ML20134B096

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Congressional Briefing for Marble Hill Nuclear Generating Station
ML20134B096
Person / Time
Site: 05000000, Marble Hill
Issue date: 02/25/1982
From: Harrison J
NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:
Shared Package
ML20132B505 List:
References
FOIA-84-293 NUDOCS 8508150514
Download: ML20134B096 (12)
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CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING FOR MARBLE HILL NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION FEBRUARY 25, 1982 J. J. Harrison Sr. Resident Inspector 4 8506]o 4~g93 pgp FotA-M- 213 K $1

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1 PLANT NAME: Marble Hill Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2 LOCATION: Jefferson County, Indiana, 11 miles north of Madison, Indiana l LICENSEE: Public Service Company of Indiana j TYPE REACTOR: Two 1130 megawatt (electrical) Westinghouse Pressurized Water f Reactors. Replicates the Byron Station 1

ARCHITECT-ENGINEER: Sargent Lundy i CONSTRUCTOR: Public Service Company of Indiana

CONSTRUCTION STARTED
August 24, 1977 (LWA) l April 4, 1978 (CP)

PROJECTED FUEL LOADING DATES: Unit 1, June, 1986 (31 percent completed); ,

Unit 2, June, 1987 (15 percent completed);

j - Overall Construction (25 percent completed) i i

. BACKGROUND I I NRC inspections of concrete work underway in April ar.d May,1979, identified i

deficiencies in the control of quality during concrete placement at Marble Hill.

1 In a meeting with Region III on May 15, Public Service of Indiana (PSI) agreed 1 .

l to upgrade its c,uality assurance program for the concrete work and to determine through testing if previously poured cencrete was adequate..

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1 In June a former site. employee alleged that surface defects -in the concrete had i .

i-been improperly patched, and in July the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel

! Inspectors identified code-compliance problems with piping installation.

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i concrete work was halted June 26 at the request of Region III; then briefly resumed in July before all safety-related construction work was halted August 7, 1979, by PSI after NRC inspectors determined there was significant questions concerning PSI's quality assurance program and its construction management.

These findings were based on NRC inspections of concrete placement, repairs and testing procedures, on the confirmation of allegations by construction workers at the site, and on the finding of the National Buard of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors.

A confirmation order was issued by the NRC staff on August 15, 1979.

A full time NRC Resident Inspector was assigned to Marble Hill on December 3, 1979.

After numerous meetings with the NRC, PSI submitted on February 28, 1980, its formal reply to the order, detailing its effort to upgrade and implement its revised QA program.

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I I' One month later, on March 25, 1980, a public meeting on the proposed corrective Y

action was held by the NRC before'some 500 local residents in Madison, Indiana.

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i To assure that PSI's corrective actions were properly and effectively implemented,

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the Commission appraved a five-step plan for- gradual rescission of the order. The I five stages would be subject to intensive reviews by NRC inspectors with an NRC i

" hold point" at each stage before the next could be undertaken. Additionally, 1

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there were' intermediate " hold points" within each stage.

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j The plan covered: (1) Revised Quality Assurance Program; (2) Receipt Inspections; i

i j (3) Material Verification Program; -( 4 ) Construction Verification Program; 1

i (5) Resumption of Construction.

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One major concern of the NRC's was the apparent low number of qualified QA and [

management personnel at the site. This concern was addressed by the licensee with i

an accelerated hiring and training program and a shifting of personnel to the plant i

i j site. Currently the enti.re Nuclear Division is at the site.

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Two independent outside consultants were also retained by the NRC to prov:de ar.

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1 independent analysis of the concrete work, which had been requested by Save-i' the-Vallev a Madison, Indiana, public interest group. A third engineer, representing i 1

4 Save-the-Valley accompanied the NRC consultants during their review at the Site.

4 After PSI restructured its QA and Constructicn Manngement Programs, it was permitted i

on July 7,1980, to resume receipt inspections of materials at the construction site, and later contractors' were also permitted to undertake receipt inspections.

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On December 5, 1980, the NRC permitted limited electrical work and pipe installation ,

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l to resume by 'Cherne Contracting Co. , the piping contractor, and Commonwealth-i l Lord, the electrical contractor. Then on March 27, 1981, PSI was authorized to

j. resume all remaining safety-related work, including concrete placement. Unrestricted i

authority to continue the work would not be granted until the utility successfully

demonstrated that its quality assurance and construction management programs were i

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  • I implemented properly.

