ML20072J422

Affidavit of Pl Lujanac That TMI Alert Planning Council Officially Endorsed TMI Alert 830519 Request for Hearing on Proposed License Amend Re Steam Generator Tube Repair,On 830607

ML20072J422
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	06/16/1983
From:	Lujanac P THREE MILE ISLAND ALERT
To:
Shared Package
ML20072J419	List: ML20072J415 ML20072J422
References
NUDOCS 8306300097
Download: ML20072J422 (1)

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In support of this demand, Petitioner asserts as I

follows: l l

1. Petitioner Three Mile Island Alert, Inc., a public 1

interest organization located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, I

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has been a recognized intervenor in hearings established by

,- the Commission's Order and Notice of Hearing dated August 9, 1979, Metropolitan Edison Company (Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No. 1), CLI-79-8, 10 NRC 141 (1979),

"': representing its membership and other members of the public residing in the vicinity of the Three Mile Island Nuclear d{ facilities. Any order permitting operation of TMI-1 may affect the interests of Petitioner and those whom it repre-

's sents t.o live in a* environment free from health and safety hazards resulting from operation of TMI-1. Petitioner has

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the requisite knowledge and experience suitable to quality it to be admitted as a party to any hearing concerning.the s g., subject license amendment.

- 2. The TMI-1 facility has not operated since its sister plant, TMI-2, experienced the worst commercial nuclear plant

'[, accident in history on March 28, 1979. On July 2, 1979, the

$ Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an Order directing that i .

TMI-l be maintained in a shutdown condition pending further n 5- order of the Commission, furgherdeterminingthat it was in N 1

' go the public interest that a h' earing precede any possible my restart of TMI-1. The Commission based its action on a N

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ou oc conclusion that, oo -

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Q< In view of the variety of issues raised by the og accident at the Three Mile Island Unit No. 2 sto facility, the Commission presently lacks the o I

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requisite reasonable assurance that the same licensee's Three Mile Island Unit No. 1 facility, j a nuclear power reactor of similar design, can be j operated without endangering the health and saf ety of the public.

3. In late 1981, in the midst of the process esta-p- blished by the Commission to examine if TMI-l could ever be

_ safely operated, approximately 16,000 to 20,000 potentially defective' steam generator tubes were detected in the secon-

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t, dary side of both steam generators at TMI-1, causing primary 0#p%'./ to secondary leakage. These defects were determined to be

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REI . caused by intergranular stress corrosion initiated from the akh; ,,l surface on the primary side resulting in the formation of circumferential intergranular cracks. The active chemical impuritycausingthbcorrosionwasdeterminedtobesulfur, L w

( . c ~=. the source of which was thiosulfate from the reactor-

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flidsg4e? building spray ~ system which entered the primary system by p., ~

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.$$ leaking through isolation valves in the spray system and

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entering the reactor coolant system during testing. The

. q.vy u . ty; majority of the defects occured within the top 2-3 inches of

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32S5 the.24 inch upper tubesheet (UTS).

4. In April, 1982, the Licensee notified the NRC staff

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'that it had decided to repair the steam generator tubes using an' explosive repair technidue which would expand the the tubes against the tubesheet, thereby establishing a new leak limiting / load carrying seal. The Licensee further decided to apply the explosive repair technique to all tubes

"}" ' within the UTS.

5. By letter dated August 23, 1982, Darrel G. Eisenhut, Director of the Division of Licensing of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, (NRR) notified the Licensee that a license amendment would be required before such repairs could begin, and before subsequent operation of the plant could be permitted. In particular, Mr. Eisenhut stated, i ** * [B]ecause the portion of the tube within the tubesheet contains defects greater than 40%

throughwall and your repair method for the s6;r majority of these defects will not involve plugging, an amendment to the Technical Specifi-cations (TS) 4.19 will be needed prior to return to power operation.... In the Staff's view, this

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section of the TS applies to the existing condi-tion of the s' team generators and not the condition following repair.

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. 6. In October, 1982, NRR issued a Saf ety Evaluation of g, Licensee's, proposed repair technique, concluding without opportunity for public comment, that the NRC staff was reversing its prior position with regard to the necessity of a license amNndment before use of the explosive expansion I

repair technique, finding unilaterally that the " proposed

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repair process does not involve an unreviewed safety

^1 question or a modification to the Technical Specifications and hence, may be conducted without NRC approval." NRR clarified that the " Safety Evaluation is limited to an evaluation of the acceptability of perf orming the explo-sive expansion repair," not of the acceptability of opera-tion after completion of the repair process. (emphasis 1.

added). .

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7. Licensee began performing said explosive expansion repairs shortly after the Safety Evalution was issued.

Petitioner believes that Licensee has now substantially

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completed said repair process.

8. NRC has consistently maintained that a license amend-ment will be required before operation'after completion of

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the explosive expansion repairs. See, Eisenhut letter of

'y. l ^ '. August 23, 1982, supra; Statement by Eisenhut before the gc. ti, g House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Inves-

~1 tigation, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,

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December 13, 1982, (Transcript at pp. 39, 42: ("It is, and it still remains,l5nd has always been our position that prior to restart of that unit an ar.endment will be

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required... IT]he degradation problems at Three Mile Island -

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s-clearly are unique, and we have taken the position that prior to restart on that facility an amendment is MG '

required... it is an unreviewed safety question."); See,

. v yg also, Commission letter in response to February 23, 1983 ong_ inquiry from Hon. Morris K. Udall, Chairman, House Committee

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on Interior and Insular Affairs.

