ML20207F137

Weekly Info Rept for Wk Ending 861226

ML20207F137
Person / Time
Issue date:	01/02/1987
From:	Rehm T NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:
References
WIR-861226, NUDOCS 8701050456
Download: ML20207F137 (21)

Text

PU as January 2, 1987 For: The Commissioners From: T. A. Rehm, Assistant for Operations, Office of the E00

Subject:

WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 26, 1986 A sumary of key events is included as a convenience to those Commissioners who may prefer a condensed version of this report.

Contents Enclosure Administration A Nuclear Reactor Regulation B Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards C Inspection and Enforcement D Nuclear Regulatory Research E General Counsel F*

International Programs G*

State Programs H*

Resource Management I*

Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data J Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization & Civil Rights K*

Regional Offices L*

CRGR Monthly Reports M*

Executive Director for Operations N*

Items Addressed by the Commission 0 Meeting Notices P Proprietary or Other Sensitive Information (Not for 0 external distribution) g/

• No input this week. - -

/

T. A. e M Operations Office of the Executise Director for Operations

Contact:

A. Rehm. ED0 8701050456 870102 2 7781 PDR COMMS NRCC WEEKLYINFOREPT PDR

HIGHLIGHTS OF WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT

. WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 26, 1986 Hope Creek Generating Station Having completed the 100-hour Warranty Run on December 19, 1986, PSE&G

, declared Hope Creek ready for commercial operation. PSE&G has delegated the actual declaration of consnercial operation to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2 In its December 17, 1986 Order, the ASLB Licensing Board closed the evidentiary hearing record for Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2. The hearing for the contention concerning harassment, intimidation, retaliation and other dis-crimination spanned 97 hearing days between May 6,1986 and November 26, 1986.  ;

The Board indicated that the parties should follow the briefing schedule '

developed by the Board on November 26, 1986. The Licensing Board expects to issue a decision in March 1987.

Fuel loading began on October 25 and was completed on November 3,1986. Mode 5 operation was initiated on November 11, 1986; Mode 4 operation is scheduled to be initiated in mid-January 1987.

Palo Verde Unit 3 The applicant informed us that around noon December 23, 1986 the engine for the "B" diesel generator (manufactured by Cooper) " threw" two pistons pene-trating the cylinder walls during the second hour of a 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> run. A manufacturer (Cooper) representative is at the Palo Verde site to assess the matter. The staff is following the process of the investigation to determine possible generic implications.

Unit 3 is currently scheduled for low power licensing and fuel loading in i

March 1987. At this time, the effect of the diesel problen on the March 1987 is not known.

Restart of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station i On December 22, 1986, the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Unit No. I was restarted after a 561 day outage which started on June 9,1985, as a result of a temporary loss of all feedwater. The plant is following a special tests to demonstrate that systems are performing as designed and is in conformance with the licensing bases for the plant.

Radioactive Waste Shipment Misrouted On December 12, 1986, a rail shipment carrying approximately 20,000 curies of radioactive waste materials was misrouted into the State of Minnesota. The shipment originated at the Palo nuclear power plant in Iowa, and was being sent to the U.S. Ecology Burial Site near Hanford, Washington. The shipment was returned to its original route and reached the burial site on December 22. The U.S. Department of Transportation and NRC Region III staff were notified and are expected to corduct independent investigations.

l DECEMBER 26, 1986

2 Received, Cont'd Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on September 4-5, 1986, Technology, Inc. for Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-876)

George Walker, Requests copies of the technical proposal and the contract Opportunity for NRC-10-86-251 which was awarded to Technical Systems, Inc. Associates.

(86-877)

Robert Grobinski, Requests a list of licensed radioactive material handlers Syncor in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, International to include six specified program codes.

Corporation (86-878)

Kate Silbaugh, Requests copies of minutes from a meeting on December 16, Harmon & Weiss 1986, at Region I; Dr. Murley's calendar for December 16-(86-879) 17, 1986; and any notes on conversations and meetings between any of 13 specified persons on December 16-17, 1986.

Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on September 15, 1986, for Technolog , Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-880 Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on September 10, 1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-881)

Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on August 28, 1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-882)

(NRC employee) Requests a copy of the current applicable version of the i

l (86-883) Manual Chapter NRC-0230 Subpart on Internal and Interagency l Reports.

i

! (An individual Requests a copy of the report submitted in 1983 from Dr. Wald of the University of Pittsburgh relating to requesting information ) Nuclear Metals, Inc., of Concord, Massachusetts.

(86-884)

John Harris, Requests two categories of records related to the South Austin American- Texas nuclear project.

l Statesman l (86-885)

Mike Johnson, Requests a copy of a December 12, 1986 memorandum to NUS Corporation Victor Stello on Performance Indicators.

(86-886)

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE A

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION Week Ending December 26, 1986 ADMINISTRATION OF THE FREEDOM 0F INFORMATION ACT STATUS OF REQUESTS Initial Appeal of Request Initial Decision Carryovers,1985 181 15 Received, 1986 892 237 Granted 666 103 Denied 225 94 Pending 182 55 ACTIONS THIS WEEK Received Martin Levy, Requests a record of the amount of the bonus awarded to NTEU Chief Steward each of the executives listed on NRC Announcement No. 192.

(86-870)

Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on August 25,1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-871)

Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on October 3, 1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-872)

Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on October 9, 1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-873)

Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on November 3, 1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-874)

. Paul Shapiro, Requests copies of all investigator reports relating to Radiation an inspection by named persons on November 19, 1986, for Technology, Inc. Radiation Technology, Inc., in New Jersey.

(86-875)

CONTACT: Donnie H. Grimsley 1 492-7211 DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE A

3 Received, Cont'd Vincent Kiernan, Requests records on anti-nuclear groups which have The Herald conducted protests at the Lawrence Livermore (86-887) National Laboratory in California.

(An individual Requests records regarding the Quad Cities nuclear power plant and his allegations.

requesting information )

(86-888)

Jessie Deer in water Requests a copy of a proprietary section of a report Native Americans referenced in the November 12, 1986 letter to the for a Clean requester from W. Crow on Kerr-McGee's Sequoyah Fuels Environment Corporation in Oklahoma.

(86-889)

James Kumnick, Requests records relating to Contract RS-0RM-86-264.

Management Systems Designers, Inc.

(86-890)

David Rosenbaum, Requests appendices A and B and enclosures 1 and 2 of Technical SECY-86-317, " Performance Indicators" and all back-up Analysis documentation relating to this paper.

Corporation (86-891)

Janice Foster Requests the names of the bidders, amount of bids, and (86-892) awardee of a contract for the Medical Services Program for NRC personnel in RIV.

! Granted Ophelia Williams, In response to a request for a copy of an August 1986 J/R/A Associates document by an IDCOR Group to the BWR Owners Group, (86-865) " Evaluation of BWR Accident Mitigation Capability Relative to Proposed NRC Changes," made available a copy of the requested record.

Denied Midori Higuchi, In response to a request for records of the investigation The Yasuda Fire of the accident at Kerr-McGee's Sequoyah plant in Gore,

& Marine Insurance Oklahoma, made available 115 records. Informed the Company of America requester that additional records subject to this request (86-61) are already available at the PDR. Denied one record in its entirety and portions of three records, disclosure of which would tend to inhibit the open and frank exchange of ideas essential to the deliberative process. Denied portions of one record, disclosure of which would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE A

4 Denied, Cont'd Brian Hunt, In response to a request for four categories of Environmental records regarding Kerr-McGee's Sequoyah facility and Action the January 4, 1986 incident at the facility, made (86-393) available one record. Informed the requester that additional records subject to this request are already available at the PDR. Denied 12 records in their entirety containing advice, opinions, and recommendations of the staff, release of which would interfere with an ongoing enforcement proceeding and would cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Mark Rohner, In response to a request for copies of (1) telephone Gannett News logs and appointment calendars for Commissioners Roberts, Service Asselstine, Bernthal, and Zech and former (86-800) Chairman Palladino, and (2) records reflecting any communications between them and persons working for TVA and Stone & Webster Company, informed the requester that one record subject to this request is already available at the PDR. Denied one record in its entirety, disclosure of which would tend to inhibit the open and frank exchange of ideas essential to the deliberative process.

