ML20073B123

Part 21 Rept Re Intermittent Lockups in Radiation Monitor 23.Design Problem Indicated.Customers Will Be Notified of Possible Condition.Testing in Progress to Determine Extent of Problem

ML20073B123
Person / Time
Site:	Limerick
Issue date:	01/27/1983
From:	Dean R GENERAL ATOMICS (FORMERLY GA TECHNOLOGIES, INC./GENER
To:	Deyoung R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE)
Shared Package
ML20073B112	List: ML20073B107 ML20073B123
References
REF-PT21-83 NUDOCS 8304110952
Download: ML20073B123 (10)

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H'2ECM GA Technologies Inc.

P.O. BOX 61fa8 l

SAN CAEGO. CAUFORNIA 92136 retsesm January 27, 1983-l l

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Mr. Richard De Young, Director Inspection and Enforcement U.S. Ibclear Regulatory Commission-Washington, D.C.

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Subject:

Notification Required by 10CFR21 l

GA Technologies, Inc. Radiation Monitor ME23

Dear Mr. De Young:

i Tnis notification concerns a possible defect in equipnent supplied by GA Technologies, Inc. and is provided in compliance with 10CFR21.

Verbal notification was made by telephone to your Walnut Creek office on January 24, 1983.

The follcuing,information is provided in the fornal!

of 10CFR21.21(b) (3):

(i) lume and address of the person informing the. Commission.

Dr. Richard A. Dean, Vice President Power Reactors l

GA Technologies, Inc.

I P. O. Box 85608 l

San Diego, CA 92138 (619) 455-2120 I

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. (ii)

Identification.of the facility, the activity, or the basic l

component supplied for such facility or such activity within the United States,which fails to comply or'contains a defcct.

CA Technologies Inc. ME23 Module contains a possible defect; (described in Item iv) and has been provided to the facilitics listed on Attachment :I and is assumed to La used by 'those facilities in Safety-Related Dirplay functions.

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Tne MF23 is u Remote Safety Related Display Module generally.

- located-in the Plant Control Room. Tne M F23 acts as a terminal to receive data from the RM-80 processor and display the data.in an LID digital output.

Tne MF80 which performs all storage; and processing of data ic located in the proximity.of the detector.

In -

complete systems the RM-23 is a qualified back-up unit to the Ibn-

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1 Single Monitor installations, do not_ generally. include an R4-ll.

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14r. Richard De Young :

. January-27, 1983 Page.2 i

- (iii). Identification of the firm constructing' the facility-or supplying.

l the basic coq:onent which fails to comply or contains a defect.-

GA Technologies,.Inc;, P. O. Box 85608, San Diego,;CA 92138, i

(iv)

Nature of the defect or failure to coaply' and the safety hazard '

which is created or could be created by such defect or-failure to g

conply.

L, lt,wac detonained during initial start-up of lthe St.0Incie!

Radiation lionitoring System in December that~ an M-23 lock up'was -

- occurring interraittently.

Iock up refers to'a condition-in uhich.

the LW display ficezen at tc point in time and. is:no longer ugiated -

l to reflect the current data.. An analogous situation would be if a.

digital watch would continue to operate but>uould not update its t.

L output without operator. intervention.

Initially - $ t. was: thought L

that t.his' condition was an anonaly related

-to... the particular:

installation or application at St. Lucio.

Ecuever, additional invectigation showed that~ previously reported EM-23 anomalies nwy have been reinted to the otcorved condition.

Since the RM-23 can-be uced as a safety related display, considerable ef tort is.being.

given at GA to determine if a generic problen. cxistr and -to determine its nature.

Preliminary results of this ongoing study indicate the possibility.

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that an-inherent design _ problem exists with the RM-23.

Po]Ioaing in a nunmary of itema related to this nituation ac currently lawan.

- 'fne symptom is an intermittent lock up of the safety-related' disp]ay of the R4-23 which is not annunciated.

Since the 16i-23 is not' an intelligent terminal, re-start of 5the=

Irc23 (either by switching power,on and off cr' by' sof twarei conr.rol) will climinate t-Jw probleniand will'not. cause the: loss of any catety r.clated information.

m :,Mt wou pimennel luve inen ablef to uo:Jify Luoltuare. in -suchi L

a vay a3 to duplicate the systems, however,the nource of the -

suspected problem has not.yet'been isolated.

- - Su.epicions nre that the intermittent? lock up. is softwarei 1

related.

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Mr. Richar'd De Young January 27,'1983 Page 3 Possible weak links in the PM-23 program which could allow such a problcm to progress have been corrected.

Controlled test of a sample of W 23s on the factory floor using corrected software:has not shown any random occurrences of the above described failure at this time..

(v)

The date on which the information of such defect or failure toi comply was obtained.

L January 18, 1983.

(vi)

In the case of a basic component which contains a defect or fails l

to comply, the number and location of all-such components in use-at, supplied for, or being supplied for one or more facilities or activities subject to the regulations in.this part.

See Attachment 1.

(vii) 7ne corrective action.which has been,-is being, or will be. taken; the name of the individual or organization responsible for the' action; and the length of time that has.been or will be:taken,to complete the action.

Action being taken by GT. Technologies, Electronic Systems Division under direction of W. J. Compas, Division Director:

1.

Notify the customers of the. possibility of this condition and recowJ.d that until the nature of the prob 1cn is verified that L

the customer should corroborate any PM-23 readout-by other means available from the GA Radiation Monitoring Systems.. Action was initiated on 1/25/83.

2.

Begin testing at GA's facility and in the field to determine!

l cxtent of problem and how it will be corrected...(See Attachment 2 Test Plan.)

Action has been initiated at GA and' field test arrangements will be made during week ending 1/31/03.

