ML20132C740

Discusses Differences Between Insps of Structural Steel Welds at Zimmer & Wolf Creek.Wolf Creek Welds Inspected,Qa Program Functioning & Documentation Accurate.Missing Welds Due to Misinterpretation of Drawings & Human Error

ML20132C740
Person / Time
Site:	Wolf Creek, 05000000, Zimmer
Issue date:	02/25/1985
From:	Danni Smith Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Liaw B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML20132C642	List: ML20132C638 ML20132C645 ML20132C691 ML20132C715 ML20132C719 ML20132C740 ML20132C755 ML20133B565 ML20133B641 ML20133B686 ML20133B738
References
FOIA-85-161 NUDOCS 8503040062
Download: ML20132C740 (2)

Text

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L' UNITED STATES y

A W NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION i -

wash NGTON. o. c. 20555 (jfe v

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FEB 2 51985 Docket Nos. 50-358/482 MEMORANDUM FOR: B. D. Liaw, Chief Materials Engineering Branch f) - Division of Engineering THRU: . S. Hazelton, Section Chief

' )MaterialsApplicationSection Materials Engineering Branch, DE FROM: D. E. Smith Materials Application Section Materials Engineering Branch, DE

SUBJECT:

DIFFERENCES BETWEER ZIt.4MER .AND. WOLF . CREEK WITH

. REGARD TO INSPECTIONS OF STRUCTURAL STEEL WELDS The documentation of structural steel weldments at the Zimmer plant was only one of many areas where a general breakdown of quality control had i occurred. The documentation was not adequate, leading to basic questions as to welders' qualifications, electrode control, and results of inspections.

i (h Some of the structural steel weldments had been coated prior. to inspection

('"y t

and acceptance, contrary to AWS D 1.1. Even with coatings, some of the "

L welds were obviously of poor workmanship and unacceptable. As a result, the applicant could not provide justification for not stripping coatings from the welds for inspections /reinspections.

The situation at Wolf Creek was significantly different. All welds had been inspected and accepted previously. Most importantly, the Quality Assurance program was functioning. The basic control of production documentation, such as welders' qualifications, and electrode control were current and accurate as demonstrated by other I&E inspections. The previous reinspections of structural steel welds, coated and uncoated, i

showed that the general skills and workmanship levels were good. These l

previous reinspection efforts were done on a sampling basis and the defects found were missing welds, undersize welds, underlength welds, j and missing members. These types of defects are not related to the i

manipulative skills of the welder, the weld procedure, or dependent upon

( electrode or base metal characteristics. These types of defects are readily detected and measurable with the welds coated and were the main concern at Wolf Creek.

Contact:

D. Smith X-24553 i

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g B. D. Liaw FEB 2 51985 J

The subsequent investigations by the applicant indicated that the vast majority of missing welds were due to misinterpretation of drawing details.

l Investigations concerning possible falsification of records are underway, but the few isolated incidents of missing welds with no obvious cause appear to be random in nature, principally due to human error by different individuals.

l .4. h _.

David E. Smith Materials Application Section Materials Engineering Branch cc: H. R. Denton ~~ ~ ~ ' ' '

D. G. Eisenhut J. P. Knight W. Johnston D. Denise, Region IV T. Novak

• B. D. Liaw R. Bosnak g G. Lear

{ W. Hazelton C. Y. Cheng R. Klecker P. O'Connor D. Smith DISTRIBUTION:

DMB - Docket Files

,;MTEB -Reading Files MTEB Wolf Creek & Zimmer Files

,A 0 l OFC  : DE:MIE&' : D  :  :  :  :  :

_____.________ y .__ , , , , ,

NAME :D.Smithg : . Iton :  :  :  :  :

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2/25/85 l  : /85 :  :  :  :  :

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

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