ML20138C386

Informs of Emergency Communications Capability That NRC Considering Establishing W/Plants & Upcoming Site Visit by NRC Contractor to Obtain Info on Interface of Sys W/Emergency Operations Facility

ML20138C386
Person / Time
Site:	Saint Lucie, Turkey Point, 05000000
Issue date:	03/27/1986
From:	Walker R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:	Woody C FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT CO.
References
NUDOCS 8604020476
Download: ML20138C386 (6)

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.t1AR 2 71986 F}orida Power and Light Company iATTN: Mr. C. O. Woody Group Vice President Nuclear Energy Department P. O. Box 14000 Juno Beach, FL 33408

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Gentlemen:

SUBJECT:

SITE VISIT FOR THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE DATA SYSTEM This letter is to inform you of an emergency communications capability that the NRC is considering establishing with licensed nuclear power facilities and an upcoming site visit by an NRC contractor to obtain information on how such a system would interface with your Emergency Operations Facility.

The emergency communications capability being considered is called the Emergency Response Data Systerc (ERDS). The EROS concept has been determined by the NRC to be a design which best addresses the requirements of the NRC with minimal impact on the licensee. The development of the ERDS concept began with.an assessment of the NRC's role in an emergency at a licensed nuclear facility. The Commission determined that the NRC's primary role is one of monitoring the licensee to assure that appropriate recommendations are made with respect to offsite

. protective actions. To fulfill this role, the NRC requires accurate, timely data on four types of parameters: (1) core and coolant system conditions must be known well enough to assess the extent or likelihood of core damage; (2) conditions inside the containment must be known well enough to assess the likelihood of its failure; (3) radioactivity release rates must be available promptly to assess the immediacy and degree of public danger; and (4) the data from the plant's meteorological tower is necessary to assess the distribution of potential or actual impact on the public. A list.of the particular parameters considered necessary to these assessments is included as Enclosure 1.

Experience with the voice-only emergency ccmunications link, currently utilized for data transmission, has demonstrated that excessive amounts of time are needed for the routine transmission of data and for verification or correction of data that appear questionable. Error rates have been excessive; initiations have been slow; frequency of upd;tes has been unreliable. In addition, the current system creates an excessive drain on the time of valuable experts at the NRC and at the facility. When errors occur, they frequently create false issues which, at best, divert experts from the real problems for seriously long periods of time. At worst, incorrect data may cause the NRC to respond to offsite officials with inaccurate or outdated advice that results in the implementation of inappropriate protective actions.

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Florida Power and Light Company 2 Several options were considered for upgrading the data acquisition capabilities at the Operations Center. The options included various means of acquiring the data: manually, automatically using existing systems, or automatically using new systems. Appropriate options for transmitting the data to the Operations Center were considered: electronically formatted data, image facsimile, or by voice through specially qualified communicators.

The criteria used to compare these options involve accuracy, reliability, timeliness, completeness, cost (in dollars and expert personnel), and backfitting requirements. The NRC determined that' automatic transmission of selected parameters from licensees' existing electronic data systems is most capable of providing acceptably complete and reliable data on a timely basis at reasonable cost with the minimum potential for burdening the licensee in an emergency. Most licensees either already have developed or are developing electronic data systems for their . emergency response facilities (ERFs). Because the role of the licenseas' ERFs is similar to the role of the NRC during emergencies, the licensees' data systems already include most of the parameters desired by NRC.

Those few parameters which are not included in any particular licensee's system can be communicated by voice over the Emergency Notification System (ENS), thus avoiding backfitting requirements on the licensee to include additional parameters on their electronic data systems. Data would be accepted in whatever format the licensee uses and reformatted at the Operations Center, as necessary.

Because of the diversity of data systems utilized by the licensees, the best means for extracting the NRC's parameters from each system would be determined on a case-by-case basis. The licensees would have control over transmission and would use the system only during emergencies. This option is the Emergency Response Data System. The design concept for the ERDS is outlined in Enclosure 2.

