ML20247M745

Forwards Request for Addl Info Re Util 980217 Submittal of Revised Relief Request 2-ISI-1 Re Unit 3 Reactor Pressure Vessel Shell Weld Insps.Response Requested by 980612

ML20247M745
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	05/19/1998
From:	De Agazio A NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned)
To:	Zeringue O TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
References
TAC-MA1153, NUDOCS 9805260367
Download: ML20247M745 (4)

Text

- _ _ - - - - _ - - _ - _ - _ _ -.

May 19, 1998

• Mr. O. J. Zeringua Chtf Nucle:r Officer -

l and Executive Vice President

- Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place l

1101 Market Street '

l 1 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNIT 3 REVISED RELIEF REQUEST 3-ISI-1 (TAC NO. MA1153) l l

Dear Mr[Zeringue:

L By letter dated February 17,1998, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted revised relief l

request 3-ISI-1 regarding the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 3 (BFN-3) reactor pressure vessel l

(RPV) shell weld inspections. TVA performed the BFN-3 augmented examination during the Fall L

1993 extended outage; 15 indications exceeded the American Society of Mechanical Engineers l

. (ASME) acceptance criteria. TVA analyzed the indications and determined that the BFN-3 RPV I-was acceptable for continued service.

TVA previously requested relief from the three successive examinations by letter dated January 22,1997. This request was denied by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) l for a number of reasons, including the fact that TVA had not validated the fracture mechanics analysis by subsequent examinations to verify that the subject flaws were not growing beyond calculated projections.

The revised relief request seeks relief for one operating cycle from the requirements of the 1989 Edition (no addenda) of ASME Section XI, Subarticle paragraph IWB-2420(b). This paragraph I

states that "If flaw indications or relevant conditions are evaluated in accordance with

)

IWB-3132.4 or IWB-3142.4, respectively, and the component qualifies as acceptable for continued service, the areas containing such flaw indications or relevant conditions shall be l-reexamined during the next three inspection periods listed in the schedule of the inspection L

programs of IWB-2410." -

. The staff has reviewed the revised relief request, and has developed additional questioris. The l

. information requested in the enclosure is needed to complete our review. Please provide your l

response by June 12,1998.

Sincerely, i

a l

/s/

Albert W. De Agazio, Sr. Project Manager Project Directorate 11-3 Division of Reactor Projects - 1/II l

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation i

Docket No. 50-296 L

' Serial No. BFN-98-012

Enclosure:

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k..... p' May 19, 1998 Mr. O. J. Zeringue

- Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNIT 3 REVISED RELIEF REQUEST 3-ISI-1 (TAC NO. MA1153)

Dear Mr. Zeringue:

By letter dated February 17,1998, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted revised relief request 3-ISI-1 regarding the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 3 (BFN-3) reactor pressure vessel (RPV) shell weld inspections. TVA performed the BFN-3 augmented examination during the Fall 1993 extended outage; 15 indications exceeded the American Society of Mechanical Engineers j

(ASME) acceptance criteria. TVA analyzed the indications and determined that the BFN-3 RPV was acceptable for continued service.

TVA previously requested relief from the three successive examinations by letter dated January 22,1997. This request was denied by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) -

for a number of reasons, including the fact that TVA had not validated the fracture mechanics analysis by subsequent examinations to verify that the subject flaws were not growing beyond calculated projections.

The revised relief request seeks relief for one operating cycle from the requirements of the 1989 Edition (no addenda) of ASME Section XI, Subarticle paragraph IWB-2420(b). This paragraph states that "If flaw indications or relevant conditions are evaluated in accordance with IWB-3132.4 or IWB-3142.4, respectively, and the component qualifies as acceptable for continued service, the areas containing such flaw indications or relevant conditions shtJ1 a reexamined during the next three inspection periods listed in the schedule of the inspect;,..

programs of IWB-2410."

The staff has reviewed the revised relief request, and has developed additional questions. The information requested in the enclosure is needed to complete our review. Please provide your response by June 12,1998.

Sincerely, Albert W.