Billie Garde, In response to an APPEAL TO THE ED0 for the release of Government four records denied in their entirety regarding a Accountability request for records concerning the Fermi 2 Health Physics Project Department, made available five records. Made available (86-A-199-86-373) additional portions of one record and continued to deny two records, release of which would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Billie Garde, In response to an APPEAL TO THE EDO for the release of Government the denied portions of nine records regarding a request Accountability for records generated in connection with all NRC data on Project drug investigations at the Comanche Peak nuclear power (86-A-205-86-383) plant, made available additional portions of one record.

Continued to deny the portions of seven records, release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and disclose the identity of a confidential source.

Billie Garde, In response to an APPEAL TO THE COMMISSION AND THE EDO Government for the release of the denied portions of one record Accountability in NRC's October 21, 1986 response to a request for Project records generated or prepared by Victor Stello since his (86-A-222-86-53, appointment as Acting Executive Director for Operations, 86-54 and 86-55) continued to deny the portions containing classified information and disclosure of which would be likely to stifle the honest and frank communication within the agency.

ENCLOSURE A DECMEBER 26, 1986

. WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT DIVISION OF CONTRACTS WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 26, 1986 IFB ISSUED IFB No.: RS-ADM-87-204

Title:

" Purchase of Electronic Telephone Instruments"

Description:

Contractor shall provide electronic telephone instruments when ordered by the NRC.

Pericd of Performance: One year Sponsor: Office of Administration Status: IFD issued on December 22, 1986. Bids due en Jaruary 22, 1987.

IFB No.: RS-ADM-87-205

Title:

" Data Communications - Terminating Equipment"

Description:

Contractor will provide modems to support communication connectivity between NRC's minicomputers, mainframe databases and terminals.

Period of Performance: Two years Sponsor: Office of Administration Status: Closing date has been extended to January 8, 1987.

RFP ISSUED RFP No.: RS-ADM-87-207

Title:

" Mandatory Supervisory Development Program Training"

Description:

Presentation of five courses entitled, " Pre-Supervisory Orientation Program-Part II," " Supervising Human Resources,"

" Management Workshop," "Fanaging Employee Performance," and

" Managing Change," to NRC's management and supervisory employees.

Period of Performance: Three years Sponsor: Office of Administration Status: Negotiations have been completed. Best and Final offers are due on December 30, 1986.

RFP No.: RS-0GC-87-316

Title:

"NRC Practice and Procedure Dige.'"

i Descripticn: Review NRC, ASLAB and ASLB cecisions to idertify rulirgs i affecting NRC practice and procedure. Also, prepare abstracts cf rulings for purposes of updating the NRC Digest.

Period of Performance: 24 months

Sponsor

Office of General Counsel Status: The competitive range has been established and negotiations are scheduled for the week of January 20, 1987.

l l

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE A r

1 PROPOSAL UNDER EVALUATION RFP No.: RS-ADM-87-173

Title:

" Career Counseling"

Description:

Provide career counseling services to the NRC Headquarters and related support for the NRC Regional Offices.

Period of Performance: Two years Sponsor: Office of Administration Status: Negotiations have been completed. Best and Final offers are due on January 5,1987.

CONTRACT AWARDED RFP No.: RS-0P.M-86-264

Title:

" Development of the Ccrporate Data Network"

Description:

Contractor will develop shared data bases utilizing the Data Base Management System Package IDMS/R, strategic data planning and information engineering methodologies.

