ML20064D666

Testimony of Wl Fleisher Re Contention 2.2(a).Problems of Using Brackish Water Inside Containment Bldg,Alternative Cooling Sys & Relative Risks of Using Brackish Water Vs Alternatives Discussed

ML20064D666
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	12/30/1982
From:	Fleisher W WEST BRANCH CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
To:
References
ISSUANCES-SP, NUDOCS 8301040716
Download: ML20064D666 (14)

Text

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -

nut

• AR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING ^~

' Administrative Judges:

James Gleason, Chairg3n p -3 bN Dr. Oscar H. Paris In the Matter of Frederick 3. Snon -

CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK Docket Nos. 50-247-SP (Indian Point, Uni: 2)

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50-236-SP POWER AUTHORITY OF THE STATECF NEW YORK (Indian Point, Uni: 3) December 30, 1982 WEST BRANCH CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION TESTIMONY OF _

WALTER L. ELEISHER

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CONTENTION 2.2(a) ,

for West Branch Conservation Association ,.

443 Buena Vista Road S 14' # ,' ' - #' . ,

1:ew Ci ty , !!.Y.

914/634-2327 by Zipporah S. Fleisher ,

M 8301040716 821230 - -

'N PDR ADOCK 05000247 T PDR - '

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.0 WALTER L. FLEISE1ER .

1 Q. Please give your name and address.

2 A. Walter L. Fleisher, I reside at 443 Buena Vista Road, 3 New City, N.Y. 10956.

4 Q. For whom are you appearing? .

5 A. I am appearing as a witness for the West Branch Con-6 servation Association, New City, N. .

7 Q. What-is the scope "of your testimony?

8 A. My testimony will cover some problems of using brack-9 ish water inside the containment building, alterna-10 tive cooling systems and discussion of the relative l

11 risks of using brackish water versus alternatives.

12 Q. Please list your work experience related to your 13 testimony.

14 A. I append a two page exhibit entitled " Appendix A 15 Walter L. Fleisher'Resund dated March, 1982."

16 Q. Is there anything you wish to add to the resum5?

17 A. Yes, the resum6 is general. I would like to stress l .

18 my extensive involvement with the design, construc-19 tion and rehabilitation of fluid piping and air 20 handling systems in which corrosion has been a con-21 tinuing problem over a period of 40 plus years. I 22 will elaborate on this subject later on.

23 Q. Do you have any other comments on your resum6?

24 A. Yes. In testifying in previous cases my lack of a 25 college degeree has been raised on cross examina-l

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WALTER L. FLEISHER .

1 tion. While I do not have a degree I completed 164 2 credit hours including all- required courses with the 3 exception of completing a thesis. To my knowledge 4 Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn was the only college 5 in the U.S.A. requiring a thesis for a bachelor's de-6 gree. The equipment I was using for my thesis broke 7

down; it was the year 1938, the depression era. I was 8 offered a job and took it. The question of a degree 9

was never raised until I started testifying in pro-10 ceedings before the New York S_t, ate Public Service Com-11 mission only eight years ago.

12 Q. Do you have a professional engineering licen,se?

13 A. No. The P.E. license went the way of my thesis. One 14 could not be eligible for the exam until after four 15 years of experienc'e. I was transf, erred to Atlanta, Ga.

16 in 1940 and did not return to New York state until 17 1946. The P.E. license was never a need in the pro-18 fessional work that I performed and th,e question was never raised until I began testifying. I find the 19 20 question particularly odious because the P.E. license 21 is not a =easure of ability but stric'tly a license e-

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l 22 quired to sell certain types of engineering services.

I 23 In all the projects mentioned in =y resume and 24 in essentially every project I worked on water or 25 water solutions conveyed in piping systems. Many"of 26 these systems had corrosion problems, which, due to

WALTER L. FLEISHER -

1 the structure of the construction indu'try, s ended up 2 in the mechanic'al contractor's lap to-diagnose, and in 3 many cases, to cure.

4 Over the years one accumulates a tremendous 5 amount of empirical data that is not available from any G othersource.Th$empiricaldataisreducedtoasetof 7 mental rules that are used in selecting materials of 8 construction and in designing systems to avoid problems 9 of corrosion, air binding, noise, vibration and many 10 other problems. -.

l 11 My various encounters with systems handling brack-12 ish water have made me very conscious of its-nasty pro-13 perties. Of'which my earliest recollection dates to 14 1934 - a project for the Beechnut Packing Company in the 15 Bush Terminal building in Brooklyn. The project included 16 the installation of three centrifugal water vapor re-17 frigeration machines. The condensers were provided with 18 Brooklyn well water, which, due to overpumping, was brack-19 ish. The condenser tubes lasted six months.

