ML20003G677

Testimony on Behalf of Util on Doherty Contention 27 Re Reactor Pedestal.Prof Qualifications Encl

ML20003G677
Person / Time
Site:	Allens Creek File:Houston Lighting and Power Company icon.png
Issue date:	04/20/1981
From:	Simpadyan D EBASCO SERVICES, INC.
To:
Shared Package
ML20003G672	List: ML20003G671 ML20003G673 ML20003G674 ML20003G675 ML20003G676 ML20003G677 ML20003G678
References
NUDOCS 8104300483
Download: ML20003G677 (8)

Text

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. . 4-20-8 kN 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA goc 0 g

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2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [

S Sg\ nP BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARE )2% p-3 .

9 In the Matter of ) c, 4 01

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5 HOUSTON LIGHTING & POWER COMPANY) Docket No. 50-466

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6 (Aller s Creek Nuclear Generating)

Station, Unit No. 1) )

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g DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DIRAN T. SIMPADYAN ON BEHALF OF HOUSTON LIGHTING & POWER CO. ON DOHERTY CONTENTION 9 27 - REACTOR PEDESTAL 10 Q. Please state your name and occupation.

11 A. My name is Diran T. Simpadyan. My business address is 160 Chubb Avenue, Lyndhurst, New Jersey. I am the civil 12 13 engineer for the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) pedestal 14 design for Ebasco Services, Inc.

15 Q. Please describe your educational background, and pro-16 fessional qualifications.

17 A. A statement of my education and professional qualifica-18 tions is attached to this testimony as Exhibit DTS-1.

19 Q. What a the purpose of your testimony?

20" A. The purpose of this testimony is to address Doherty 21 Contention 27 which alleges that:

22 The pedestal concrete of ACNGS may be weakened by the heat from a power excursion accident (PEA) 23 or loss of coolant accident (LOCA) such that restart and operation of the reactor would endanger 24 Intervenor's health and safety through subsequent reactor movement due to the original thermal 25 damage to the pedestal.

26 Q. Briefly describe the purpose of the reactor pedestal.

27 A. The reactor pedestal is used to provide support for the 28 reactor vessel throughout normal plant operation and postulated 8104 s o n 4G

1 2 accident conditions. The reactor pedestal also provides 3 support for the reactor biological shield wall.

I 4 Q. What are the physical characteristics of the reactor 5 pedestal?

6 A. Thhreactorvesselpedestalwillconsistoftwocon-7 centric listeel cylinders having diameters of approximately 20 l

8 and 32 feet respectively. The annular space between the 9 cylinders will be filled with ordinary non-reinforced con-10 crete. ,This concrete will have a density of 140 pcf and 11 does no't have a load bearing function.

12 A' continuous steel plate ring will be provided at the 13 top of tne pedestal; the cylinders will be anchored to the 14 concrete mat at the bottom. The free standing RPV will be 15 anchored to the pedestal by bolting the RPV support skirt to 16 the to pedestal ring. The biological shield wall will also 17 be supported on the RPV pedestal. Vertical and horizontal 18 stiffeners will be provided throughout the height of the 19 pedestal for joining the two concentric steel cylinders.

20 All loads imposed on the pedestal will be resisted by the 21 pedestal steel structure, i.e., the two concentric steel l

22 cylinders and associated vertical and horizontal stiffeners.

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! 23 Heavy stiffeners will be installed at the large rectangular 24 openings necessary for control rod drive mechanism operation,

( 25 maintenance and removal.

26 The outline of the pedestal embedment details are shown 27 on ACNGS PSAR Figure 3.8-3. An outline of the pedestal 28 structure is shown on ACNGS PSAR Figure 3.8-5.

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1 Q. What loads are the reactor pedestal designed to with-2 3 stand?

4 A. The ACNGS reactor steel pedestal is designed to with-5 stand load and load combinations including heat resulting 6 from a design basis accident as specified in PSAR section 7

3.8.3.3.l(b) and 3.8.3.3.2(b) respectively.

g Q. Why is concrete used to fill the area between the two g concentric steel cylinders of the reactor pedestal?

10 A- The primary purpose of the steel pedestal is to support the reactor. The concrete of the reactor pedestal provides 11 no structural support for the reactor vessel. The fill 12 13 concrete is used to add mass to the pedestal in order to 14 obtain dynamic response of the structure within the frequency 15 envelope for which the reactor is designed. Concrete f.111 16 also provides additional shielding.

! 17 0 What would happen if the reactor pedestal concrete were 18 to crack?

i 19 A. All postulated loads will remain the same. No structural 20 support credit is taken for the presence of the concrete 21 filler material nor will cracking of the concrete create any I 22 safety hazards.

23 0 In his contention, Intervenor cites three events, one 24 which he states occurred at Dresden Units II and III; one at the SL-1 reactor and the third at TMI 2. Please comment 25 on the relevance of these three events to the ACNGS design.

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26 27 A. In his contention the Intervenor alleges that the 28 incidents at Dresden Units II and III in 1971 and the t

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1 2 government experimental reactor SL-1 in 1961 damaged the 3 reactor pedestals and that the ACNGS reactor pedestal could 4 be similarly damaged.

