ML19261E293

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Forwards IE Info Notice 79-17, Source Holder Assembly Damage from Misfit Between Assembly & Reactor Upper Grid Plate. No Action Required
ML19261E293
Person / Time
Site: Comanche Peak  Luminant icon.png
Issue date: 06/20/1979
From: Seyfrit K
NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To: Gary R
TEXAS UTILITIES ELECTRIC CO. (TU ELECTRIC)
References
NUDOCS 7907050517
Download: ML19261E293 (1)


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UNITED STATES

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AR LINGToN, TE X AS 76012 June 20, 1979 In Reply Refer To:

RIV Docket Nos.

50-445/IE Information Notice No. 79-17 50-446/IE Information Notice No. 79-17 Texas U*ilities Generating Company ATTN:

Mr. R. J. Gary, Executive Vice President and General Manager 2001 Bryan Tower Dallas, Texas.,75201 Gentlemen:

This IE Information Notice is prv fided as an early notification of a possibly significant matter.

It is expected that recipients will review the informa-tion for possible applicability to their facilities.

No specific action or response is requested at this time.

If further NRC evaluations so indicate, an IE Circular or Bulletin will be issued to recoumend or request specific licensee actions.

If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact the Director of the appropriate NRC Regional Office.

Sincerely, 7

.f, W

L r1 V. Sey"frit' '

Director

Enclosures:

1.

IE Information Notice No. 79-17 2.

List of IE Information Notices Issued in 1979

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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFTCE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C.

20555 IE Info,rmation Notice No. 79-17 Date: June 20, 1979 Page 1 of 2 SOURCE HOLDER ASSEMBLY DAMAGE FROM MISFIT BETWEEN ASSEMBLY AND REACTOR UPPER GRID PLATE Description of Ciccumstances:

Recently, the NRC was informed of a problem at two Westinghouse PWR facilities resulting from an apparent misfit between secondary source holder assemblies and the reactor upper grid plate.

The misfit problem was first identified by Carolina Power & Light, licensee for H. B. Robinson Unit 2, who informed the NRC on May 6, 1979, of the circum-stances. During the current refueling outage at H. B. Robinson 2, CP&L deter-mined that two secondary source holder assemblies had been damaged during the previous refueling in February 1978, by a misfit between the assembly and the reactor upper grid plate. The misfit resulted from insufficient clearance (i.e. 1/2 to 3/4 inch) between the source holder assembly hub and the grid plate at the core locations containing thermocouple mixing vanes. This lack of sufficient clearance caused minor deformation of the upper grid plate compoucats at the core location and of the source holder assemblies. The deformation also resulted in some bending of the fuel rods in the assembly, however, in no case did this bending result in fuel cladding perforation.

On May 16, 1979, the licensee of D. C. Cook Unit 1 informed the NRC that the present refueling outage would be extended 15 to 20 days to remove tLe reactor head, which had already been reinstalled following completion of refueling, to correct this misfit problem. They learned of the problem from Westinghouse.

Subsequently, the licensee's inspection revealed that the source holder assembly hubs were in contact with the vanes.

The source holder was removed from one assembly readily with nr apparent damage, while in the other, the source holder was found stuck in the assembly.

The problem was corrected prior to return to operations.

The secondary source assembly rods are normally inserted into rod cluster control assemblies and placed at symmetrical locations in the core.

Each such assembly contains a symmetrical grouping of four secondary source rods and between zero and twenty burnable poison rods.

Locations in the assembly not filled with a source or burnable poison rod contain a tl 1

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DUPLICATE DOCUMENT locations which contain thermocouple mixir Entire document previously entered into system under:

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