PNO-III-93-002A, on 930109,plant Shut Down to Replace Leaking Fuel Bundle & Other Maint Acitivities,Including Testing of Main Steam Isolation Valves.Four Fuel Assemblies Have Been Confirmed as Containing One or More Leaking Rods

PNO-III-93-002A:on 930109,plant Shut Down to Replace Leaking Fuel Bundle & Other Maint Acitivities,Including Testing of Main Steam Isolation Valves.Four Fuel Assemblies Have Been Confirmed as Containing One or More Leaking Rods

ML20127K233
Person / Time
Site:	Perry
Issue date:	01/21/1993
From:	Greger L, Lanksbury R NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:
References
PNO-III-93-002A, PNO-III-93-2A, NUDOCS 9301260075
Download: ML20127K233 (2)

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,. Mb Date: January 21, 1993 PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE PN39302A i This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. The information is as initially received without verification or evaluation, and is basically all that is known by the Region 111 staff on this date.

Facility: Licensee Emeraency Classification Cleveland Electric General Emergency Illuminating Co. Site Area Emergency Perry Nuclear Power Station Alert Perry, Ohio Unusual Event Docket No. 50-440 X N/A

Subject:

SHUTDOWN TO REPLACE LEAKING FUEL BUNDLE (UPDATE)

As of January 21, 1993, the licensee has tested 269 out of 748 fuel assemblies for possible fuel rod leaks. The plant was shut down on January 9, 1993, for the leak testing and other maintenance activities, including testing of Main Steam Isolation Valves.

Four fuel assemblies have been confirmed as containing one or more leaking rods, and 34 fuel assemblies have potential leaks. The potentially leaking assemblies will be retested to confirm the initial test results. The testing is continuing, and the licensee intends to test all fuel assemblies.

Further testing and examination of the leaking fuel rods will be performed to characterize the defects, identify the cause, and determine remedial actions.

The fuel manufacturer, General Electric, is assisting with the testing and evaluation.

All of the fuel assemblies with confirmed or potential leakage are from the same manufacturing lot. There are 271 fuel assemblies of this lot in the reactor core, and 165 of these assemblies have been tested.

The leaking assemblies resulted in elevated airborne releases from the plant for the fourth quarter of 1992. However, no regulatory release limits were exceeded.

The releases had peaked in October and then declined. The licensee modified reactor operating conditions and reduced the number of steam leaks to reduce the elevated releases.

Region III (Chicago) is conducting a special inspection January 21-22 to evaluate the status of the fuel testing program and the radiological effects of the leakage. A specialist from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation is on the inspection team.

The State of Ohio will be informed of this updated information. The Office of the Governor has expressed interest in the fuel leakage problem and will be kept informed of the testing program findings. The information in this updated preliminary notification has been reviewed with licensee management.

There has been area news media interest in the outage and testing of fuel for leakage. .

9301260075 930121 PDR ILE

$}l D PNO-III-93-02A PDR 21 N O 3 h

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Date: January 21, 1993

. PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL-OCCURRENCE PN39302A This information is currert as of 1:30 p.m. on January 21, 1993.

R. D. Lanksbury pl.R.Greger[

708/790-5578 708/790-5644 OlSTRIBUTION:

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