5 The Intervenor draws upon sources of information 6 identified in his contention. These sources include the

, 7 testimony of three GE engineers before the Joint Committee 8 on Atomic Energy in 1976 for the Dresden incident and an 9 article found in volume 1 of the Technology of Nuclear 10 Reactor Safety regarding SL-1. These sources of information 11 have been reviewed and show that these incidents are not 12 applicable to ACNGS.

13 The SL-1 incident involved a government stationary, 14 low power test reactor. The dissimilarities between the 15 support arrangement of this reactor and ACNGS make a 16 design comparison pointless. Furthermore.- the source of 17 information quoted by the Intervenor does n5t state that 18 damage occurred to the reactor support nor does it imply 19 that reactor support failure contributed in any way to the 20 accident. The testimony of the GE engineers regarding 21 Dresden Units II and III states that the station utilizes

! 22 a basic reinforced concrete pedestal. As previously discussed, I

23 ACNGS utilizes a steel pedestal. It should also be noted 24 that during, their testimony, the GE engineers only stated 25 that weakening of the Dresden pedestal " mar already have 26 occurred." Subsequent investigations, including those by 27 the NRC, have failed to support their allegations.

2S Regarding the accident at TMI 2 in 1979, Intervenor

1 2, has failed to identify a source of information. TMI 2 3l is a PWR and is supported by a reinforced concrete founda-4 tion. ACNGS is a BWR and utilizes a steel reactor pedestal 5 support arrangment. This steel reactor pedestal is of 6 a different design than the TMI 2 reactor support and as 7 previously stated, the ACNGS pedestal is designed to withstand 8 design basis accident conditions.

9 Q. What are your conclusions concerning this contention?

10 A. The ACNGS reactor pedestal is not a concrete strucure 11 as implied in the contention. Since the concrete fill has 12 no load bearing function, any postulated weakening of the 13 concrete is not relevant to the structural integrity of the 14 reactor pedestal.

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i 1 Exhibit DTS-1 2 EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS 3 DIRAN T. SIMPADYAN 4

SUMMARY

OF EXPERIENCE:(Since 1963) i 5 Total Experience - 13 years of Civil Engineering experience con-6 sisting of structural analysis and design of Fossil and Nuclear

, 7 Power Plants, highways and research in foundation engineering.

8 Major Field of Interest - Structural analysis and design of 9

electric generating stations with 10 special emphasis on heavy steel 11 structures. .

12 Education -

BSCE-University of Wyoming, 1968 13 MSCE-University of Wyoming, 1970 14 MBS-Farleigh Dickinson University, 1978 15 Advance Courses - Theory of Electricity .

16 Theory of Plates and Shells 17 Licensed - Registered Professional Engineer -

18 New York and New Jersey 19 EBASCO EXPERIENCE (Since 1974) 20 Civil Engineer (7 years)

, 21 Senior Civil Engineer responsible for the structural analysis 22 and design of PWR and BWR type nuclear power plants including 23 establishing design criteria, supervision of design and re-24 viewing drawings for the fuel handling building, turbine building 25 and reactor containrnnt structures such as the containment 26 vessel, reactor pedestal, biological shield wall, pipe restraint 27 structures and platforms; preparation and review of PSAR; pre-28 paration of responses to NRC questions. Responsibilities in the W

[

1 procurement area consist of preparation and review of specifica-2.tions, evaluation of bids and making recommendations for awarding i

3 contracts and change orders for the containment vessel, structural 4 steel, polar crane, fuel handling crane, pool liners, tanks and 5 special doors.

6 PRIOR EXPERIENCE (6 years) 7 Sanderson and Porter Inc. New York: Senior Design 8 Engineer 9 Responsible for checking the structural analysis, design 10 calculations and drawings for the turbine building, precipitators 11 and miscellaneous structures,. resolve interface problems and 12 details for additions to existing structures for the Milton R.

13 Young Station, Minnkota Power Company.

14 Foster Wheeling Corp., New Jersey: Senior Design 15 Engineer 16 Responsible for the structural analysis and design of boiler 17 supporting structures and associated components for power plants 18 including heavy steel framing, pipe hangers, flues and ducts, 19 preparation of framing plans, basis and connections. Repre-20 sentative projects include Central Illinois Public Service Co.,

21 Public Service of New Mexico and the power companies for Abono 22 and Puentes in Spain.

23 Frederic R. Harris Inc., New Jersey: Civil Engineer 1 24 Responsible for the design of retaining walls and founda-25 tions for highway bridges including drainage facilities and 26 construction scheduling for the extension of the Garden State 27 Parkway.

28 Hardesty & Hanover, New York: Engineer l

1 Responsible for the preliminary design of a vertical lift 2 bridge by the orthotropic deck, steel plate deck and composite 3 design methods including the tower structures and preparation 4 of the cost comparison.

Research Assistant 5 University of wyoming, CE Department:

6 Engaged in experimental research related to the stress .

7 distribution under footings.

g Brown Engineers, New Jersey: Engineer g Engaged in design and layout of highways.

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