20 A job for Schaefer Brewing Company at Kent A~enue, v 21 Brooklyn, replacing a stainless steel river water line ,

22 that perforated in less than a year. Work at Indian Point's 23 former neighbor, Standard Brands' river water cooling sys-24 tem, and, six years experience at Columbia University's 25 Nevis Laboratory at Irvington, N.I.,withitspribary l

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WALTER L. FLEISHER ,

1 water cooling system using the Hudson River, and the 2 secondary high purity system used to sool the cyclotron 3 components and the primary.:and.. secondary beam line. mag-4 nets. ,

S Q. What is your knowledge and position on the direct use 6 brackish Hudson Eiver water for the~ cooling of the con-l 7 tainment building?~

8 A. Besides readin numerous articles in the newspapers des-9 cribing the leaks, and ultimately the flooding of the i 10 reactor vessel at Indian Point _.#2, I was requested to, 11 and appeared as a witness for WESPAC in the proceeding 12 before the New York State Public Service Commission, 13 Case #27869, consolidated Edison Company Indian Point 14 #2 Outage.

15 In preparation for my testimony I made an inspec-l 16 tion of the plant and viewed the components removed from 17 service, and the installation of replacement coils, 18 headers and portions of the mains. ,

19 I read various reports by the NRC and the Direc-20 tor's Decision. There is no need to rehash the events.

21 Certain things appear clear: ,

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l 22 1. Indian Point #2 was built by Westinghouse on a l

23 " turnkey" basis.

24 2. Indian Point #3 was started on the same basis and 25 completed by PASNY after the take-over.

26 3. United Engineers and Constructos acted as the

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WALTER L. FLEISHER ,

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..AE:and contract manager. -

9 2 4. Both Westinghouse and United Engineers had exten-3 sive experience in the design and construction of 4 steam powered generating plants. .

5 5. Both plants use Hudson River water for cooling 6 thecontainbentbuildingsand'forsteamcondenser

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7 service.

8 6. Leaks started to occur in IP#2 containment cool-9 ing system in 1973 and by 1980 the coils, the 10 headers and sections of t,he mains had to be re-y ,

11 placed.

12 7. The leak schedule and replacements were about, 13 two years behind at IP#3, but covered about the 14 same time span of seven years.

15 8. The leaks at IP#2 ultimately led to che flooding 16 of the reactor pit and immersion of the reactor 17 vessel to a depth of about nine feet.

18 The conclusion cust be that regardless of the

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19 qualifications or failings of the vendor and builder; 20 the proper or poor selection of materials; the qual-21 ity of work =anship; or even the final chain of fail-22 ures of equipment and people, the ove'rriding problem 23 was the brackish Hudson River water.

24 In support of =y position I quote below fro a 25 letter fro: Mr. Harold R. Denton, Director, Office of

h WALTER L. FLEISHER -

1 Nuclear Reactor Regulation, dated May 15, 1981 and 2 addressed to Zi S. Fleisher, Secretary, West Branch Con-3 servation Association (Exhibit WLF #1 )

4 "We agree'with Mr. Fleisher that introducing brackish water into containment is'not the 5 optimum design."

6 Q. How do the modifications to the fan cooler systems 7 made by the Licensees affect the problems of brackish 8 water?

9 A. Essentially there is no change. The brackish water is l

10 still there. The black steel p,ipe is still there. The 11 coils are still CuNi. The only change'is some im-12 provement in the design of the connections and the .

13 workmanship. The changes are essentially a stopgap 14 action to allow resumption of operation at this time'.

15 See third paragraph of Mr. Denton's letter (Exhibit 16 WLF #1 ).

17 From my personal experience with brackish water,

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18 from the actual experience at IP#2 and #3, and with the 19 unique dangers posed oy the nuclear reactor," there is 20 no solution other than removing the brackish water from 21 inside the containment building.

22 Q. What is your evaluation of the altern'atives to the use 23 of brackish water directly inside containment?

24 A. The ideal system should consist of a closed circuit 25 using highly purified water within containment isolated W m

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WALTER L. FLEISHER -'

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1 by an heat exchanger from the external cooling source.

2 The river water being ava.ilable and the use of a cooling ..

3 tower being unavailable, under the Gooling Sower Agree

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4 cent, the river water is the best choice. J ,

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5 The Bechtel " Feasibility Study For The Modification - ..

