ML20054D018
| ML20054D018 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/28/1981 |
| From: | NRC |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20054D015 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-82-85 PR-811228, NUDOCS 8204220245 | |
| Download: ML20054D018 (1) | |
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NRC WILL INVESTIGATE CHARGES BY FIVE FORMER EMPLOYEES OF THE HAYWARD TYLER PUMP CO.
in Burlington,Vt. that the company may be manufacturing defective pumps for use in nuclear plants. The allega.
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tions were riised in a series of afTidavits to Rep. Edward Mukey (D Mass.), chairman of the House Interior Sub-committee on Oversight & Investigations. Markey urFed NRC to act immediately, saying he is " shocked that the NRC failed to turn up this evidence in previous probes of the plant."
^ Specifically, the five former employees have charged that documents were altered and inspections neglected, that ill fitting parts uere used and that employees were pressured to overlook defects. All five worked for Mayward Tyler between 1976, when the plant opened, and 1980.The plant employs 155 people and has sales of over $10-million per year.
Hayward Tyler, which is owned by Indian Head, Inc., has supplied pumps for Rancho Seco, Davis-Besse, Mill-stone 2 and Eree Mile Island.1 and -2. He group which raised the charges accused Hayward Tyler of building pumps with bent shafts and defective bearings, of failing to inspect the pumps and of making unauthorized changes in blueprints, parts and design. Both liayward Tyler and Indian Head spokesmen have called the accusations " utter-ly without merit."
' SEVERE' TUBE CORROSION AT TMI-1 IMPERILS RESTART PLANS
" Severe" corrosion and leakage of the steamgenerator tubes,of a variety unprecedented v/ith any other bcock & Wilcox design,has been detected at Three Mile Island.1, raising new questions abo'ut when NRC mig'ht allow a restart.
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jRC staff sources said they are in a quandary about what is causing the fast.deyeloping corrosio tube leakage there, although some have forecast that "if everything went perfectly 7the problem could be conected as quickly as within two months.
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With\\the discovery of the tube problems,Bil.1 joins a slew of other PWRs worldwide experiencing sim-ilar degradakn problems - whether precipitated by corrosion or mechanically induced -in their steam gen-erator systems \\De general problem haslong plagued the nuclear industry,but,as plants age,is becoming utilities,having plugged as many tubes as they cardhave been forced to consider sleeving pronounced. Man {hd some are even resorting to the costly fix of re;ilacing their steam generator degraded tubes. A As oflast weeknitrogen bubble tests at TMI.1 had disclosed that 44 tubes in the B steam generator
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and 86 tubes in the A steam generator have sprungleaks. And'the NRC staff suspicion is that further testing "will probably show mo}e degradation," said one staffer, who termed the overall problem " severe."
' ne corrosion is perplexing NRC and GPU Nucleaifor reasons including its speedy development,NRC staffers said. Tests performelin September on the plant showed normal pressure on the primary and second-aiy sides;hence, no leaking tub'es. On Nov. 21, the first primary to seconduy leak was identified in the B gene'rato'r," staffers said. ne exterhof degradatio'n is still unknown, staffers said, although one believes that eddy <urrent testing now under way at the reactor will gauge this. So far, this source said,in the course of eddy <urrent testing,"GPU isn't findingtoo many problems."
Still, the corrosion is a source o(concern to NRC because, the staffer said,"we don't know what's caus-ing it." NRC staff,he said,"expectsit is so'm,e kind of chemical attack,but we don't know what type of cor-rosion it is. Video testing,he said;has detected cracks running circumferentially through tube walls - with, At a Dec. 21 briefing,of TM1 l's status, Co\\
in one instance, a tube completely severed.
mmissioner John Ahearne speculated that the problem might be related to the reactor's two year shutdown.NRC s'taff sources said it's premature to rule out or aingle out any potential cause,but'some staffers wondered whether the problems might be related to hot-functional testing that was conducted on the reactor in August and September, the only recent significant activity the unit has experience'd.NRC staff expects to meet formally with GPU in mid.Januuy to discuss t'. results of current tests and to explure what could be done to correct the'p'roblem, said an NRC staffer.
ITug;;ing tubes is one possible fix, said the NRC staffer, who said that if 100 tubes were leaking,the law n
G-of averages would suggest that "perhaps 1,000 in each side" were d'egraded enough to call for plugging (out g
of some 15,000 tubes in each generator)." Theoretic 2Dy,we could plug up to 1,000 tubes on each side," the staffer said.De TMI generators are " oversized," rendering them compatible with such extensive plugging,he said.
m Nevertheless,he added,NRC has some concerns about plugging, related tA the still-undetermined configura-oQ tion of the tubes that will need repair."De staff would be concemed about'the adverse effects on the second-ny side from such massive plugging," said the staffer.
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GPU's timetable for getting the unit back into operation - a timetable NRC staffers characterize as y
" optimistic" even if the commission soon approves a restart - has final hot-functional testing slated for Jan.15 g
and criticality for Feb. 2. NRC staff has projected final hot functional testing in February, with criticality in March. H'owever, NRC staffers told commissioners that the steam generator problem was not factored into r.% x, -
9 fMRR N.R.@ - thember 2Q 1981
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