ML20117P314
| ML20117P314 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | LaSalle  |
| Issue date: | 09/11/1996 |
| From: | Subalusky W COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO. |
| To: | NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM) |
| References | |
| REF-PT21-96 NUDOCS 9609230065 | |
| Download: ML20117P314 (11) | |
Text
Cam 1monwralth lilison Compan) lanNalle Generating Statiott MI North 21st Road M.trwilles IL 61,411-97s?
Ta sis.ss <nii 1
l September 11,1996 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Attention: Document Control Desk l
Washington, D.C. 20555
Subject:
LaSalle County Station Units 1 and 2 10CFR Part 21 Notification 9603 General Electric GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers NRC Docket Numbers 50-373 and 50-374 Enclosed in Exhibit B is Comed's 10CFR Part 21 Notification of the deficiency of GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers, i
l manufactured by General Electric Company and in use at LaSalle Station.
l This notification is submitted in accordance with the requirements of 10CFR 21, Section 21.1(b),21.3a(3), and 21.3d(4).
l if there are any questions or comments conceming this letter, please refer j
them to me at (315) 357-6761, extension 3600.
Respectfully,
\\
~
~
W. T. Subalusk Site Vice President LaSalle County Station 4
l Enclosure cc:
A. B. Beach, NRC Region lli Administrator M. P. Huber, NRC Senior Resident Inspector - LaSalle et1 D. M. Skay, Project Manager - NRR - LaSalle T
F. Niziotek, Office of Nuclear Facility Safety - IDNS DCD - Licensing (Hardcopy:
Electronic:
)
i Central File
\\
o e, a n. 6-
\\
9609230065 960911 i
PDR ADOCK 05000373 S
PDR A Unicum company
Memorandum l
l l
Date:
September 11,1996 To:
Nuclear Licensin Manager From:
8 l
Charles i Bohan Date S
E ineer Charl6s H?furilid ' ' 'f n 11 A
D6te SEC E/l&C Supervisor h &y 8<-7
'l-Il-U l
Petros Antonopo{alos Date SEC Manager
Subject:
Part 21 Notification 9603-GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers I
LaSalle Site Support Engineering has evaluated the subject document and determined that the 7Q defect / noncompliance is reportable under the requirements of 10CFR Part 21. The attached
()
report has been prepared for submittal to the NRC, and should be submitted by f-/J f/ to
~
the NRC Operations Center.
Questions regarding this report should be directed to Lawrence Bukantis, ext. 2576.
Enclosure cc:
President and Chief Operating Officer Senior Vice President, Nuclear Operations Vice President BWR Operations l
Vice President PWR Operations Vice President Nuclear Engineering and Construction General Manager Nuclear Services General Manager Quality Programs and Assessments l
Nuclear Station Managers Nuclear Engineering Manager Safety Assessment Manager Manager of Quality Assurance / Nuclear Safety Part 21 Coordinator ENC Regulatory Assurance Supervisor I:\\opex\\miscdocs\\gememo. doc t
hnworddatagememo doc A Unicom Company l
l I
10CFR Part 21 Notification l
Possible Failure of GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers with Instantaneous Trip Function Anolicability This notification is submitted in accordance with the requirements of10CFR Part 21, Section 2L 1 (b), 21.3a(3), and 21.3d(4) l Identification of Facility and Comoonent LaSalle County Station, Units One and Two Commonwealth Edison Chicago, Illinois GE Type RhfS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers Identification of Comoonent Manufacturer General Electric Nature of Defect On Afay 28th,1996, LaSalle County Station reported to General Electric Nuclear Energy (GE-NE) that a number ofGE Type RhfS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers werefailing to operate as expected.
The Instantaneous Trip Function was tripping the circuit breakers at values less than the RhfS-9 Programmer switch settings would have implied. LaSalle County Station sent three ofthese RhfS-9 Programmers to GE-NEfor testing, evaluation andfailure analysis.
General Electric 's SC96-04,10CFR Part 21 Notification Letter ofAugust 12,1996, states that the cause of q
theproblem with the instantaneous pickup switch to be apolyester epanyfilm on the internal switch Q
contacts. Thisfilm acts as an insulator and consequently, when the switch position is changed, the contacts are preventedfrom makingfull contact and the RhfS-9 Programmerfails to a lower Instantaneous Pickup setting. Thisfilm is apparently the result ofinsuficient curing ofthe conformal coating (polyester epoxy) applied to the RhfS-9 Programmer circuit board duringfinal assembly.
l Safety significance An RhIS-9 Programmer with the Instantaneous Pickup Functionfailed to it 's lowest value or at some value lower than anticipated could result in the inability to start a safety sigmficant motor due to the starting current ofthe motor being above the Instantaneous Pickup setpoint ofthe Rh15-9 Programmer. This could potentially afect the operation ofsafety relatedloads requiredfor safe shutdown and mitigating accidents.