Of -

6 Containment, Cooling System For Indian Point' Unit 2-I 7 Consolidated Edison Company"' Job 14596, Januady, 1981, 8 is seriously skewed to make the installat$on, expensive ,

. F 9 and difficult. With minor ef.anges in designJof the pi-10 ping and heat exchangers the river water pud.p horsepow'er ,

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11 could be cut in half and 'on the clean water side by s, 12 25% without disturbing the piping and equipment inside 13 containment.With this rechetion no additional emergency i 14 generating capacity would be required. ,,

15 With the closed loap th'ere would be no need to .

i 16 replace the fan coolers and piping over the life of the 17 plant. The saving in one rebuild of the fan coolers 18 would pay for the closee loop system.-

19 Even the hybrid system, in the " Evaluation of A3-20 ternate Containment Cooling System For Indiar.s?oint Unit

's  % .

21 No. 2" by the Consolidated Edison Com.pany' yf January, 22 1982, could probably be =ade workable.'and\ reliable if ,' '

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23 the nonsense red herrings were removed. Chromates have ,

24 not been used for water treatment for the past fifteen 25 years and a host of inorganic and organic-treatments.

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UALTER L. FLEISHER -

1 have been developed. If, as I would recommend, high t 2 purity water is used, no , chemical additives would be 4 , 3 required. With the demise of the chromate inhibitors

<, 4 ' goes the 90,000 gallon holding tank and the related 5 complications.

6 The scenario of constant false alarms requiring a

7 activation of the. emergency cooling cycle and subse-8 quent flushing of the system with fresh water is im-9 . plausible. However, if it were to be true, the compe-L 10 \ tecce of the Licensees would be in serious question and

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11 the plants should be shut down until the operating 12 problems were solved. My conception is that there 13 would only be one use of the emergency cooling cycle on 14 a LOCA and the plant would be unlikely to returd to

'l 15 to operation so s.gme brackish water would make no dif-u' 16 ference.

. c 17 Q. Will you discuss the risk associated with the contain-

- 18,' ment cooling systems and the proposed alternates?

10 A. Yes, with difficulty. The scope of our contentions 20 have been so seriously limited that the one that re-21 mains, the brackish water, 2.2(a), is such a small 22 part of a large problem that it is difficult to con-23 sider the risk of the brackish water alone.

I s 24 There is a definite risk from the use of brack-25 ish water in the containment building as shown earlier l

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L _ _ . _ _ _ _ _

WALTER L. FLEISHER -

I in my testimony.

2 The elimination of brackish water from contain- _

3 ment by use of a closed system will eliminate the brack-E The magnitude of the risk is dependent ish water risk.

5 on other factors such as surveillence,' maintenance and 6 function of the-6ther equipment which is beyond the 7 scope of the-testimony allowed me.

8 Q. Does that conclude your testimony?

9 A. Yes it does.

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11 BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

13 Study For Modification Of Cooling System For IP#2 14 Bechtel Power Co. Job 14596 January 1981 15 Investigation 50-247/80-19 Nuclear Reg'Elatory Commission December 4,1980 6

Director's Decision Under 100FR 2.206 7

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, DD-80-5 18 Radiolysis of Water by M. H. Van de Voorde

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19 MPS/ Int. Co. 66 MHV/ab-30.8 1966 20 21 22 .

23 24 25

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- APPENDIX A f .

WALTER L. FLEISHER ,

Resymi March, 1980

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443 Buena Vista Road N ew City, N.Y. 10956 Resident of New City since 1923 Professional background:

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1934-1936 Cornell Unifersity, Ithaca, N.Y.

Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering 1936-1938 Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (N.Y.)

School of Mechanical Engineering 1938-1946 Air & Refrigeration Corp.,New York,N.Y.

Atlanta, Ga. Branch and Plant Manager Design *, manufacture and installation of industrial ventilation equipment and systems.

Customers: U.S. Rubber Co.~j Fisher Body Division of General Motors; Defense Plant Corp., synthetic rubber plants; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, uranium ~

separation; and many others.

1945-1946 On leave for service in the United States Navy, Aircraf t Electronics Technician Mate-1946-1951 Mance Corp., New York, N.Y.

Project Engineer primarily for design / build projects for Alexander Stores; J.P. Morgan and Co.; National Biscuit Co.; Schaeffer Brewing Co.; E. R. Squibb & Co.; Sperry Gyroscope, etc., mostly inductrial HVAC and special process work.

- 1951-1955 James H. Merritt Corp., New York, N.Y.

l Chief Engineer of Air Conditioning Div. and Chief Engineer of Environmental Test Equip-ment division. HVAC IBM first Watson Re-search Lab; altitude simulator and ex-plosive decompression chambers for U.S.. .

