ML20141N869

Describes Emergency Response Data Sys Concept & Parameters, Including Core & Coolant Sys Conditions,Conditions Inside Containment,Radioactivity Release Rates & Meteorological Data.Site Visit Planned Re Interface W/Emergency Operations

ML20141N869
Person / Time
Site:	Farley
Issue date:	03/11/1986
From:	Walker R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:	Mcdonald R ALABAMA POWER CO.
References
NUDOCS 8603180226
Download: ML20141N869 (6)

Text

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g-as C ' MAR 11 1986 Alabama Power Company _.

ATTN: Mr. R.~P. Mcdonald  ;

Senior Vice President

' P..O. Box 2641

. Birmingham, AL 35291

< - 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 communication capability being considered is called the Emergency Response / Data . System .(EROS). The ERDS concept has been determined by the NRC to be a . design which best addresses the requirements of the NRC with minimal impact

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on the ifcensee.. The development of the ERDS concept began with an asse:sment of what is the NRC's role in an. emergency at a licensed nuclear facility. The 4'

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 communications link, currently utilized .

for data tranciaission, 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 updates have 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 errocs 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. 1 8603180226 se03113B ADOCK O PDR

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. s Alabama Power 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 licensees' 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 (ERDS). 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 incident response function and our response relationship with licensees. Therefore, to determine more specifically the factors that would effect 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 Control, technical, telecommunications, and computer systems cadres within the plant staff. Please contact Bill Sartor with the

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Alabama Power Company 3 Region II Emergency Preparedness Sect',on 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.

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, Roger D. Walker, Director Division of Reactor Projects

Enclosures:

1. PWR and BWR Parameters

2. ERDS Design Concept fcw/

W. O. enc 1: Executive Vice President Whitt, J. D. Woodard, General Manager -

J.NuclearPlant G. Hairston, III, General Manager -

/ Nuclear Support f.W.McGowan, Manager-SafetyAudit

/andEngineeringReview J . K. Osterholtz, Supervisor-Safety Audit and Engineering Review c w/ encl:

C Resident Inspector E. Reeves, Project Manager, NRR Document Control Desk State of Alabama RII RII RII RII RII R WSartor hk TDecker

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e s ENCLOSURE 1

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PWR PARAMETER LISTS Primary Coolant System

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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 Contair. ment pressure Containment temperatures Hydrogen concentration Containment sump levels Radiation Monitoring System Reactor coolant radioactivity Containment radiation level Condenser air removal radiation level 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

Enclosure 1 2 '

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 i

Radiation Monitoring System Reactor coolant radioactivity level Primary containment radiation level Condenser off gas radiation levels  :

Effluent radiation monitor  !

Process radiation levels i Meteorological Wind speed Wind direction Atmospheric stability b

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e e . 6 O 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 commercial 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 neteorological 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 l 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 ectly stage of a declared emergency.

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