ML20030B489
| ML20030B489 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Wolf Creek, Cooper, Arkansas Nuclear, River Bend, Waterford, South Texas, Comanche Peak, Fort Calhoun, Fort Saint Vrain  |
| Issue date: | 08/04/1981 |
| From: | Seyfrit K NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV) |
| To: | ARKANSAS POWER & LIGHT CO., GULF STATES UTILITIES CO., HOUSTON LIGHTING & POWER CO., KANSAS GAS & ELECTRIC CO., LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT CO., NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT, OMAHA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT, PUBLIC SERVICE CO. OF COLORADO, TEXAS UTILITIES ELECTRIC CO. (TU ELECTRIC) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8108180187 | |
| Download: ML20030B489 (2) | |
Text
/ge* **4, UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION IV j
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j ARLINGTON, TEX AS 76011
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Gentlemeni~
4 c) I ho The enclosed IE Information Notice is provided as a notification of a possibly significant matter.
It is expected that recipients will review the information for possible applicability to their facility.
No specific action or respon.se is requested at this time.
If further NRC evaluations so t
indicate, an IE Circular or Bulletin will be issued to recommend or request specific licensee actions.
If you have questions regarding this matter please contact this office.
Sincerely, i!
KarlV.Seyfrit/
Director
Enclosures:
1.
IE Information Notice No. 81-23 2.
List of Recently Issued IE Information Notices
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L. C. Lessor, Superintendent Cooper Nuclear Station Post Office Box 98 Brownville, Nebraska 68321 ht,,h(K kd s
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i 8108180187 810804 PDR ADOCK 05000267 0
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6835 Accession No.:
51033C403 61.p33M443 IN 81-23 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C.
20555 IE Information Notice No. 81-23 August 4, 1981 Page 1 of 2 FUEL ASSEMBLY DAMAGED DUE TO IMPROPER POSITIONING OF HANDLING EQUIPMENT Description of Circumstances:
On June 19, 1981, a spent fuel assembly at the D. C. Cook Unit 1 facility was damaged while being transferred in the refueling cavity when the lower end of the assembly struck a ledge outside of the reactor vessel.
During lifting of the fuel assembly from the core, the two air lines and the electric cable serving the gripper tangled and caught the gripper-tube-up position switch, closing it before the gripper tube and attached fuel assembly were in the full-up position inside the cannister.
Closing the switch cleared the inter-lock and allowed lateral movement of the manipulator crane.
The lower end of the fuel assembly protruded below the cannister and it struck the ledge on the refueling cavity floor just outside the reactor vessel area.
Several rods in the fuel assembly were damaged, and one rod was dislodged and fell from the assembly onto the refueling cavity floor.
No release occurred as a result of the damaged rods, even though the dislodged rod was severely bent.
- However, considerable time was lost due to efforts to recover the dislodged rod and to move the damaged fuel assembly out of the refueling cavity.
Discussions with refueling personnel indicate that tangling of the air lines and electric cable i
is not an uncommon occurrence.
For example, manipulator crane operators fre-quently must shake the gripper tube lines and cables to obtain a signal that the gripper has correctly engaged the fuel assembly.
Stearns Roger, manufacturer of the manipulator crane, has previously proposed modifications to improve the cranes, especially the earlier models.
One of these modifications was the addition of the Z-axis tape that provides positive indication of the vertical position of the gripper tube assembly (and thus the fuel assembly).
The D. C. Cook manipulator cranes have the Z-axis tapes, but the operator (s) involved in the subject event apparently did not check the tape to verify the position of the assembly before initiating lateral movement.
The licensee has revised the fuel handling procedure to require the mani-pulator crane operators to check the Z-axis tape in addition to the limit lights to verify the fuel assembly is in the full-up position before the crane is moved.
(It has always been required-by D. C. Cook procedures to
IN 81-23 August'4, 1981 Page 2 of 2 utilize the tape to verify that the fuel assembly is in the full-dewn position before the gripper is disengaged.)
A related event involving improper vertical positioning of the gripper tube assembly occurred at the Point Beach Unit 2 facility during the April-May 1981 refueling outage.
The gripper fingers were extended in the latch position underneath the leaf spring of the fuel assembly rather than under the top plate of the top nozzle.
Again, the problem could have been avoided by checking the Z-axis tape.
All licensees and construction permit holders, particularly those with similar manipulator cranes, may wish to make equipment modifications to reduce the potential for this type of event.
In aedition, operating procedures shoulo be reviewed to assure that all available indications are fully utilized (i.e.,
the Z-axis tapes, visual observation of the air lines and electrical cables, underwater visual observation using binoculars of movement of the fuel assemblies) to prevent this type of occurrence.
This Information Notice is provided as a notification of a possible generic problem.
It is expected that recipients will review the information for possible applicability to their facility.
It is also expectad that copies of this Information Notice will be provided to personnel involved in fuel handling operations.
No special action or response is requested at this time.
If you have any questions regarding this matter. please contact the director of the appropriate NRC Regional Office.
-n-
IE Information Notice No. 81-21 August 4, 1981 LISTING 0F RECENTLY ISSUED IE INFORMATION NOTICES Information Subject Date Issued To Notice No.
Isst ed 81-15 Degradation of Automatic 4/22/81 All power reactor ECCS Actuation Capability facilities with an by Isolation of Instrumen*
Operating License (0L)
Lines or Construction Permit (CP) 81-16 Control Rod Drive System 4/23/81 All power reactor Malfunctions facilities with an Operating License (0L) or Construction Permit (CP) 81-18 Excessive Radiation 6/23/81 Specifica licensees Exposures to the Fingers of holding byproduct Three Individuals Incurred licenses During Cleaning and Wipe Testing of Radioactive Sealed Sources at a Sealed-Source Manufacturing Facility 81-19 Lost Parts in Primary 7/6/81 All power reactor Coolant System facilities with an Operating License (0L) or Construction Permit (CP) 81-20 Test Failures of Electrical 7/13/81 Ali power reactor Penetration Assemblies facilities with an Operating License (OL) or Construction Permit (CP) 81-21 PotenLial Loss of Direct 7/21/81 All power reactor Access to Ultimate Heat holding an Operating Sink License (OL) or Construction Permit (CP) 81-22 Section 235 and 236 7/31/81 All power research reactor, Amendments to the fuel fabrication and repro-Atomic Energy Act cessing, and. spent fuel of 1954 storage licensees and applicants Enclosure
6 IE INFORMATION NOTICE 81-23 WAS SENT TO THE FOLLOWING LICENSEES:
l Licensee Facility / Docket Number Arkansas Power and Light Conpany Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1 & 2 Little Rock, Arkansas 50-313; 50-368 Nebraska Public Power District Cooper Nuclear Station Columbus, Nebraska 50-298 Onaha Public Power District Fort Calhoun Station Omaha, Nebraska 50-285 Public Service Company of Colorado Fort St. Vrain Generating Station Denver, Colorado 50-267 i
Gulf States Utilities River Bend Beaumont, Texas 50-458; 50-459 Houston Lighting & Power Company South Texas Project Houston, Texas 50-498; 50-499 Kansas Gas & Electric Company Wolf Creek Wichita, Kansas STN 50-482 Louisiana Power & Light Company Waterford-3 New Orleans, Louisiana 50-382 Texas Utilities Generating Company Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station
~ Dallas, Texas 50-445; 50-446 l
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