Air Force; altitude test chambers (100,000 feet altitudes and -1000F) for,Arma Corp;

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Mergenthaler; General Electric; RCA; Fairchild; etc.

1955-1968 Rowland Tompkins Corp., Hawthorne, N.Y.

Chief Engineer Air Conditioning Division Design / build and plan and specification projects for: Grumman Aircraft including Lunar Module egineering building, hangar,,

building, simulator and computer center.

Union Carbide (4) laboratory building and central power plant; laboratories for

. Appendix A WLF rogumj pngo 2 North American Phillips,'Stauffer' Chemical, -

Boeing-Vertol Div; industrial plants for IBM, Avon Products, Anaconda Copper.

1968-1972 Self-employed as a mechanical consultant.

Major project, mechanical coordinator of

$30,000,000 research center for Union Car-bide Corp., including office, specialized labs (Linde Div.), general laboratories, shops, central power plant, site uitlities, and special servicss such as liquid nitro-gen, liquid oxygen and hydrogen gas.

1972-1978 Columbia University, Nevis Cyclotron Labora-tory, Irvington, N.Y.

Senior Engineer in charge of de.1ign and in-stallation of primary and secondary high pur-ity cooling water system for the cyclotron; beam lines and beam stop. Design of central extraction components; radio frequency power system; vacuum system; designed and built two computer rooms; design and installation of CO2 and Halon fire protection system; and multi building fire alarm system.

1978- Segner and Dalton Consulting Engineers P.C. '

Valhalla, New York. ~

Senior Engineer. Design of HVAC and various process services for Resource Recovery plants at Brockton, MA and Bridgeport, CT. Energy conservation Study and Implementation Plan for three major laboratories for Mass. Insti-tute of Technology. Also projects for Gene-ral Foods, Stauffer Chemical (3), and State University At Purchase.

1945- Since 198U .Reha'ilitation b and e'nergy conservation modification for five buildings at Columbia Uni-versity; Brabdeis University, Rosenstiel Lab; Brown University, Geo-Chem Lab. ,

1945- Me=ber, American Society of Heating, R'efrigera-ting and Air Conditioning Engineers.

1981 - Life member " " "

e- - ~ - . - -

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3 i UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION wAsumGTON, D. C. 20555 Exhibit WLF #1 page 1 Of 2 y a}s o-E g g 1 5 1981

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2. S. Fleisher s Secretary ~

West Branch Conservation Association 443 Buena Vista Road New City, New York 10956 _-

Dear Ms. Fleisher:

Your April 17, 1981 letter to Commissioner John F. Ahearne concerning Indian Point No. 2 has been forwarded to us for reply. Your letter enclosed a paper writfen by Mr. Fleisher which addresses the corrosion of the fan coolers and associated piping due to the brackish water, and the means available for detecting and removing water in containment.

We agree with Mrt Fleisher that introducing bracitish water into containment is not the optimum design. During our November 5,1980 public meeting in White Plains, New York, we asked the licensee to investigate "the possibility of going completely closed cycle in the containment fan cooling system." .In response, the licensee submitted, by letter of January 27, 1981, a report entitled

" Feasibility Study for the Modification of Containment Cooling System for Indian Point Unit 2, Consolidated Edison Company." We have enclosed a copy 6f this report (Enclosure 1).

We recognize, however, that such ' modifications would.take a substantial amount of time. Therefore, we find that the licensee's current modifications to the fan coolers and associated piping are acceptable for allowing resumption of operation. Enclosure 2 is our inspection report of the fan cooler heat exchanger replacement, the new fan cooler heat exchanger design, and the procedures utilized 1 - by Consolidated Edison to evaluate the condition of the associated service water piping. An additional modification, the replacement of all the 2 inch service water piping in containment, is discussed in Enclosure 3. -

We also agree with Mr. Fleisher that the means available for detecting and removing l

water in containment were inadequate. As a result, substantial upgrading of the detection and removal systems has taken place. Our safety evaluation of this .

upgrading is included in Enclosure 4 and the amendment to.the Technical Specifi-cations dealing with the leakage detection and removal system is Enclosure 5.

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• Exhibit WLF #1 pago 2 of 2 _

Z. S. Fleisher . -

In summary, we believe the actions being taken by the litensee are responsive to the concerns expressed by Mr. Fleisher.

Sincerely, hf - . *---'

Harold R. Denton, Director

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Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Enclosures:

1 Feasibility Study for the Modification of Containment Cooling System for Indian Point Unit 2, Consolidated Edison Coompany, January 27, 1981

2. Inspection 50-247/81-04, April 1, --

1981

3. Licensee Event Report LER-81-008/01T-0, April 16,1981 .

Safety Evaluation of Modifications 2 __ - 4.

