ML20215H657
| ML20215H657 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Davis Besse  |
| Issue date: | 04/17/1987 |
| From: | Zech L NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Celeste R OHIO, STATE OF |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20207A252 | List: |
| References | |
| 2.206, NUDOCS 8704240205 | |
| Download: ML20215H657 (2) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES c
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CHAIRMAN NEE 11 17 19b7 7
The Honorable Richard F. Celeste Governor of Ohio Columbus, Ohio 43266-0601
Dear Governor Celeste:
I am responding to your letter of March 4, 1987 which urges the NRC to investigate and correct alleged generic problems at Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) designed nuclear power plants described in the recent petition of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The NRC is acting upon the February 10, 1987 petition pursuant to 10 CFR 2.?06 of the Commission's regulations and will take appropriate action on it within a reasonable time.
You also referred to two NRC documents and asked for clarification of the technical basis on which the NRC is allowing the B&W plants to operate because they reflect apparent gaps in the NRC's ability to assess some safety issues fully.
Licensing of the RAW plants was based upon the plant safety analyses, contained in the Final Safety Analysis Reports, which were performed for a range of design basis events.
The consequences, such as peak pressure, departure from nucleate boiling, and peak cladding temperature, of these events were obtained using conservative computer codes.
This means the assumptions for these codes were chosen to represent a worst case set of conditions.
While continuing experimental and code verification activities will enhance the NRC's ability to better understand and predict B&W plant behavior under accident conditions, the current plant safety analyses are sufficient to conclude that continued plant operation poses no undue risk to the public health and safety.
The proposed NRC research program on B AW plants included funding in the budget for testing in the Multi-loon Integral System Test (MIST) facility with upgraded power.
The NRC had been seeking industry support for this additional testing since 1984.
Lack of industry support, combined with budget reductions, required that the staff find a way to obtain the needed data without an upgrade to the MIST power.
A more modest follow-on program without a nower upgrade, funded by NRC, has been planned to immediately follow the current progran.
The contracting process for this N
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-additional testing has been comp'leted and the new program is.in place.
We have received some industry support for this follow-on program.
Research data such as.this is needed to provide additional accuracy to. investigate postulated transients and accidents for B&W plants using best estimate.enalyses.
However, as stated.
above.. current plant safety analyses are sufficient to conclude that continued plant operation ~ poses no undue risk to the public health-and. safety.
Commissioner Asselstine disagrees with this response and will l
provide his views in a separate letter.
Sincerelv, W
Lando W. Z h,J I
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