Period of Performance: Three years Sponsor: Office of Information Resource Management Status: A cost-plus-fixed-fee task order type Contract No. NRC-33-87-224 was awarded to System Automation Corporation in the amount of

$3,668,617 effective December 18, 1986.

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Letter Contract No. NRC-17-PS-207 was awarded to Ace Federal Reporters on October 29, 1984, for stenographic reporting services in the Washington, DC area. As Ace and the NRC were not able to negotiate an agreeable price, the Contracting Officer unilaterally established the payment rates. Ace subsequently submitted a claim in the amount of $121,313.47, representing the difference between the definitized rates and their costs incurred. On December 3,1986, the Contracting Officer issued a final decision denying this claim.

DECMEBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE A

l OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION ITEMS OF INTEREST Week Ending December 26, 1986 T

Hope Creek Generating Station Having completed the 100-hour Warranty Run on December 19, 1986, PSE&G declared Hope Creek ready for commercial operation. PSE&G has delegated the actual declaration of commercial operation to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Braidwood Station. Units 1 and 2 In its December 17, 1986 Order, the ASLB Licensing Board closed the evidentiary hearing record for Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2. The hearing for the

' contention concerning harassment, intimidation, retaliation and other dis-j crimination spanned 97 hearing days between May 6,1986 and November 26, 1986.

j The Board indicated that the parties should follow the briefing schedule developed by the Board on November 26, 1986. The Licensing Board expects to 4

issue a decision in March 1987.

' Fuel loading began on October 25 and was completed on November 3, 1986. Mode 5 operation was initiated on November 11,1986; Mode 4 operation is scheduled to be initiated in mid-January 1987.

V. C. Summer ~

On December 19, 1986, while at 100% power a shaft of one of the three

' feedwater pump turbines sheared. The plant and operators responded smoothly to the event and power is stabilized around 91% on the remaining feedwater pumps. The pump vendor, the licensee, and the staff are investigating this event, i Turkey Point Units 3 and 4 i The licensee has performed Ultrasonic Testing (UT) on portions of the

! condensate and feedwater system piping at the Turkey Point facility to i

determine if conditions exist which could lead to a pipe failure similar to i

that which occurred at the Surry plant.

UT measurements were taken on approximately 75 fittings (i.e., ells, tees, reducers, etc.) in the Turkey Point Unit 4 condensate and feedwater system.

The testing was performed on 3 inch to 20 inch pipe sizes. The acceptance

.j criteria for the tests was that the results would indicate the thickness of the fittings would be within 12 percent of the nominal thickness. Two 3 inch i

and one 4 inch fitting did not meet the criteria. The problem areas that were identified in the Unit 4 fittings were also tested for the fittings in Unit 3. One 3 inch fitting was slightly out of specification.

I DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE B

4 The licensee has issued Non-Conformance Reports on the four fittings. None of the four present an immediate problem.

Grand Gulf Nuclear Station (GGNS), Units 1 and 2 On December 20, 1986, the NRC staff issued an amendment to the Unit 1 operating license and an amendment to the Unit 2 construction permit imple-menting the authorization to transfer control and performance of licensed activities at GGNS from the Mississippi Power & Light Company (MP&L) to System Energy Resources, Inc. (SERI). SERI was formerly named Middle South Energy, Inc., which was one of the joint licensees of GGNS, together with MP&L and South Mississippi Electric Power Association (SMEPA). SERI owns 90% of GGNS and SMEPA owns 10%. The MP&L organization involved with nuclear power activities is transferred, virtually intact to SERI so that the MP&L personnel responsible for operation of Unit 2 will continue those responsibilities as part of SERI. MP&L is retained on the operating licensa of Unit 1 and the construction permit of Unit 2 pending completion of c review of the antitrust conditions in the licenses.