5. Amendment No. 69 m

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UNITED STATE 5 OF AMERICA. .

NUO U.R REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD A-dministrative']udges: -

Chairman Dr. Oscar H. Paris In the Mar:er of Frederick 3. Shon .

CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY _OF NEW YORK ~

Doc'<et Nos. 50-247-SP (Indian Point, Uni: 2) 50-236-SP December 28, 1982 POWER AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK (Indian Point, Unit 3)

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE This is to certify that I have this date placed in the first class U. S. mail a copy to each of those shown below of the TESTIMONY OF WALTER L. FLEISHER, APPENDIX A and EXHIBIT.WLF#1.

hon. James P. Oleasen arent L. arandenmurg. Esq.

Lorna salaman  ! J na* nan Feincerg.Isq.

.airnan

. Assistant General Counsel rrtends of tM ttrsh. Inc. 7.t.I.?utl10 3ervite %:.

Ad inistrative :.aw Judge Consolidated raisou Co. 20e West 13th street 3 I:; ire State Plaza C.3. Nuclear Tierulatory Oc=. 4 Irving Place New York. New York 10011 Albany. **.I. 12223

'Wasningten.D.C. 20$$$ Nw York, how York 10003 "U" D'"* Marc L. Parris. Esq. Cnarles A. Scheiner.

• r. Frederick J. Shon "*

• County Atterney F.C. Box 49%

Adm nistrative Judge Power Authority of the State White

• Plains, NY 10602 g

Atceae Safety and Licensing neerd * "

,,3, 111 New Merpstead Road Pat Posner. 5;ckesperson e i ewl Comunissio

[s , New Yorn, New York 10019 N w City. N w Ycrk 10956 Parents Concerted About Indian Pcint Or. Oscar H. Paris Dean R. Corren P.O. Box 125 sdainistrative Judge '# " " M '"* #** 'S' Orcton-on Mudsca, W IW New York University itome safety and Licensing scard 1899 L Stru t, N.W. ..

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Jeffrey M. Blas, Esq.

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Mcnorable Richard L. Brodsav ' Jew Icrd, b* ""##**

Atomic safety and Licensing Scar w York University Law School Memeer of the County Legislature

.$. Nuclear peWlatory Comissa 4 Vanderbuilt Hall County Cf fice Building 4 annington Squan south ,a m, H. Pi hashington. O. C. 20555 White Plains, NY 10601 .

New York, New York 1C012 Richard T. ]38*8*s. g,,

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33" Madisen Avenue Charles J. Malkish. Esq. Mayor New York, New York 10017 Atom 16 Safety and Licensing APPt The Port Authcrity cf village of Buchanar.

Board New York and New Jersey 236 Tate Avenue *

{ ! lyn R. Weiss, Esq.

J.S. Nuclear Regulatcry Coesnissa One World Trade Center Buenanan. New Ycrk 1C513 1 %V.. Suite IOO

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Ruthanne G. willer, Esq. N,w York state Attorney Donald C*'idef f .,.'!d"a"u:nd 0T': r

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At:mt Safety UCe951ng Scarc General's Of fice Espare State Plaza $ ~ ~,." S a ** I t Nuclear Kegslat0ry 00m15510n d45M nyton. O.C.

Two World *rede Center Tower Building. RM 1750 .;, ] ':7(, ..'.

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peree Sc'wartz . Esq. Andrew * ' D,*urr e Honcracle %th Messinger . Staff Coatsel gete lr . Nays. Salar & *er:terg , *ercer t- she Council of the  ;,s Nu-lear Peeulater/

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nester OcuntT 7X'C City c' New Yern 1.E Martine Ave. City Hal.  ::.sission

, . 20535 New Y c rx , t.ew York 10166 Wnite Plains. *..Y.106C1 New York, New York 10007 3 3, Judith F etsle r. OccTdinater Y

• peculard Citizers for safe Enes Andrew S. Poffe* Es.* 71 West *3rd Street. Saite 18:8  :*f.ce of :n, secutar/

• Y .'. S . Nucle ar Pega t y " m 851 30c N.w w e=pstead Pead , ,

New Ycrk. New Ycrk 10010

%ew Olty, New Yert .09% asnington. -. -. *----

for West Branch Conservation Association ' ^ ~~

443 Buena Vista Road N-% , M M J> ~ 4 6' 7 N ew C _4 a y , w.. ev. .

914/634-2327 by Zipporah S. Fleisher . .

Secretary s .-

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