9. There is little question that Licensee will request c.

a license amendment to permit operation of TMI-l with subject steam generator tubd repairs in place. On February 2, 1983, the Licensee requested a license amendment to allow the repaired steam generators to be declared operable, but recently withdrew that request. In a letter dated April 19, 1983 to the NRC, Henry D. Hukill, Vice-President GPU d 1

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Nuclear, stated that Licensee will be resubmitting its request for a license amendment sometime after May 6, 1983.

See, also, Additional Statements of GPU Nuclear Corpor-ation, before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Commitee on Interior and Insular Affairs, April 26, 1983, at p. II-7. .

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10. Under S12(a)(2)(A) of S189(a) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. 2239(a), as amended, the NRC is required to hold a requested hearing on any license amend-

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ment, but under the recently enacted "Sholly" amendment to the Act, may avoid holding a requested hearing prior to that amendment becoming;

. e immediately ef f ecive only if it finds

, that the amendment presents no significant hazards consider-r

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ation. In enacting this provision, Congress explicitly intended that license amendments involving irreversible consequences (such as those ... allowing a facility to operate for a period of time without full safety protec-t' ion s ) require prior hearings or the public's right to have "its views considered would be foreclosed, and that "t'orderline" cases be resolved in favor of finding a significant hazard consideration. H. R. Rep.97-884, p. 37 (1982),

11. The NRC has alreadf admitted that the TMI-l steam tube problem is th'e very worst in the entire country.

See, Statement of Harold Denton, Director of NRR in testimony before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Interior and Insular

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Affairs, February 1, 1982. Moreover, the NRC staff has already recognized potential safety hazards whien could result from operation of TMI-l due to the subject steam tube repairs. An internal NRC memorandum dated May 19, 1982 from h "

William V. Johnston, Assistant Director Materials and Qualif-

! .. . ' ications Engineering, Division of Engineering, to Thomas

e. . . - .

(,' Novak, Assistant Director for Operating Reactors, Division a-., of Licensing, reveals the following concerns:

?.fl a. "To the extent that we have not experienced EN,( this type of behavior before, ... the staf f has not reviewed the potential consequences of known

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defects. Particularly, the potential for this

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type of corros' ion to rapidly progress upon restart and adversely affect the [ steam generator] primary pressure;,

boundary."

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, . b, "We consider the existence of a type of corrosion which has extensively degraded the steam w rcgp generators, to also have the potential to degrade

#-h 41 other reactor coolant system materials." (It is significant that the Waste Gas System and the E 4M critical PORV [ Power Operated Relief Valve] have

. already been identified as damaged by sulfer).

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c. "The proposed repair technique involves a leak c uur limiting rather than a leak free seal."(emphasis f added). (In GPU's October 18-19, 1982 briefing to

'6' S . the NRC, Licensee indicated that this leakage will

, increase over time, and that in a five year life,

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' the water leakage may increase by a factor of ten, causing increased radiation releases into the environment.)

d. "

...[E]xcessive compressive loading may result upon heatup of the plant which could lead to bowing or local buckling which could cause new corrosion initiat,lon sites."

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12. Perhaps most significantly, the staff expresses 1

concern with " rapid failures occuring upon plant restart." l No recommendations yet exist that the steam generators be tested to examine if the explosively expanded deformed tubes O

-g-i f can withstand, for example, the pressure experience which would result from a turbine trip at maximum power, or from thermal shock which would be generated from inadvertent actuation of the emergency feedwater system at high power.

Common sense dictates that the extraordinarily hazardous potential consequences of " rapid f ailures occuring upon plant restart" or at any point mandate that the tube repair "rF"i process and any testing procedure proposed by the Licensee n or the NRC staff be fully examined in the context of a full

., g adjudicatory hearing before the plant is permitted to

( operate.

13. Further , ' n a September 19, 1982 memorandum, then Chairman of the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor

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7ff Safeguards (ACRS) Paul Shewmon stated that a simultaneous rupture in each of the steam generators "isn't an incredible m event." In a letter dated January 21, 1983, Congressman

1. Edward J. Markey, Chairman of the Subcommittee on oversight

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.and Investigations, House Committee on Interior and Insular "q Affairs, asked the Commission whether such an incident could lead to a sequence not encompassed by emergency procedures and whother this issue would be resolved before restart of the plant. In its response, the Commission stated, "Yes, a tube rupture in both SG's of a two SG plant could lead to a sequence not encompassed by the emergency procedures," and that while the issue was being considered under the TMI Action Plan (Item I.C.1), "(t)he Commission does not consider the implementation of this action plan item to be O

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a - necessary before the restart ot TMI-1. Congressman Markey then asked for clarificaiton of these comments by letter dated March 23, 1983. In its response dated May 5, 1983,

, the Commission could only state that a single tube rupture in both steam generators is " highly unlikely," is "not

- .r expected to result in core damage," bht that "no probabil-(~ istic risk assessment of the subject' event has been

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performed by either the NRC staff or the ACRS for TMI-1."

gg%, (emphasis added).