Previous discussions with several licensees and two tests of the ERDS concept which were conducted with Duke Power and Commonwealth Edison have indicated that the ERDS . concept has the potential to significantly improve the NRC's incident response function and its response relationship with licensees. Therefore, to determine more specifically the factors that would affect' implementation of an ERDS, we have initiated an effort to survey the equipment and facilities at licensees' sites and determine the hardware and software requirements of such a system. You should expect to be contacted in the near future by a member of this Regional Office to arrange a site visit by an NRC Headquarters staff member accompanied by an NRC contractor to speak with you on this subject. The visit is an information gathering process. It is oriented toward determination of:

The availability of a particular set of PWR or BWR parameters in digital form.

The verification and validation method, if any.

, Characterization of the available data feed point (s).

Access will be needed to documentation and knowledgeable individuals typically from Instrumentation and Centrol, technical, telecommunications, and computer systems cadres within the plant staff._ Please contact Mr. Bill Sartor with the

Florida Power and Light Company 3 Region II Emergency Preparedness Section at (404) 331-6152 and provide him with a licensee contact to assist in the scheduling of site visits. NRC Headquarters has indicated that site visits will. be initiated during early 1986 and should be completed within four months.

1 Should you have questions regarding the site visits, please contact Mr. Sartor.

Should you have any questions on. the ERDS concept in general, please contact Mr. Ken Perkins with the Incident Response Branch at NRC Headquarters, telephone (301) 492-7361.

Sincerely,

Original Signed by Roger D. Walker Roger D. Walker., Director Division of Reactor Projects

Enclosures:

1. PWR and BWR Parameters

2. ERDS Design Concept

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i ENCLOSURE 1 PWR PARAMETER LISTS Primary Coolant System Pressure Temperatures - hot leg Temperatures - cold leg Temperatures - core exit thermocouples Subcooling margin Pressurizer level RCS charging / makeup flow Reactor vessel level (when available)

Reactor coolant flow Neutron flux - startup range

-Secondary Coolant System Steam generator levels Main feedwater flows Auxiliary / Emergency feedwater flows Safety Injection High pressure safety injection flows Low pressure safety injection flows Safety injection flows (Westinghouse)

Borated water storage tank level Containment Containment pressure Containment. temperatures Hydrog'n e concentration Containment sump levels Radiation Monitoring System Reactor coolant radioactivity Containment radiation level Condenser air removal radiation level j Effluent radiation monitors Process radiation monitor levels Meteorological Wind speed Wind direction Atmospheric stability BWR PARAMETER LISTS Reactor Coolant System Reactor Pressure Reactor vessel level Feedwater flow Neutron flux-startup range i

Enclosure 1 2 Safety Infection RCIC flow HPCI/HPCS flow Core spray flow LPCI flow Condensate storage tank level Containment Drywell pressure Drywell temperature Hydrogen & 0xygen Concentration Drywell sump level Suppression pool temperature Suppression pool level Radiation Monitoring System Reactor coolant radioactivity level Primary containment radiation level Ccndenser off gas radiation levels Effluent radiation monitor Process radiation levels Meteorological Wind speed Wind direction Atmospheric stability

ENCLOSURE 2 EMERGENCY RESPONSE DATA SYSTEM (ERDS)

DESIGN CONCEPT Data Acquisition Parameter inputs to ERDS would be obtained from an existing computer system (e.g., SPDS, plant computer, EOF data systems, etc.) at the plant.

Data Transmission Data will be transmitted to the NRC Operations Center by modem to cor.mercial telephone line or a dedicated line maintained by NRC (e.g., ENS).

Data Collection A processing system maintained by the NRC will receive the data stream by modem. The system will be . designed to receive all varied data streams and to reformat the data into a consistent format. The reformatted data will be output to CRTs and printer.

Parameter List The parameter list would ~ include those parameters necessary to ensure that appropriate protective action is being taken with respect to offsite recommendations. The list would be limited to those parameters involving plant status,_ radiological and meteorological conditions.

Licensees will not be required to backfit their systems to include additional parameters to provide data on NRC's parameter list. Data that is not available from the electronic data stream can be provided by voice over existing phone lines.

Transmission Frequency The updating frequency of the licensees' system will determine transmission frequency to NRC. If more frequent updates are required than those provided electronically by a particular licensee, the increased frequency will be accomplished (for a very limited subset of parameters) by voice over existing telephone lines.

Control The licensee will have complete control over data transmission. ERDS would be " switched on" by the licensee in the early stage of a declared emergency.