Time of Discoverv August i9th,1996 (Receipt ofGE-NE SC96-04)
Corrective Actions Use ofthe GE TVRhIS2 digital tester, to assess asfoundsettings ofRhfS-9 units currently installed and confirm the as left RhIS-9 settings. The GE TVRh152 digital testerprovides confirmation oftheproper settings ofthe RhfS-9 Programmer.
Number and Location of All Defective Comoonents A summary of the safety related breakers equipped with RMS-9 programming units and their service is provided in the table below.
Cubicle Service 236X-303C RHR SWPump 2C 236X-302A AEER Air Cooled CondenserFan OB
j 236X-302B AEER Supply Fan OB 236X-302C 2A DGCWPump 236X-302D AEER Supply System Refng Compressor DB 236X-301B MCC 236X-3 Feed Breaker 236X-301C MCC 236X-2 Feed Breaker 236X-301D MCC 236X-1 Feed Breaker 236Y-403B Main Feed to 236Y 236Y-403C RHR SWPump 2D 236Y-401A Control Room HVAC Air Cooled Condenser Fan OB 236Y-402C FuelPoolEmergency Makeup Pump 2B 236Y-402D ControlRoom HVAC Reing Unit 28 236Y-401B MCC 236Y-3 Feed Breaker 236Y-401C MCC 236Y-1 Feed Breaker 236Y-401D MCC 236Y-2 Feed Breaker 136X-302B Main Feed to 136X 136X-302C RHR SWPump 1C 136X-303A 1A DGCWPump 136X-303B AEER Supply System Compressor. 0A 136X-303C AEER Air Cooled CondenserFan OA 136X-303D AEER Supply Fan OA 136X-304B MCC 136X-1 Feed Breaker 136X-304C MCC 136X-2 Feed Breaker 136X-304D MCC 136X-3 Feed Breaker 136Y-402B Main Feed to 136Y 136Y-402C RHR SWPump 1D 136Y-403A Control Room Air Cooled Condenser Fan OA 136Y-403B Control Room Refn'g. Unit GA 136Y-403C Primary Containment Vent Supply Fan 1B 136Y-403D FuelPoolEmergency Makeup Pump 1B l
136Y-404A Hydrogen RecombinerPower Cabinet j
136Y-404B MCC 136Y-1 Feed Breaker 136Y-404C MCC 136Y-2 Feed Breaker
\\
136Y-404D MCC 136Y-3 Feed Breaker 135X-102B Main Feed to 135X 135X-102C RHR SWPump 1A 135X-103A 0 W3CWPump
_135X-103B AwC 135X-1 Feed Breaker 135X-103C MCC 135X-2 Feed Breaker 135X-103D MCC 135X-3 Feed Breaker 135Y-202B Main Feed to 135Y l
}
l 135Y-203A Primary Containment Vent Supply Fan 1A i
135Y-203D FuelPoolEmergency Makeup Pump 1A 135Y-203C Cleanup Recirc Pump 1C 135Y-203D MCC 135Y-1 Feed Breaker 135Y-2048 MCC 135Y-2 Feed Breaker 235X-103B Main Feed to 235X 235X-103C RHR SWPump 2A 235X-102A 0 DGCWPump f
235X-102B MCC 235X-1 Feed Breaker lG 235X-102C MCC 235X-2 Feed Breaker 235X-102D MCC 233X-3 Feed Breaker 235Y-203B Main Feed to 235-Y l
l
235Y-203C RHR SWPump 28 235Y-202A Cleanup Recirc Pump 2C 235Y-202C Primary Containment Vent Supply Fan 2A 235Y-201A FuelPoolEmergency Makeup Pump 2A 235Y-201B MCC 235Y-1 Feed Breaker 1
235Y-201C MCC 235Y-2 Feed Breaker i
1 235Y-201D MCC 235Y-3 Feed Breaker i
Contacts Larry Bukantis Auxilary Power System Engmeer LaSalle County Station i
Commonwealth Edison 2601 North 21st Road Marseilles, Illinois 61341 (815) 337-6761 e
\\
1 b
v i
i V
O
ns/
~
dh RECEIVED W'
10 CFR PART21 AUG 191996 O
NOTMCATION GENuclearEnergy SC96-04 August 12,1996 TO: Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
Northeast Utilities Boston Edison Co.
Omaha Public Power District Comed Rochester Gas & Electric Corp.
Duquesne Light Co.
Southern Nuclear Operating Co.
Entergy Operations, Inc.
Tennessee Valley Authority GPU Nuclear Corp.
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.
Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co.