The Commission further noted that in the

~ '3 event that both steam generators have ruptured tubes, the e-U - -

operator would be force'd to accomplish cooldown and depres-surization usinglat least one faulted steam generator,

[,, .resulting in continuous leakage of primary coolant to the p

p.y;$.c s.; secondary system and thus releases of radioactive material pc. :g. -

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fly:e s , to the environment. Clearly, such a scenario raises significant safety hazard considerations. The chances of, 20bESt - '

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potential consequences of, and the ability of operators to

}.q; handle multiple tube ruptures demand the most intense xMyJ m

.s examination in the context of a full hearing before plant "V~~ operation is allowed.

14. Moreover, failure to hold a prior hearing in this

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case through a "ao significant hazard consideration" r a:. .

finding, would violate the express intent of Congress in

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_ enacting the "Sholly" amendment. Congressman Morris K.

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, , , , - Udal l, Chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Af f airs, and the conference Committee out of which e,

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f the " Sholly" amendment legislation was reported, has already stated, I am troubled by reports I have heard that some on

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the NRC staff believe this authority might be used to approve steam generator repairs at Three Mile Island Unit-1. Congress enacted the Sholly provision so that NRC could redirect its attention and resources away from trivial matters and

]r concentrate instead on n.atter's of great public c; ~- ' concern and safety significance such at TMI-l steam generator repair werk.

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' -: b s e. Statement of the Hon. Morris K. Udall, Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, Committee on Interior and Insular Af f airs, February 22, 1983.

_.;IU :5 Pursuant to the foregoing considerations, Petitioner

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2 herein,

1. States that it represents persons whose interests c, . may be affected by the proceeding to grant a license amendment to permit operation of TMI-l with the subject ex-- steam generator tube repairs in place.

2. Request that a public adjudicatory hearing pursuant to S189 of the Atomic Energy Act be held on this license amendment.

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3. Pequest that such hearing be held prior to the license amendment becoming immediately effec'tive and operation of TMI-l permitted.

_ - 4. Petition that it be granted leave to participate in such a hearing-as intervenors.

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.,rd Ihe.:$, Respectfully submitted, e g- :4-WPX, ..

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7 May 19, 1983 5y: N /dtt e d j

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f , l$ Joanne Doroshow

"' Louise Bradford

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Three Mile Island Alert, Inc.

315 Peffer Street

.... Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17102

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m 315 Peffor St Harrisburg, Panna.17102 (717)233-7897 l

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June 23, 1983 l re ,

a- Secretary to the Commission

- pi;,7 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555

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hn Re: In the Matter of METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY (Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No, 1)

Docket No. 50-289 p Att, ached is an Affidavit of Paul M. Lujanac, to be attached as an addendum to Three Mile Island Alert's Formal Demand f

for an Adjudicatory Hearing on Amendment to the TMI-l 4- Operating License Concerning Steam Generator Tube Repairs dated May 19, 1983.

Respectfully, l

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Joanne Doroshow t

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1.JPIDAV17 07 PAllL L. LU,1 Ai. Ac I

PAUL.L. LUJAHA",, being first duly sworn, deposes and says:

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1 i reside et 97 Plonsr-nt View Terrace, :;ew Curr.rerland ,

Fennsylvania,.which ie located in ?nirview TownsMp, York County, i a pprorir.tely seven'. or r ight railen i'r o tt. the,Three hile Island )

(Thl) i;uclear jicuerating Stat. ion. . i 9

~ P.. 'I am a member of, Treasurer of, and- member of the Planning

, C o u n e '.1 o f Th re e it,ile Island Alert, Inc. (Ti I A), which currently

'l represents me, TMI A rnembers, and other members of the public i livint; in the vicinity of TMI in huelear Regulatory Commission

[. (MRC) proceedings examining whether the LRC shall permit TMI b.-

unit

• to operate. .

3 I understand thpt General Public Utilities I!uclear Cor po rn ti on ( G PUllC) - hn n 3scouented a license amendment to permit

operati6n of THI unit 1 with repaired steem tubec and support

._ TI;1A's efforts on my behalf to insure that henrings are held on a

thin license amendment before such amendrcent is trade immediately I effective because of the "significant safety hazard consideration" g

involved. ,

.S ua 4 Cn June 7, 1953, the TMIA Planning Council officially 2

endorned Th1A's May 19, 1963 reouest for a hearing on this

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e-11,conne nmnedment, which han been subtri tted on TI I A's behalf g by TM1A members Joanne Doroshow'and Louise Bradford, and support

,7; TE1A's intervention in thene reci2ented hearings on behalf of Tl 1;. 's err.he rr and othhr members cf the public living in the vicinity of TM1. ,-

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cm Paul L.,J,ajanac Subscribed and nworn t.o bel' ore me this /# day of June, 1963.

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' a # M. F A Cumterhrd County

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