In connection with th'is action, the Commission granted a partial exemption for an interim period up to April 30, 1987, from the requirements in 10 CFR Part 100; specifically, the licensee was exempted from the requirement to define an exclusion area within which the licensee has the authority to deter-mine all activities. During the review of the application to transfer control of licensed activities, it was found that the licensees do not own all the mineral rights within the exclusion area, which was the basis, provided in the FSAR, for the staff's previous findings that the licensees met 10 CFR Part 100 in this regard. Based on additional information, provided in MP&L's request for exemption, the staff has concluded that there is an acceptably small probability during the interim period that any activities by mineral rights owners affecting the exclusion area would occur. The licensee will provide in early January 1987, the bases for establishing long term control of activities within the exclusion area related to the ownership of mineral rights.

Palo Verde Unit 3 The applicant informed us that around noon December 23, 1986 the engine for the "B" diesel generator (manufactured by Cooper) " threw" two pistons pene-trating the cylinder walls during the second hour of a 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> run. A manufacturer (Cooper) representative is at the Palo Verde site to assess the matter. The staff is following the process of the investigation to determine possible generic implications.

Unit 3 is currently scheduled for low power licensing and fuel loading in March 1987. At this time, the effect of the diesel problem on the March 1987 is not known.

i l

i DECMEBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE B

L* ,

. Restart of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station -

~

, On December 22, 1986, the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. I was restarted after a 561 day outage which started on June 9,1985, as a result

of a temporary loss of all feedwater. The plant is following a special tests i to demonstrate that systems are performing as designed and is in conformance ,

with the licensing bases for the plant.

During the outage the following major activities were completed:

a) A major reorganization of the entire nuclear mission b) A significant increase in the total staffing within the nuclear mission c) A review of system functional requirements, design criteria and testing requirements of 34 systems important to safety

d) A significant reduction in the maintenance work backlog.

e) Installation of an electric motor-driven feedwater pump as a diverse-powered backup to the two turbine-driven AFW pumps f) Logic changes to the Steam and Feedwater Rupture Control System to

, improve reliabil.ity l g) Changes to Safety Features Actuation System to improve channel separation and isolation

. h) Reset motor-operated valve torque and limit switches for all 1 safety-related valves

1) Instituted a major motor-operated valve maintenance program j The present core has approximately 295 EFPD remaining from a design life of 390 EFPD.

i i

i 1

DECMEBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE B L. _ - - _ - _ - . - _ _ _ . _ - - - _ _ _ . - _ - - , - - _ - _ . . - - , - _ _ - - _ - . . _

0FFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY APlD SAFEGUARDS Items of Interest Week Ending December 26, 1986 Uranium Enrichment The Department of Energy has informed AlChemIE, Inc., that 250 gas centrifuge machines will be made available to AlChemIE if certain conditions can be met in their proposal. One of these conditions is that AlchemIE (or any other proposer) must be licensed by the NRC before they could lease or buy the machines. AlChemIE has been meeting with NRC staff and is preparing an application for submittal. As previously reported, AlChemIE plans to use the machines for separating stable isotopes and would not use the machines for enriching uranium.

Dry Spent Fuel Storage On December 18. 1986, NRC staff fram NMSS, NRR, and IE met with Duke Power Company to discuss Duke's plans to submit an application for dry spent fuel storage under 10 CFR Part 72. The location of the proposed dry storage installation is to be on the Oconee Nuclear Station site. Duke has requested -

bids from dry storage cask and module vendors and is evaluating the responses.

An application from Duke is not expected until at least August 1987.

On December 19, 1986, NMSS staff met with Nuclear Assurance Corporation (NAC) to accept delivery of the NAC revised topical report (TR) for its stainless steel and lead dry spent fuel storage cask design. Submittal of this revised TR is expected to allow NMSS staff to complete the safety review of NAC's cask design, which has been modified in response to staff comments.