(viii) Any advice related to the defect :or failure to comply about the facility, activity, or basic componcnt that has been, is being,ior..

will be given to purchasers or licensees.

All Customers are being notified by telephone and~ by formal A.c gj of the1 etter being provided is attached.

1 correspondence..

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Mr. Richard De Young January 27, 1983 Page 4 If you wish additional information please call Mr. W. J. Compas at (619) 457-1139.

Very truly ;

rs, dchard A. Dean Vice President Power Reactors Attachments cc:

Mr. Robert Engelken, Regional Ad:ninistrator U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1900 Ucrth California Blvd.

Walnut Creek, CA 94596 I

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File 3.1.5, Licensing Library (C. R. Fisher)

W. J. Compas P. E. Bissonnette J. P. Hogan 9

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SPAllES T50 IEVICf3 STA11B MT? PLIED 1:4-23P (i m A SAFITi I; DATED APPL 1CEf1Cl) 1.m:In S2m, 357-3000 4 3 5

3 At J:b site Sacray.nto !ini-circ 11Aility 11 strict Drtec 13, Q1ttrio 357-3000-03 1

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!!yJro, t.PIEC St. heie, Flcrida 3W-3000-03 24 At Ab site, op'eratir Ib.re & LirAt, EPASCO tbsnrJr.n, Taimn 3'77-300M3 18 3

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1 At Jcb site (ca El Sa:'s 1, reu'2crn 357-3000 4 3 1

1 At Eb site Califemia Ulitcn SG T. 2/3, Cbuthern 357-3000 4 3 4

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l RM-23 TEST PLAN l'

PURPOSE:

Under controlled conditions,-to detect the occurrence

. of 'a field reported RM-23 condition described : as'-

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" display lock -up". Once this condition occurs. to _.

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L gather sufficient data to. allow for-the understanding of its cause(s) and a' recommendation.for its '

resolution.

SCOPE:

A ntaber of RM-23s will-be monitored fuhile -

c communicating with. EM-80s for. at least two weeks (unless a. satisfactory resolution is reached before:

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.this time).

1.t the end'of the two weeks,'a test.

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l results review will be held..with cognizant represen -

tativos of the appropriate ' departments to cyaluate-the resolts obtained and ' determine a future course of--

action, if requir.ed.

PROCED'JRE:

Testing will be conductedEnt both the factory and inL the field.

• Factory testing will. -include camples o

I the two generic RM-23 designs (those with' 2716 -

E-Proms and those ~ with '2732 E-Proms).

The tests will be conducted, by monitoring the perfor- '

nonce of a ntraber of RM-23c;under known temperature conditions - at least one RM-23 v'ill be tionitored while interfacing with a nillenit:n microsysten analy7er2 Analysis of the software code uill' be perform $d 'by-

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Computer Engineering concurrently.,Testinr at: GA.is-H nlready'in progress and arrangements for ' ficid' testing will be nado during week endin;; '1/31/83

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ELECTR'0 IC SYSTD:S DIVISIO I G A Technolog.ies Inc.

ro Ecx ecs January 25, 1983 sw c tco cwrcr:va ni38 gitun3m lir. Toa DePlonty Florida Power and Light Company Unit 2 Construction h'arehouse 10 Mi. South of Ft. Pierce Florida on State Highway A1A Ft. Pierce, FL 33450

Dear Mr. DePlonty:

During start-up of one of our CA Technologics Inc. (C/s) Radiation !!cnitoring Systeas at a nuclear plant, an inte: :ittent lock-up of the D!-23 display was reported.

This lock-up apparently causes the " Channel Activity" display to freeza at the nost recent activity value for cach channel.

Initially, it was t.Lought that this condition was an anc aly related to the specific installation.

However, since the D!-23 is safety related, we conducted further studies, and the results of these studies have led us to suspect

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that a general design probica with the D -23 cight exist.

CA has deterained that this possible defect is reportabic according to the re. qui rc: r nt, c.f 10.cnr2 h a...t ib.. :GC is being notified.

h'c a r e reviewing the D!-23 design and conducting additional sof tware tests in the field and at CA to detcraine if a genuine design problea exists and, if it does, to deternine the exact nature of the problera so it can be resolved as quickly as possible.

To assist us in this effort, we are requcsting that you closely renitor your ?.'-t-23 displays and notify us irnediately of any suspected dieplay Ic:k-up.

This loc.h-up should be t.uspected whenever the " Channel Activity" display of a channel remains unchaajrI for note than a few hours.

/.s a tenporary precaution until this p: tential problea is resolved, you should not rely so]ely on the "Chr :el Activity" display feature cf the EM-23.

Instcad, v rification of the activity reading should be accomplished by one or r. ore of the following tetheds:

1.

Trer.d recorders cornec:ce tc the mi-f'O (if available).

Mos.t b'i de -

Mar:ge Gas ':onitors h. vc strip hart recordern connected directly to the D;-80 and would give the h st independent verification of dat.1.

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2. < Analog noterr. connected' to thcIP1180 (ifiavailab]c). - The -RM -80s

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have DAC outputs availabic for-'all channels.- If'these are connect-

. cd and;used,' they will give: independent verification of.the data..-

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3.. Digital display Channel Itcas:(007):and (008).- The PJ1-23 " Channel Activity" value can.be;conpared;with. Channel.lten (007) non-integrating chanacl-(liquid,< gas, or area) activity or Channel Item i

l-(008) integrating channel activity-(for particulate and iodinc channels).

Picase. direct your notifications o'r any suspected' display lock-ups,las well as any questions you may have regarding this' letter, to B. S.:nsamoto, at-,

(619) 457-1129, or to ne at (619) 457--1126.-

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,. Very truly.yours, N

Dennis C.'Nau, Manager' I'rogram Management Department-I pm k-a e

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