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I e The additional work authorization included concrete repair and placement, structural 1

steel installation and protective coatings. In addition to new concrete work, i

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_.. - ._ -- . . _ . - . - - - . - - _ - _ ~ . _ . _ . . - ~ . . - . .. -

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l PSI contractors began removing and replacing all patches previously made to repair I

surface defects in the concrete, about 6,400. As of February 13, 1982, the patching '

i-j program is about 82 percent completed.

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1 An NRC review of tests and examinations concluded that the existing in-place I

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j concrete work was structurally sound. This determination was based, among other

things, on tests performed by PSI contractors and observed by NRC personnel.

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i l The NRC's independent consultants also concluded that the quality of the concrete i

l at Marble Hill was acceptable.

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RECENT STATISTICAL ISSUE-i j The commissioners recently declined, on January 6, 1982, to review Director i  !

j Stello's March 27, 1981, order allowing resumption of safety-related concrete work k

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i l at Marble Hill. The request had been madeLthrough a 2.206 petition from Save-the-i j valley, which claimed that the statistical methodology used to test in-place i

j ' concrete was faulty. The NRC had approved a four-stage sequential testing pla 4

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. - . _ . . - - - . - . _ . - - -. . ~ . - - - . . . - - -- - - . . . - . - . ~

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to determine the adequacy of in-place concrete at s:arble Hill. The concrete had 1

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to meet the NRC's 95/95 criteria; that is, the NRC had to have 95 percent assurance that no more than 5 percent of the concrete was possibly defective.  !

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4 Save-the-Valley claimed the sequential plan, if carried through, would provide ,

l only a 90/95 assurance factor. The plan: If one defect was found in the first i -

j 59 areas tested, then the test would be expanded to 93 areas. If another defect j '

was found, the test would be expanded to 124 areas, and finally to 153 areas if a l

third defect was found. ,

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l L. D. Y. Ong, of NRC's Office of Policy Evaluation agreed with Save-the-Valley [

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l stating that the sequential plan would indeed only provide a 90/95 factor.

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l However, it was pointed out that the whole argument was moot since no defects were found in the first 59 areas tested.. As a result, there was no need to go any -

i further. Zero defects in the 59 areas equaled 95/95, and thus met NRC requirements.

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MARBLE HILL TODAY In an October 26, 1981, inspection report on Marble Hill, Region III Inspectors stated in item 12 " Summary Findings of This Special Inspection,": "It is Region III's conclusion that PSI has adequately implemented its commitments made in response to the August 15, 1979, " Order Confirming Suspension of Construction" i and the related conventions and agreements in accordance with the NRC's document entitled"GraduatedRecissionofOrderhatedAugust15, 1979".

On February 12, 1982, following a site visit by NRC management, the " Confirming Order" was lifted, thus enabling construction to continue with no restrictions.

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CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS l 19Z3 APRIL /MAY -

NRC IDENTIFIED QUALITY PROBLEMS DURING CONCRETE PLACEMENTS JUNE -

FORMER SITE EMPLOYEE MADE ALLEGATION CONCERNING CONCRETE i

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CONCRETE WORK HALTED BY NRC, .

j LATER RESUMED i .

! AUGUST 7 - -

PSI STOPS ALL SAFETY-RELATED WORK

! AUGUST 15 -

NRC ISSUES " CONFIRMATORY ORDER" i

i DECEMBER 3 -

NRC ASSIGNS FULL-TIME RESIDENT INSPECTOR i

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1930 JANUARY 7 -

ASME ISSUED PSI AN INTERIM LETTER FEBRUARY 28 -

PSI RESPONDS TO THE NRC ORDER MARCH 25 -

PUBLIC MEETING MAY 15 -

NRC ISSUED " GRADUATED RECISSION OF ORDER" JULY 7 -

PSI AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM RECEIPT INSPECTION ASME SURVEY OF PSI, POSITIVE RESULTS NOVEMBER 12 -

NOVEMBER 13 -

TW0' MAJOR CONTRACTORS AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM RECEIPT INSPECTION DECEMBER 5 -

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL WORK AUTHORIZED O

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1981 JANUARY 13 PSI RECEIVES "N" CERTIFICATE FROM ASME MARCH 27 NRC AUTHORIZED CIVIL ACTIVITIES AND OTHER SAFETY-RELATED WORK JUNE 25 INDEPENDENT CONCRETE CONSULTANTS REPORT "IN-PLACE CONCRETE WAS ADEQUATE; MEETS DESIGN INTENT,"

OCTOBER 26 NRC STATUS OF OVERALL PROJECT EFFECTIVENESS - ADEQUATE e

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1932 JANUARY 6 COMMISSIONER'S DECLINED TO REVIEW DIRER. TOR STELLO'S DECISION OF MARCH 27, 1981 FEBURARY 12 CONFIRMING ORDER LIFTED o

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