Radioactive Waste Shipment Misrouted On December 12, 1986, a rail shipment carrying approximately 20,000 curies of radioactive waste materials was misrouted into the State of Minnesota. The shipment originated at the Palo nuclear power plant in Iowa, and was being sent to the U.S. Ecology Burial Site near Hanford, Washington. The shipment was returned to its original route and reached the burial site on December 22. The U.S. Department of Transportation and NRC Region III staff were notified and are expected to conduct independent investigations.

DECMEBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE C

2 Nuclear Fuel Services, Erwin, Tennessee On December 18, 1986, members of the Region II staff and W. T. Crow, NMSS, met with members of the State of Tennessee's Department of Radiological Health to discuss the contaminsted sewage sludge in Erwin, Tennessee. The City of Erwin's municipal sanitary waste treatment facility has been receiving liquids from NFS' plant for approximatelv 9 years. Although the liquid leaving the NFS facility meets Part 20 concentresions, heavy metals in these effluents are precipitated and concentrated in :he sludge. Earlier this year the State of Tennessee obtained samples of the sludge from the Erwin facility. Preliminary analyses indicated concentrations of uranium around 800 pCi/gm. Upon receipt of this information, the State informed Region II. Region II and NFS have obtained a considerable number of samples and analyzed them. Isotopic analysis of these samples indicates that tqe uranium is enriched in the U-235 isotope.

Accordingly, it has been determined that the source of contamination is from NFS.

The Erwin, Tennessee, sanitary waste treatment facility has been storing most of the sludge onsite for the past 8-10 years. It is estimated that the uranium concentration of this sludge is in the neighborhood of 100 pCi/gm. Region II has contracted with ORAU to perform a radiological survey of the storage site to determine the volume of sludge and uranium concentration. This survey is currently scheduled for December 29, 30, and 31,1986. Recommendations related to the disposition of the sludge will be held in abeyance pending results of this survey.

One problem that the City of Erwin and the State of Tennessee have is that the present sewage waste treatment plant at Erwin will not meet new EPA criteria for discharge which become effective the first of July 1988. The City of Erwin plans to build a new sewage waste treatment plant on the site where sludge is currently stored. Bids for this new plant are to be solicited in February 1987. Construction is scheduled to start by May 1987 with a completion date of June 1, 1988. If the Erwin plant does not meet EPA criteria by July 1988, there will be a fine of $10,000 a day for each day that the plant is in noncompliance. This means that we must work rapidly to solve this problem.

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE C

. . _ _ __, 7 . - _ - _ _ . . _ . , , . _ , , - - , . . _ , , _ - , _ . . . - , , _ . - _

Office of Inspection and Enforcement Items of Interest Week Ending December 26, 1986

1. Items of Interest None.

2. Civil Penalties Paid None.

3. The following Significant Enforcement Actions were taken during the past week:

a. A Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty was issued to Commonwealth Edison Company (Zion 1) on April 10, 1986 (EN 86-18). This action was based on a violation involving the isolation of cooling water to the bearing oil cooler for an auxiliary feedwater pump. After consideration of the circumstances, th.! staff concluded that the violation did occur. However, the licensee

)rovided a sufficient basis for the reduction of severity level

)ecause the safety significance of the event was less than originally considered; accordingly, the proposed civil penalty has been with-drawn. (EN86-18A)

4. The following IE Information Notices and Bulletins were issued during the past week:

None.

5. The following IE Preliminary Noti _fications were issued during the past week:

a. PNS-I-86-24, Duquesne Light Company (Beaver Valley I), Equipment Tampering,

b. PNS-I-86-25, Philadelphia Electric Company (Limerick 1), Bomb Threat.

c. PNO-III-86-152, Iowa Electric Light and Power Company (Duane Arnold),

Radwaste Shipment Misrouted into Minnesota,

d. PNO-III-86-153, Toledo Edison Company (Davis-Besse), Startup After 18-Month Outage,

e. PNO-III-86-154, Toledo Edison Company (Davis-Besse), Reactor Trip.

f. PNO-IV-86-36. Texas A&M University (College Station, TX), Potential Media Interest--Contamination of Student Workers and Release of BR-82.

