NRC Generic Letter 79-19, NRC Staff Review of Responses to I&E Bulletins 79-06 and 79-06a

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GL79019

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555

May 22, 1979

Docket Nos. 50-3 and 50-247

Mr. William J. Cahill, Jr. Vice President Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. 4 Irving Place New York, New York 10003

Dear Mr. Cahill:

SUBJECT: NRC STAFF REVIEW OF RESPONSES TO I&E BULLETINS 79-06 AND 79-06A

We have completed a preliminary review of the licensee responses to I&E Bulletins 79-06,79-06A, and amendment 1 to 79-06A. The purpose of this letter is to advise you of the potential problem areas, and to identify related concerns which we believe require your further examination.

We have scheduled a meeting with owners of all operating plants having Westinghouse designed nuclear supply systems. This meeting will be held on May 30, 1979, in rooms P-110/114 at our Phillips Building office in Bethesda, Maryland. You are expected to attend the meeting and be prepared to discuss those matters identified below along with a schedule and procedure for providing the information needed by NRC to complete the review of these issues.

(1) Our preliminary review of the Bulletin responses indicates that a number of the Bulletin items are not yet satisfactorily resolved. Enclosure 1 provides a summary of our current assessment of the responses to the Bulletins issued on Westinghouse plants.

(2) In certain instances, licensee responses differ, without apparent justification, from the Westinghouse recommendations for individual Bulletin items. We expect to resolve each such difference, as well as licensee exceptions to specific Bulletin responses, prior to our approval of the Bulletin responses. A copy of the Westinghouse recommendations is provided as Enclosure 2.

(3) The Westinghouse advice is prescriptive on resetting of the high pressure injection system and incomplete as to the need for keeping the reactor coolant pumps running.

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Mr. William J. Cahill, Jr. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York(4) We are finalizing a generic report on TMI-2 matters related to Westinghouse operating plants. Although this report is not yet complete, among other things, we expect that it will recommend further analyses of transients and small reactor coolant system breaks, the development of appropriate written procedure guidance to operators in the use of these new procedures.

(5) In certain instances, licensees are using fuel and relying on safety analyses, which were not provided by Westinghouse. As a result, it is not clear to us what the respective roles of the licensees, Westinghouse, the fuel suppliers, and/or other parties should be in implementing those requirements described in item

(4) above. We need a clear and concise definition of their respective roles in these cases.

(6) The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has issued five letters to the Commission as a result of their examination of the TMI-

2 accident. We need a clear and concise position from all licensees with respect to each of the recommendations contained in these letters. A summary of the ACRS recommendations is provided as Enclosure 3.

(7) Individual licensees have indicated an interest in meeting directly with the staff regarding the Bulletin items for their facilities. Experience to date has demonstrated that the staff does not have time to meet individually with each licensee to resolve these items.

It is clear that there are a significant number of technical issues yet to be resolved for a large number of Westinghouse operating plants. There are limited resources available within the NRC staff to perform the necessary work. This situation is exacerbated by the need to conduct similar and concurrent activities with those owners of B&W, C-E, and GE designed operating plants. At the same time, there is a need to resolve these matters promptly.

To resolve the issues described above in a prompt and expeditious manner, we believe there is a compelling need to establish an owner's group for Westinghouse operating plants. We expect that such a group would be needed for the remainder of calendar year 1979. Owner's groups have worked effectively in the past in minimizing staff and industry resource requirements to resolve other generic problems. We strongly urge you meet with other owners of Westinghouse operating plants to consider the formation of such a group prior to our meeting May 30. This will be one of the principal agenda items at that meeting.

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Mr William J. Cahill, Jr. Consolidated Edison Co. of New YorkPlease note that investigation of a number of areas related to the TMI-2 accident, including the long-term ACRS recommendations and long-term action items from NUREG-0560, will be specifically included as part of the future "Lessons Learned" staff activity. You can expect additional correspondence in the future on these items.

If you require any clarification for the matters discussed in this letter please contact Patrick D. O'Reilly, the staff's assigned project manager for these activities on Westinghouse plants. Mr. O'Reilly may be reached on (301) 492-7745.

Sincerely,

A. Schwencer, Chief Operating Reactor Branch #1 Division of Operating Reactor

Enclosures:

As Stated

cc: w/enclosures See next page

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Mr. William J. Cahill, Jr. Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.cc: White Plains Public Library 100 Martine Avenue White Plains,New York 10601

Joseph D. Block, Esquire Executive Vice President Administrative Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. 4 Irving Place New York, New York 10003

Edward J. Sack, Esquire Law Department Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. 4 Irving Place New York, New York 10003

Anthony Z. Roisman Natural Resources Defense Council 917 15th Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20005

Dr. Larence R. Quarles Apartment 51 Kendal at Longwood Kennett Square, Pennsylvania 19348

Theodore A. Rebelowski U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P. O. Box 38 Buchanan, New York 10511