ML20237L338

Forwards Request for Addl Info Re Util 831103 Response to Generic Ltr 83-28,Item 4.2 (Parts 3 & 4),re Life Testing of Reactor Trip breakers.WCAP-10835 Unacceptable Response to Generic Ltr

ML20237L338
Person / Time
Site:	Comanche Peak
Issue date:	09/02/1987
From:	Charemagne Grimes NRC OFFICE OF SPECIAL PROJECTS
To:	Counsil W TEXAS UTILITIES ELECTRIC CO. (TU ELECTRIC)
References
GL-83-28, NUDOCS 8709080359
Download: ML20237L338 (7)

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/ c UNrrED STATES P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D. C. 20066

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% / September 2, 2987

..... j Docket Nos.: S0-445 l i

and 50-446 Mr. W. G. Counsil Executive Vice President Texas Utilities Electric Company i Skyway Tower 408 No. Olive Street, L.B. 81 Dallas, Texas 75201

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION GENERIC LETTER 83-28 ITEM 4.2 PARTS 3 AND 4 Item 4.2 of Generic Letter 8?-28 requires licensees and applicants to de-scribe their Treventive maintenance and surveillance program for ensuring l reliable reactor trip breaker (RTB) operation. Parts 3 and 4 of Item 4.2 require life testing of the breakers on an acceptable sample size, and periodic replacement of the breakers or components consistent with de-monstrated life cycles. TU Electric submitted a response to Item 4.2 parts 3 and 4 by letter dated November 3, 1983. In that response, you stated that the Westinghouse Owners' Group is sponsoring a Westinghouse program to conduct life cycle testing of the reactor trip breaker type installed at Comanche Peak. Westinghouse has presented the results of cycle testing on the DS-416 RTB in WCAP-10835 " Report of the DS-416 Reactor Trip Breaker Undervoltage and Shunt Trip Attachments Life Cycle Tests."

WCAP-10835 addresses only cyclic testing on RTB trip attachments. It does '

not address life qualification of the RTBs or noneyclic life-limiting or performance-degrading phenomena (e.g., aging) for the trip attachments.

WCAP-10835 does not constitute an acceptable response to the concern in the generic letter. Therefore, the staff requests additional information as provided in the enclosure.

Should you have any questions or need further clarificat un, please contact the Project Managers Melinda Malloy at (301) 492-7624 or Aenette Vietti-Cook at (301) 492-4555.

l 8709000359 070902 PDR ADOCK 05000445 A PDR l

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i Mr. W. G. Counsil The reporting' requirements contained in this ' letter affect fewer than ten respondents; therefore, OMB clearance is not required under P.L.96-511.

C.1 W Christopher . Grimes, Director Comanche Peak Project Division Office of Special Projects -

Enclosure:

1 Request for Additional Information cc: See next page

l .,

. September 2, 1987 Mr. W. G. Counsil The reporting requirements contained in this letter affect fewer than ten respondents; therefore, OMB clearance is not required under P.L.96-511.

(original signed by)

Christopher I. Grimes, Director Comanche Peak Project Division Office of Special Projects

Enclosure:

. DISTRIBUTION Request for Additional Information Docket File SRConnelly NRC PDR- CPPD-LA cc: See next page Local PDR AVietti-Cook CPPD Reading MMalloy OSP Reading OGC-Bethesda JKeppler/JAxelrad FMiraglia CGrimes EJordan PMcKee JPartlow HSchierling ACRS(10)

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$P C PD:0S AD:CPPD:0 DD:CPP D:CPPD:0 4 Ayj t4- ok:cm MMalloy HSchierling PMcKee CGrimes 09/J/87 09/g/87 09/Z,/87 09/7 /87k 09/ y/87 l

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REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ITEM 4.2 (PARTS 3&4) 0F GENERIC LETTER 83-28 COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1,2 Item 4.2 of Generic Letter 83-28 requires licensees and applicants to describe their preventive maintenance and surveillance program for ensuring reifable reactor trip breaker operation. Parts 3 and 4 of Item 4.2 require life testing of the breakers on an acceptable sample size, and periodic repl scement of the breakers or components consistent with demonstrated life cycles. TU Electric submitted a response to Item 4.2 parts 3 and 4 by letter dated November 3, 1983. In that response you stated that the Westinghouse Owners' Group was sponsoring a program through Westinghouse to conduct life cycle testing of the reactor trip breakers (RTBs).

Westinghouse has presented the results of cyclic testing on the DS-416 RTB in '

WCAP-10835 " Report of the DS-416 Reactor Trip Breaker Undervoltage and Shunt Trip Attachments Life Cycle Tests." WCAP-10835 addresses only cyclic testing on RTB trip attachments. It does not address life qualification of the RTBs or noneyclic life-limiting or performance-degrading phenomena (e.g., aging) for the trip attachments. Therefore, WCAP-10835 does not constitute an accept-able response to the concern of the generic letter. The staff finds that TV Electric has not committed to a life testing program and requests the following information:

1. The staff requests TU Electric to qualify Comanche Peak breakers by (1) actual life testing of the breakers, including aging, On an acceptable sample size or (2) establishing an ongoing life testing program. If the first alternative is selected, present the results of the life testing to the staff for review. If the second alternative is selected, describe their ongoing life testing program, including the three items listed below.