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE D

P 2-

g. PNO-IV-86-37, Halliburton Services (Duncan, OK), Media Interest in Recent NRC Inspection.

h. PNO-V-86-93, Arizona Nuclear Power Project (Palo Verde 3), Emergency Diesel Generator Crankcase Malfunction.

i DECMEBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE D

OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH Items of Interest Week Ending December 24, 1986 20/3D At the request of RES, the Federal Republic of Germany has decided to run an emergency core coolant (ECC) bypass test in the Upper Plenum Test Facility (UPTF) in early January 1987 before the facility is shut down for extended repair. This ECC bypass test will provide valuable information on the extent of ECC bypass in full scale geometry and on the applicability of the TRAC-PWR computer code to a full scale PWR. Because of insertion of this test in the schedule, the instrument refurbishment work is now scheduled for February-March 1987. Additional testing is planned to resume in April 1987.

DOE-NRC Workshop on Plant Aging / Life Extension As a part of the joint DOE-NRC coordination and information exchange, members of the RES and NRR staff participated in a I day workshop on plant aging and life extension / license renewal. The intent of the workshop, considered as a kick off rceeting, was for an informal information exchange with the hope that some cons ensus can be reached to improve ongoing DOE and NRC research programs related to aging / life extension, order priorities, and facilitate complementary activities between agencies and contractors.

Many DOE facilities lead the coninercial LWR plants in service life and irradiation-induced aging phenomena. Also, significant technical work by DOE and its contractors has been completed in consideration of plant life extension at the Savannah River plant and at the nuclear reactor facility on the DOE Hanford site. Information exchange and the sharing of DOE's aging data base would benefit the NRC's ongoing research programs on aging and life extension, especially in the timely resolution of some of the technical safety issues identified by the Technical Integration Review Group for Aging and Life Extension (TIRGALEX).

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE E

1 .

2 The DOE program managers and contractors associat!d with N-reactor, EBR 11, ATR, HFIR, HFBR, and FFTF provided an overview of their experiences, ongoing i activities, and future programs related to aging and life,a.stansion.' .The. NRC staff, lead by Jim Richardson, DES /RES, reviewed the h.t.dvare oriented engineering research ,

material aging, (ii) safety programs systems related to. (1) primary and components sed system (iii) agingpressurecf civil boundary structures. R. Bosnak, NRR, mentioned the issuance of the Federal Register ,

~

Notice requesting public comments on Development of Policy for Nuclear Power _

Plant License Renewal. The dialogue and shtring of data Detheen DOE and NRC is expected to continue if approved by the respective management, perhaps in a more formal manner with special subgroups directed at specific technical '

areas / tasks.

An immediate action item that was identified at the coelusion of the workshop was to assign / nominate three or four renbers froi each agency to form a working -

group. The working group's first task will then bte to pr? pare a charter, define the goals and objectives and formulate some early tasks.

The minutes of the meeting / workshop will be issued as a proceeding.

D Cooperative Agreement Between NRC and CEA

< On Tuesday, December 16, 1986, representatives frmi the Commissariat a '

l'Energie Atomique (CEA) of France met with Dr.. Andrew Murphy of the '

Engineering Branch and Leon Beratan, Special Assistant to the Director.

Division of Engineering Safety, to establish milestones concerning a cooperative agreement recently finalized between NRC and CE1. to study soil effects on earthquake ground motions. Negotiations are currently underway with our contractor, the University of California at Santa Barbars, and we eFpect L centract to be finalized in about a month. The cooperative research involves .