Agazio, Sr. Pr Manager Project Directorate 11-3 Division of Reactor Projects - t/ll Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-296 Serial No. BFN-98-012

Enclosure:

As stated ec: See next page

j

+.

j-Mr. O. J. Zeringue BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT Tennessee Valley Authority cc:

Mr. J. A. Scalice, Senior Vice President Mr. Mark J. Burzynski, Managar l.

Nuclear Operations Nuclear Licensing Tennessee Valley Authority Tennessee Valley Authority

!~

6A Lookout Place 4J Blue Ridge i

1101 Market Street 1101 Market Street l

. Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 i

l' Mr. Jack A. Bailey, Vice President Mr. Timothy E. Abney, Manager l'

Engineering & Technical Services Licensing and Industry Affairs Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant l

6A Lookout Place Tennessee Valley Authority ~

1101 Market Street P.O. Box 2000 Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Decatur, AL 37402-2801

- Mr. C. M. Crane, Site Vice President Regional Administrator, Region 11 l

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission i

Tennessee Valley Authority 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Suite 23T85

. P.O. Box 2000 Atlanta, GA 30303-3415 l

i.:

Decatur, AL 35609 j

l.

Mr. Leonard D. Wert General Counsel Senior Resident inspector i

Tennessee Valley Authority -

. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ET 10H Browns Feny Nuclear Plant 400 West Summit Hill Drive 10833 Shaw Road Knoxville, TN 37902 Athens, AL 35611 l.

j:

Mr. Raul R. Baron, General Manager State Health Officer Nuclear Assurance Alabama Dept. of Public Health Tennessee Valley Authority 434 Monroe Street 4J Blue Ridge M9tgomery, AL 35130-17^I 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Chairman Limestone County Commission Mr. Karl W. Singer, Plant Manager 310 West Washington Street Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Athens, AL 35611

~ Tennessee Valley Authori+y P.O. Box 2000~'

Decatur, AL 35609 i

u

I 1

-$ 3 y

REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I

g BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNIT 3 i

THE TENslESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY DOCKET NO. 50-296 l

l

.The staff requests additional information for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) revised relief request 3-ISI-1 regarding the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 3 (BFN-3) reactor pressure vessel (RPV) shell weld inspections.

1) Provide justification that each of the 15 flaws found in the BFN-3 vessel during the Fall 1993 au9mented examination are subsurface by considering the (1) uncertainties of the non-

' destructive examination (NDE) method, (2) size, and (3) location of each flaw.

2) Part of the basis for the requested relief is that the General Electric (GE) GERIS 2000 system that was used to perform the previous RPV examination is not available for the refueling outage scheduled to begin in October 1998. TVA asserts that a modified system similar to the previously utilized system would need to be constructed due to availability issues. GERIS 2000 is Performance-Demonstration-Initiative (PDl) qualified. PDI qualification of equipment, procedures, and personnel demonstrates that examination and evaluation techniques are repeatable.

l Please provide information on attemate vendors that are PDI qualified and have equipment

~

. that are available for the upcoming cycle 8 outage.

3) It is stated on Page 3 of" General Electric Corporation Flaw Evaluation Extending Service j

Lifetime of Browns Ferry Unit 3 Reactor Pressure Vessel Flaws to Forty Years (Design Service Lifetime)" which is Attachment 3 to your February 17,1998, letter:

"As operation continues past 12 EFPY, and vessel irradiation increases, the leak test i

temperature also increases as required to meet 10 CFR 50 Appendix G requirements for the vessel P-T curves. As a result, the (T-RTa) temperature difference increases with time for non-beltline weld locations such as are evaluated here."

To *ubstantiatc this statement, please (a) provide the leak test temperature as a function of years of operation; (b) provide the fluence for Wold H23 to clearty rule out any meaningful i

l-embrittlement to Wold I..!3 due to fluence; and (c) confirm that the increase in T exceeds tha increase in RTc for Welds H34, H45, V4, and VFW during 40 years of operation.

L

4) On Page 11 of " Browns Feny Unit lli Flaw Evaluation Handbook" GENE-523-120-0992,

. (Reference 1 to Attachment 3 of your February 17,1998, letter), Equation (2-5) is reported to -

. be cited from the paper by Paris and Sih (Reference 11). Please verify its accuracy and

' provide the Equation No. from Paris' paper that you cited.

L L

Enclosure

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