2. The staff requests TU Electric provide a replacement program for the breaker and breaker components based on the results of their life qualification program. For ongoing qualification, describe how the ongoing qualification results will be used to establish replacement cycles and times.

1 If it can be demonstrated that the qualified life of the RTC exceeds the life of the plant, then the specific qualified life need not be identified. In a practical sense, the intent of the life testing requirement of the generic letter would'be satisfied by demonstrating that the qualified life of the breaker (for the tripping function) exceeds the expected use projected to the next refueling.

Cycle testing by the various owners groups, although it does not consider the effects of aging, may provide evidence to support continued use of the RTBs for one additional refueling cycle, provided that the individual breaker has not shown a sign of degradation based on the licensee's Parametric Trend Monitoring Program. In this approach, the actual qualifjed life is not specifically identi-

' fied, but is only demonstrated to be adequate.

Ongoing life testing is an acceptable alternative to formal life testing for the purpose of establishing a specific qualified life for RTBs. Ongoing life testing will demonstrate that the qualified life, though not specifically known, is longer ,

(in terms of cycles and time) than the integrated service that will be accumulated through the next refueling interval. The description of an ongoing qualification 1

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program should include the following:

(1) estimate of the number of demands between refueling outages to which the RTB must respond, and the basis for the estimate.

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(2) definition of relevant, end-of-life related failures (Note that random failures occurring during the constant hazard rate portion of the " bathtub curve" (plot of failure rate vs. time) are not relevant to a life test).

The applicant should (a) identify the possible failure modes, (b) categorize each failure mode as an end-of-life type or not, and (c) present a general methodology for categorizing future failure modes that may not be included in (a).

l l (3) the action to be taken upon any failure. l l

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I W. G. Counsil . .

Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station )

Texas Utilities Electric Company Units 1 and 2- j l

j cc:

Thomas G. Dignan, Jr. Asst. Director for Inspec. Programs Ropes & Gray Comanche Peak Project Division U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 225 Franklin Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 P. O. Box 1029 Granbury,. Texas 76048 ]

' Robert A. Wooldridge, Esq. Regional Administrator, Region IV 1 Worsham, Forsythe, Sampels & U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Wooldridge -- 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 1000 2001 Bryan Tower Suite 2500 Arlington, Texas 76011 Dallas, Texas 75201 I

Lanny A. Sinkin j Mr. Homer C. Schmidt Christic Institute i Director'of Nuclear Services 1324 North Capitol Street Texas Utilities Electric Company Washington,-D.C. 20002 .

l Skyway Tower 400 North Olive Street, L.B. 81 Ms. Billie Pirner Garde, Esq. ,

Dallas, Texas 75201 Government Accountability Project Midwest Office l Mr. Robert E. Ballard, Jr. 104 East Wisconsin Avenue  !

Director of Projects Appleton, Wisconsin 54911 Gibbs and Hill, Inc.

11 Penn Plaza New York, New York 10001 David R. Pigott, Esq.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 600 Montgomery Street Mr. R. S. Howard San Francisco, California 94111  ;

Westinghouse Electric Corporation l P. O. ' Box 355 Anthony Z. Roisman, Esq.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230 Suite 600 1401 New York Avenue, NW Renea Hicks, Esq. Washington, D.C. 20005 Assistant Attorney General Environmental Protection Division Robert Jablon P. O. Box 12548, Capitol Station Bonnie S. Blair Austin, Texas 78711 Spiegel & McDiarmid .

1350 New York Avenue, NW Mrs. Juanita Ellis, President Washington, D.C. 20005-4798 Citizens Association for Sound Energy 1426 South Polk George A. Parker, Chairman Dallas, Texts 75224 Public Utility Committee Senior Citizens Alliance Of Ms. Nancy H. Williams Tarrant County, Inc.

CYGNA Energy Services 6048 Wonder Drive 2121 N. California Blvd., Suite 390 Fort Worth, Texas 76133 Walnut Creek, CA 94596

S.

,x W.'G.'Counsil .

Comanche Peak Electric Station

' Texas Utilities Electric Company , Units 1 and 2 cc: . . ..

' Joseph F.' Fulbright Fulbright & Jaworski.

1301 McKinney Street Houston,' Texas 77010 Mr.'G. S. Keely, Vice President Texas Utilities Electric Company Skyway Tower.

400 North Olive Street, L.B. 81'

. Dallas, Texas 75201 Mr. Jack Redding c/o Bethesda Licensing Texas' Utilities Electric Company

~3 Metro Center, Suite 610 .

Bethesda, Maryland 20814 William A. Burchette Esq.

Counsel for Tex-La Electric Cooperative of Texas.

Heron, Burchette, Ruckert & Rothwell Suite 700-

'1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW Washington, D.C.- 20007 James M. McGaughy GDS Associates, Inc.

Suite 450 2525 Cumberland Parkway Atlanta,. Georgia 30339 Administrative Judge Peter Bloch i U.S. Nuclear'Regulatcry Commission l Washington, D.C. 20555 q Elizabeth B. Johnson f

~ Administrative Judge j Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1 P. O. Box X, Building 3500 /

Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830 Dr. Kenneth A. McCollom

'1107 West Knapp Stillwater, Oklahoma 74075 Dr. Walter H. Jordan Administrative Judge 881 West Outer Drive Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830

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