SUBJECT:
Possible Failure of GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers with Instantaneous Trip Function l
l Reportable Condition [21.21 (c)]
l l 60 Day Interim Report [21.21 (a)(2)]
l X l Transfer ofInfonnation [21.21 (b)]
l l Safety lnformation Communication 1
SUMMARY
V This Notification provides the results of an evaluation by GE Nuclear Energy (GE-NE) of failures reported in the Instantaneous Trip Function of GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers. These devices were manufactured by GE Electrical Distribution and Control, and supplied by GE-NE as Safety Related components for balance-of-plant or unspecified applications. Since the applications and associated safety functions of RMS-9 Programmers supplied by GE-NE are not known, it is not possible for GE-NE to evaluate the safety significance of a possible failure to determine if a defect exists in the context of10CFR Part 21. We are therefore transferring the information to the affected utilities for evaluation.
Issued by:'
M. A. Smith, Manager Safety Evaluations Project GE Nuclear Energy, M/C 187 175 Curtner Avenue, SanJose, CA 95125
~
Nakar Thu 10 CFR Part 21 Nah)icanon pataans only to theplants erfacihue spa,)ically endacatei as 6erng affatal. C2 Nuclear Energy (CENE) has not conndmad er nelmatal the appkcabekty, if any. af thu en/wamakon to any plants avJacaktaa athar than those specajicauy endacatai as bang afectai andfw uhach CENE supphai th\\
\\
equapement er servua edamsst en the Natajicataan. h.:.
- - afapphcabstaty ofthis infornsanon to a perucula plant erfacalary, and the daaraon of arhatha er not to take a,non haraf as the Nonfication, arr the.
- of the owner of that plant erfaalaty.
j
l' SC96-04 4
p
Background
. q) s A domestic BWR licensee has reported to GE Nuclear Energy (GE-NE) that a number of GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers were failing to operate as expected. The Instantaneous Trip Function was tripping the circuit breaker at values less 1
}
than the RMS-9 Programmer switch setting would have implied.
The licensee sent three (3) of these RMS-9 Programmers to GE NE for testing, evaluation, and failure analysis. Subsequent testing confirmed that the Instantaneous Pickup Switches sometimes failed to their lowest value (1.5X). At other times, changing j
the switch setting had no apparent effect on the RMS-9 Programmer setting. Only the Instantaneous Pickup Switch appears to be affected. GE-NE has not identified any problem with the other switches on the RMS-9 Programmers.
GE-NE has determined the cause of the problem with the Instantaneous Pickup Switch to be a polyester epoxy film on the internal switch contacts. This film acts as an insulator and consequently, when the switch position is changed, the contacts are prevented from making full contact and the RMS-9 Programmer fails to it's lowest Instantaneous Pickup setting (1.5X). This film is apparently the result ofinsufficient curing of the conformal coating (polyester epoxy) applied to the RMS-9 Programmer during final assembly.
Testing has shown that some of the conformal coating ran under the switch when it was applied and was not cured because it was shadowed by the switch during the ultraviolet 1
curing process. Over a period of time the external contacts of the switch acted as wicks and tirew some of the uncured conformal coating into the switch where it then formed the film on the internal switch contacts. Since the thickness of the film on the internal contacts varies, the effect is to cause the switch to fail to it's lowest setting. At this setting the film is thick enough to act as an open circuit and to cause the switch to operate erratically.
While this same action may have occurred at other switches in the RMS-9 Programmer, the higher current through the other switches allowed the film to " burn off". This is why only the Instantaneous Pickup Switch is being affected.
Based on the testing performed by GE-NE the film does not appear to form between the movable contacts and the stationary contacts in the switch. This means that if the switch is operating properly and is not moved from the position verified to have proper operation, the switch will continue to operate properly.
The affected RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device Programmers were manufactured by GE Electrical Distribution and Control, and supplied by GE-NE as Safety Related components for balance-of-plant or unspecified applications. They were variously provided as spare parts or as components of either refurbished circuit breakers or new AK7/AKR7 circuit breakers.
O Page 2
' SC96-04 Safety Basis O.
An RMS-9 Programmer with the Instantaneous Pickup Function failed to it's lowest value or at some value lower than anticipated could result in the inability to start a motor due to the starting current of the motor being above the Instantaneous Pickup setpoint of the RMS-9 Programmer. Likewise, if the Instantaneous Pickup setpoint is at some value l
higher than expected, it is possible that a circuit fault could result in the circuit breaker l
not tripping in accordance with the selective tripping scheme of the power system. This could result in losing significant portions of the power system due to the circuit breaker failing to trip when expected and thus forcing upstream circuit breakers to isolate a fault.