4 installing several seismographs at different depths in the free field near i Anza, California to study the effects of typical, shallow sofis on the transmission of earthquake ground motions. ,

10 CFR 50, Appendix J. Leakage Rate Testing of Containments of Light-Water-4 Cooled Nuclear Power Plants The proposed revision to this rule was approved by the Consnission for

publication for public comment and was issued for public comment on October 29, 1986. The public comment period closes on January 26, 1987. ' Northeast-Utilities has submitted a letter request for an extension of the vublic ccmrent period to March 31, 1987. TheBWROwners' Group (BVROG)andBostonEdisonare 3

also preparing letters requesting an extension, but are n pected to request a-j closing date at the end of April 1987. The NRC staff is censidering these

, requests and will make a recommendation upon receipt of the BWROG and ~

floston

Edison letters.

DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE E

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0FFICE FOR ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF OPERATIONAL DATA s'

ITEMS OF INTEREST Week Endino December 26, 1986 An Engineering Evaluation report, AE0D/E613 " Localized Rod Cluster Control J,' Assembly (RCCA) Wear at PWR Plants," was issued on December 23, 1986. The study was initiated by events at Point Beach Unit 2 and Kewaynee involving degradation of RCCAs. The RCCA degradation at these Westinghouse designed PWRs was found to be related to (1) wear during rod motion associated with-

,- startup, shutdown, reactor tip and load following; (2) flow induced vibration

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,with fretting positions forwear long between rodlet periods of time;and andthe c)uide cladding (3 rodlet card when RCCAs(inter-cracking are at fixed granular stress corrosion cracking) that appears related to absorber / clad interaction. The report recommends that IE issue an information notice to alert licensees of Westinghouse PWRs about the wear problem and the need to plan and schedule inspections to determine the condition of all RCCAs. The report also suggests that NRR consider whether there is a need to establish periodic inspections (such as a 10-year interval) of RCCAs and assess the feasibility of reactor water chemistry monitoring procedures. '

1 DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE J

. ITEMS ADDRESSED BY THE COMMISSION - WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 12, 1986 A. STAFF REQUIREMENTS - AFFIRMATION / DISCUSSION AND V0TE, 3:30 P.M., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1986, COMMISSIONERS' CONFERENCE ROOM, D.C. OFFICE (OPEN TO PUBLIC ATTENDANCE) - Memo Secy to V. Stello,-ED0 dated 12/22/86

1. SECY-86-336A - Proposed Revision to Part 110 Concerning Import of Uranium from South Africa The Commission (with Chairman Zech and Commissioners Roberts and Asselstine agreeing) has approved the final rule with modifi-cations which would require a specific license for all imports of uranium, in any chemical or physical form, which comes directly or indirectly from South Africa for any end use.

Commissioners Bernthal and Carr approved the original staff proposed rule which included only a requirement for a specific license for uranium ore and oxide from South Africa.

The final rule shall be revised to conforn to the above noted modifications and returned for signature and publication in the Federal Register.

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DECEMBER 26, 1986 ENCLOSURE 0 s

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n> NRR MEETING NOTICES *

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NUMBER LOCATION PURPOSE ATTENDEES NRR CONTACT DATE/ TIME 12/26-1/30/87 50-443 Phillips Building or Determine what staff require- NRC/PSNH V. Nerses TBA 50-444 Seabrook Site ments remain to be met.to resolve Seabrook, NH Seabrook licensing issues before issuing the low power operating license 9

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• Copies of summaries of these meetings will be made publicly available and placed in the respective docket file (s) in the NRC and local public document rooms A summary of these meeting notices can be obtained by calling 492-7424 Y

DEc 2 3 W NMSS MEETING NOTICES '

r Division of Fuel Cycle and Material Safety , ,

ATTENDEES /

DOCKET APPLICANT NRC CONTACT LOCATION PURPOSE DATE/ TIME NUMBER 1

1/5-12/87 40-8027 Core, OK To participate in oversight for restart of Sequoyah Fuels ALSoong . ALSoong Division of Safeguards None Division of-Waste Management None r3 '

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