ML19274G220
| ML19274G220 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/05/1979 |
| From: | Hanauer S Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Sorenson J ATOMIC INDUSTRIAL FORUM |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19274G221 | List: |
| References | |
| REF-GTECI-A-09, REF-GTECI-IS, TASK-A-09, TASK-A-9, TASK-OR NUDOCS 7908300445 | |
| Download: ML19274G220 (3) | |
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UNITED STATES 8
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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.E WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
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VI. 5 1979 Mr. J. Sorenson, Chairman Subcomi' tee on ATWS Atomic Industrial Forum Westingiouse Electric Corp.
P.O. Box 968 Richland, Washington 99352
Dear Mr. Sorenson:
The purpose of this letter is to confirm information transmitted to you recently by telephone regarding the approach that the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation intends to follow in order to resolve the " Anticipated Transients Without Scram" Safety Issue as expeditiously as possible.
Additionally, it is our hope that this letter will serve as a communication channel to the Nuclear Utilities, through your organization to inform them of our proposed action to resolve this important safety issue.
As you are aware, because of the heavy expenditure of NRC resources required for Three Mile Island related activities, essentially no staff effort has been applied to the ATWS issue for the last 3 months or so. We believe that, while some work has been done, there has also been some reduction in effort on the part of the industry during this period.
As you will recall, priJr to the Three Mile Island 2 accident, the NRR staff had begun to irlplement the resolution of ATWS in accordance with the recomenda-tions in Vol. 3 of NUREG-0460. This approach was concurred with by the Regulatory Requirements Review Comittee at its 81st meeting January 2, 1979. The report contains the recomendation that prior to the Comission's consideration of a proposed ATWS regulation, certain "early verification" ger.eric safety analyses be performed to confirm that the proposed modifcations for various. classes of reactor designs would in fact accomplish the degree of ATWS prevention and mitigation described by the staff in the report.
Consistent with this recomendation, by letter dated February 15, 1979 from Roger J. Mattson to each of the N5SS vendors,.a list of required generic analysis infonnation was transmitted to each vendor. Subsequently, meetings were held separately with represen:atives of each of the vendors and a speci"ic schedule was agreed to for submittal of at least some of the requested information.
One approach to resolving ATWS, and certainly the most expeditious one, would be to continue with the generic analysis verification procedure as started and agreed to before the Three Mile Island 2 accident.
203!
075 790830095
JUL 5 E79 Mr. J. Sorenson,,
However, bas.d on a prelimirary review, we have concluded that for Pressurized Water Reactors, the Three Mile Island 2 accident scenario raises new questions with regard to the appropriateness and adequacy of the proposed resolution of the ATWS issue for such plants.
It is our feeling that perhaps similar concerns exist within the nuclear industry.
For Boiling Water Reactor plants, it is our belief that the impact of Three Mile Island on the evaluation of ATWS events is minimal.
It is our understanding that the early verification ger.aric analysis information for BWRs will be submitted essentially in accordance with the schedule established before the Three Mile Island accident. We intend to complete the. review of this information on an expedited basis with the objective of arriving at a proposed rule which will contain general NRC requirements for plant modifica-tions for various classes of BWR plants. It is our intent that for the BWRs, our revised schedule will be made as expeditious as possible leading to a proposal to the Commission for rulemaking in The next few months.
Before proceeding further with the resolution of AWS for PWRs as recomended by Vol. 3 of NUREG-0460, we are proposing that a technical meeting be held between the NRR staff and the PWR segment of tne nuclear utilities / industry in order to have a mutual exchange of ideas regarding the impact of the Three Mile Island 2 accident on the evaluatior. and resolution of ATWS.
In accordance with our discussions, we have schedJ1ed such a meeting in Bethesda, Maryland, Room P-ll4 for July 25, 1979. We propose that this meeting be strictly technical in nature, directed specifically at considerations arising from the Three Mile Island accident that would appear to be relevant for evaluating generically the consequences of an ATWS event, including placing the plant in a cold shutdown condition. We have attached to this letter a copy of the meeting notice and a proposed agenda.
We would suggest that your organization coordinate representative utility participation, tearing in mind the purpose of the meeting is to have a meaningful interchange of technical ideas. We are also sending copies of this. letter to the NSSS vendors who, we feel, especially in the case of the PWR vendors, should be represented to make their technical views known.
As a further point of clarification, as you are probably aware, the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation will be functioning with an interim organiza-tion for the next 6 months or so. The responsibility for the review of ATWS will fall within the scope of the Unresolved Safety Issues Program group within that office during the interim organization period. As the Director of that Program, I have temporarily assigned the project ranagement aspects of the ATWS issue to Mr. Frank C. Cherny until Mr. A. Thadara completes a TMI follow on assignment. Mr. Cherny can be reached by phone on (301) 492-7538.
Sincerely, 2031 076 i
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/S.
. Hanauer, Director V
Unresolved Safety Issues Program Cffice of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
JUL 5 1979 cc w/att:
J. H. Taylor, Manager Licensing Babcock & Wilcox P.O. Box 1260 Lynchburg, Va. 24505 A. E. Scherer Licensing Manager Combustion Engineering, Inc.
1000 Prospect Hill Road Windsor, Connecticut 06095 R. Steitler Westinghouse Electric Corp.
P.O. Box 355 Pittsburgh, Pa.
15230 Glenn G. Sherwood, Manager Safety & Licensing Operation General Electric Co.
175 Curtner Ave.
San Jose, CA. 91525 bec w/att:
K. Parczewski H. Vander Molen M. Srinivasan M. Tokar F. Akstulewicz T. Su L. Ruth S. Hosford W. Regan J. Youngblood L. Soffer 2Q ()/ / F. Cherny A. Thadani M. Aycock T. Novak R. Tedesco R. Mattson K. Kniel T. Speis R. Denise P. Check D. Eisenhut B. Grimes J. Knight R. Bosnak ACRS (21) (H-1016) D. Muller F.'Schroeder J. Norberg E. Jakel PDR}}