Corrective Actions and Preventative Measures GE-NE recommends that as the final step in any procedure requiring the repositioning of the Instantaneous Pickup Switch, the proper operation of the Instantaneous Trip Function be verified by testing. This testing may be performed by Primary Current Injection or by using the GE TVRMS Test Set to verify the " electronic" position of the Instantaneous Pickup Switch. This recommendation is based on the evidence that a 1
properly operating switch will continue to operate properly unless and until the switch position is changed such that the film (if present) comes into play.
V
!O Page3
. ~ SC96-04
=
ATTACHMENT 1 O.
AFFECTED PLANTS UnLITY PLANT AFFECTED P
Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
Calvert Cliffs 1 x
Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
Calvert Cliffs 2 x
Boston Edison Co.
Pilgrim x
Carolina Power & Light Co.
Brunswick 1 Carolina Power & Light Co.
Brunswick 2 Centerior Energy Perry 1 Comed CRIT Facility x
Comed Dresden 2 x
Comed Dresden 3 x
Comed laSalle 1 x
Comed LaSalle 2 x
Comed Quad Cities 1 x
{
Comed-Quad Cities 2 x
Consumers Power Co.
Big Rock Point 4
l DTE Energy Fermi 2 l
Duquesne Light Co.
Beaver Vallev 1 x
1' j
Duquesne Ught Co.
Beaver Valley 2 x
i Entergy Operations, Inc.
Grand Gulf
.'b Entergy Operations, Inc.
River Bend x
Entergy Operations, Inc.
Waterford 3 x
).
GPU Nuclear Corp.
Oyster Creek x
IES Utilities, Inc.
Duane Arnold i
Illinois Power Co.
Clinton i
long Island Lighting Co.
Shoreham Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co.
Maine Yankee x
j Nebraska Public Power District Cooper j
NewYork Power Authority FitzPatrick l
Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.
Nine Mile Point 1 1
Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.
Nine Mile Point 2 Northeast Utilities Millstone 1 x
Northern States Power Co.
Monticello Omaha Public Power District Fort Calhoun x
j PECO Energy Co.
Limerick 1 i
PECO Energy Co.
Limerick 2 PECO Energy Co.
Peach Bottom 2 PECO Energy Co.
Peach Bottom 3 j
Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.
Susquehanna 1 sylvania Power & Ught Co.
S uchanna 2 Public Service Electric & Gas Co.
Hope Creek LO
]
Page 4
- L SC96-04 e
ErnLITY O
PLANT AFFECTED Rochester Gas & Electric Corp.
R. E. Ginna Southern Nuclear Operating Co.
Hatch 1 x
Southern Nuclear Operating Co.
Hatch 2 x
Southern Nuclear Operating Co.
Vogtle 1 x
Southern Nuclear Operating Co.
Vogtle 2 x
Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Feny 1 x
Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Ferry 2 x
Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Ferry 5 x
Vennont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.
Vermont Yankee x
Washington Public Power Supply System l WNP 2 x
r
~.
5
~
- O Page 5 4
~
o SC96-04 ATTACHMENT 2 (q>
10 CFR PART 21 NOTIFICATIONS FOR 1995/1996 The following is a list of 10CFR Part 21 notifications that GENE has provided to BWR owners in 1995 and 1996 as Reportable Conditions (RC), Transfers ofInformation (TI), Safety Information Communications (SC) or 60 Day Interim Reports (60 Day).
NUMBER REF.
SUBJECT DATE SC9%1 PSC9511 Unanalyzed Water Hammer Imading (TI) 5/12/95 SC9M2 PRC 95-03 Radiation Umitations of Bellows-Fill Uquid in ITT Banon 5/30/95 Differential Pressure Indicaton and Indicating Switches (TI)
SC95-02, PRC 954)3 Radiation Limitations of Bellows-Fill Uguid in ITT Banon 6/10/95 Revision 1 Differential Pressure Indicators and Indicating Switches (TI)
SC9M3 PRC 954)5 Environmental Qualification of D2H Barksdale Pressure 10/25/95 Switches-DTE Inergy (TI)
SC95-04 N/A Not Used N/A SC95-05 N/A Not Used N/A SC9%6 PRC 95-06 RWCU and HPCI Isolation Valve Improper Packing Bushing 11/1/95 Material-Boston Edison Co. (RC)
SC9 %1 PRC 9603 Gould Shawmut A6Y( )-11 Fuse Tenninal Cracking - Public 5/24/96 Service Electric & Gas Co. (TI)
SC9%2 PRC 964)4 Safety Umit MCPR Evaluations (RC) 5/24/96 SC96-03 PRC 96-10 Possible Failure of Agastat ETR Control Relays with "A" Ttme 7/22/96 Range - Public Service Electric & Gas Co. (TI)
SC964)4 PRC 9615 Possible Failure of GE Type RMS-9 Overcurrent Trip Device 8/12/96 Programmers with Instantaneous Trip Function (TI) 1 4
1 4
W 4
O Page 6 j
i