ML20141N717

Discusses Emergency Communications Capability, Emergency Response Data Sys (Erds),Being Considered for Licensed Nuclear Power Facilities.Bwr Parameter List & ERDS Design Concept Encl.Site Visit Planned

ML20141N717
Person / Time
Site:	Cooper
Issue date:	03/06/1986
From:	Johnson E NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To:	Pilant J NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT
References
NUDOCS 8603180005
Download: ML20141N717 (5)

Text

,

MAR 6 1986 In Reply Refer To:

Docket: 50-298 Nebraska Public Power District ATTN: J. M. Pilant, Manager, Technical Staff-Nuclear Power Group P. O. Box 499 Columbus, Nebraska 68601 Gentlemen:

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 facility.

The emergency communication capability being consicered is called the Emergency Response Data System (ERDS). The ERPS concept has been determined by the NRC to be a design which best addrE ses the requirements of the NRC wi'.h minimal impact on the licensee. The development of the ERDS concept began with an assessment of what is the NRC's role in an emergency at a licensed nuclear facility. The Ccmmission determined that thc NRC's prinary 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 act: urate, timely data on four types of parameters: (1) core and cocl3nt systen conditions must be known well enough to assess the extent or likelihood of core damage; (2) condi' ions inside the containment must be known well enough to assess the likelihood of its fatiure; (3) radioactivity release rates n.ust be availabla promptly to assess the immediacy and degree of public danger; and (4) the data from the plan W meteorological tower is necessary to etsess the distribution of potential or actual impact on the public. A list of the particular parameters considered necessary to these assessments is included at Enclosure 1.

Experience with the voice-only emergency communicaticns link, currently utt-lized for data transmission, has du onstrated that excessive amounts of time are needed for the routine transmission of data and for verification or correc-tion of data that appear questionable. Error rates have been excessive; initiations have been slow; treguency of updates have been unreliable. In addition, thG current system creates an excessivo drain on the time of valuable experts at the NRC and at d e facility. When errors occur, they frequently

! create false issues which, at best, divert exper ts ifum the real problems for RI C:R&Sk . C D:D 8 D:DRS R LYandk QM , p GB RB@ EJohnscq RM in 4- /86 Q /86' 0)/p/h6 $/A'/86 3/h/8C B6 egaigggg gge A./

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Nebraska Public Power District . 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.

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 format' i data, image facsimile, or by voice through specially qualified communicator.

l The criteria used to compare these options involved 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 i capable of providing acceptably complete and reliable data on a timely basis at

reasonable cost with the minimum potential for burdening licensee in an emer-

gency. Most licensees either already have developed or are developing elec-tronic dt.ta syster.s for their emergency response facilities (ERFs). Becau e

the rolr of the licensees' ERFs is similar to the role of '.he NRC during emergercies, the licensees' data systems already include most of the preameters desirt.d by NRC. Those few parameters which are not included in any-particular licer.see'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 (ERDS). The design concept for the ERDS is outlined in Enclosure 2.

Previous discussions with several licensnes 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 incident response function and our response relationship with licensees.

Therefore, to determine more specifically the factors that would effect imple-mentation of an ERDS we have initiated an effort to survey the equipment and facilities at' licensees' sites and determine the hardware and software require-me:nts of such a system. You should expect to be contacted in the next week by a member of this regional office to arrange a site visit by a NRC Headquarters staff member accompanied by a NRC contractor to speak with you on this subject.

The visit is an information gathering process. It is oriented toward determi-nation of:

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

i

Nebraska Public Power District The verification and validation mcchod, if any.

Characterization of the available data feed point (s).

Access will be needed to documentation and knowledgeable individuals typically from Instrumentation and Control, technical, telecommunications, and computer systems cadres within the plant staff. Should you have any questions on this site visit please contact Mr. Gene Bates at (817) 860-8233.

Should you have any question on the ERDS concept in general please contact

. Ken Perkins with the Incident Response Branch at NRC Headquarters. He can be reached at 301-492-7361.

Sincerely, igrenal S6 ped bs" E. H. Johnson, Director Division of Reactor Safety and Projects

! E;iclosures: As stated i cc w/erclosures:

, Guy Horn, Division Manager of Nuclear Operations Cooper Nuclear Station P. O. Box 98 Brownville, Nebraska 68321 Kansas Radiation Control Program Director

' Nebraska Radiation Control Program Director bec to DMB (A045) bec distrib. by RIV:

• RPB DRSP

• Resident Inspector R. D. Martin, RA

• Section Chief (RPB/A) *D. Weiss, LFMB (AR-2015

, *R&SPB *RSB

• MIS System

• RIV File

• RSTS Operator

E

, a .

ENCLOSURE 1 BWR PARAMETER LISTS Reactor Coolant Reactor pressure System Reactor vessel level Feedwater flow Neutron flux-Startup range Safety Injection 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 Reactor coolant radioactivity level Systems Primary containment radiation level Condenser off gas radiation levels Effluent radiation monitor Process radiation levels Meteorological Wind speed Wind direction Atmospheric stability

r-0 . . . g 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 Transmiasion Data will be transmitted to the NRC Operations Center by modem to commer-cial 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 straam by modem. The system will be designed to receive all varied dat) 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 wou'i 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 addi-tional 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' systems will determine transmis-sion 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, t

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