9:15 am -11:30am Electrical (SRP 3.6 and SRP 4.4, X.E1, E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6)
11:30 am - 12:00pm Open time for NEI electrical comments
ENCLOSURE 3 Additional Material Provided to Nuclear Energy Institute Follow up Discussion Subjects - Generic Aging Lessons Learned Update Working Level Meeting January 6, 2010 Topic: Small - Bore Socket Weld Cracking During a telephone conference call on Friday, December 4, 2009, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff requested that Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) evaluate aging management based on operating experience of socket welds failed by stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and thermal fatigue. In addition, NEI and the applicants stated that failure by high cycle mechanical fatigue should not be considered as an aging effect for license renewal due to the short period of time for failure. After the call, the staff concluded that this position requires substantiation.
In order to exclude SCC, thermal-mechanical fatigue and high cycle mechanical fatigue in socket welds as an aging effect that requires aging management during the period of extended operation, we need to know the following information:
- 1. For each socket weld discussed by NEI and the staff at the December 4, 2009 meeting identify:
(a) the root cause of the failure (e.g., low cycle fatigue, high cycle vibratory fatigue, intergranular stress corrosion cracking, or other aging mechanism) and basis for the finding, including any design, operational and/or fabrication deficiencies, (b) the period of time between the design and/or reconfiguration of the system containing the socket weld and the failure of the socket weld, (c) the repairs and any changes made to remediate the conditions that led to the failure, (d) any recurrence of failure at that location, including the local operating history and the length of time it took for the recurrence, and (e) tests and/or examinations that have been performed on the repaired socket welds to ensure that the revised design changes do not result in the same failure mode.
- 2. Based on an evaluation of the information from Item 1, provide the basis for concluding that high cycle mechanical fatigue or any other root cause (Item 1(a)) should not be considered an applicable aging effect.
- 3. If Item 2 concludes that socket welds are subject to any applicable aging effects, provide an aging management program (consistent with the 10 elements described in Section A.1.2.3 of NUREG-1800, "Standard Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants," Revision 1) that utilizes tests and examinations to mitigate, prevent, and/or monitor the condition or performance of socket welds.
Nuclear Energy Institute cc: Ms. Christine S. Salembier, Commissioner State Liaison Officer Department of Public Service 112 State Street, Drawer 20 Montipelier, VT 05620-2601 Mr. Albert Fulvio Manager License Renewal Exelon Corporation 200 Exelon Way Kennett Square, PA 19348 Mr. Clifford I. Custer Project Manager, License Renewal FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 4 Route 168 (Mail Stop SIM-2) Shippingport, PA 15077
Mr. Paul Gunter, Director Reactor Watchdog Project Nuclear Information & Resource Service 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340 Takoma Park, MD 20912
Mr. Hugh Jackson Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003 Mr. Chalmer Myer 40 Inverness Center Parkway Post Office Box 1295 Birmingham, AL 35201 Ms. Mary Olson Nuclear Information & Resource Service Southeast Office P.O. Box 7586 Asheville, NC 28802
Mr. Garry G. Young Manager, License Renewal Services 1448 SR 333, N-GSB-45 Russellville, AR 72802 Ms. Lorrie Bell, Project Manager Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation P.O. Box 411 Burlington, KS 66839 Mr. Roger Stewart Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc. 3581 West Entrance Road RNP A9 Hartsville, SC 29550 Mr. Michael H. Crowthers, Supervisor Nuclear Regulatory Affairs PPL Susquehanna, LLC Two North Ninth Street (GENPL4) Allentown, PA 18101-1179 Mr. Michael A. Balduzzi Sr. Vice President & COO Regional Operations, NE Entergy Nuclear Operations 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601
Ms. Julie Keys Senior Project Manager - Engineering Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I Street, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006-3708