ML13225A147

Email D. Hills to T. Lupold, Doel 3 (Belgium) - Flaw Indications in the Reactor Pressure Vessel

ML13225A147
Person / Time
Site:	Quad Cities
Issue date:	08/16/2012
From:	Hills D E NRC/RGN-III/DRS/EB1
To:	Lupold T R Piping and NDE Branch
References
FOIA/PA-2013-0139
Download: ML13225A147 (4)

Text

76"Lupold, TimothyFrom: Hills, David \Sent: Thursday, August 16,2012 9:13 AMTo: Lupold, Timothy

Subject:

RE: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELThanks Tim I Maybe then Bob will have more for us during next week's materials engineering counterparts call.-DaveFrom: Lupold,nTmothy Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 8:00 AMTo: Hills, David

Subject:

RE: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELBob Hardies is in Belgium today for a meeting to discuss the issue. We don't know if the indications are real or not atthis point. The issue is more related to who supplied the forgings, assuming these are real indications.

Will know moreonce Bob returns from the meeting.

About the only information we have at this point is information from the web. I'veattached an email with a link to a French website.

You may have to wait a bit for it to translate from French to English.From: Hills, DavidSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 4:32 PMTo: Rosenberg, Stacey; Lupold, TimothyCc: Bilik, Tom; Bozga, John; Holmberg, Mel; Jones, Donald; Meghani, Vijay; Neurauter, James; Sanchez Santiago, Elba;Shaikh, Atif

Subject:

FW: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELFYI -See below regarding applicability to Quad Cities. Who in NRR has technical lead on this issue? Anyadditional details available?

-DaveFrom: Ring, Mark ,ISent: Monday, August 13, 2012 2:13 PMTo: Hills, David

Subject:

FW: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELDave,I asked the Quad RIO to look into what the licensee knew and was doing on the Belgium NDE resultsindicating cracking in the vessel. Here's the reply I received from Jim McGhee. Please let me know if youneed more or if you find out any more from NRC NDE folks. Thanks.-MarkFrom: McGhee, JamesSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 1:45 PMTo: Ring, MarkCc: Draper, Jason; Elliott, Roy; Orlikowski, Robert; Cushman, Brian

Subject:

FW: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELThe UFSAR quote below is from Section 5.3.1.2.

It goes on to sayI el Chicago Bridge and Iron (CB&I), which completed fabrication of the Unit 2 RPV prior to itsshipment to the plant site, provided a certification comparable to the ASME Code N-I Aform. The following footnote was included in that certification:

[5.3-3]"This unstamped vessel was built as a 'State Special' based onagreements between the State of Illinois and Commonwealth Edison Company.

A portion of the vessel was fabricated byRotterdam Dockyard Company.

This vessel was not stampedbecause Rotterdam Dockyard Company does not hold an ASMEcertificate of authorization.

Procedures equivalent to therequirements of the ASME Code were used."From: McGhee, JamesSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 1:38 PMTo: Ring, MarkCc: Cushman, Brian; Draper, Jason; Elliott, Roy; 'LUIS GASCO LEONARTE';

Orlikowskl, Robert

Subject:

RE: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELAccording to the licensee the affected unit is Unit 2. The following discussion comes from the Section 5.3.2 ofthe USFSAR:The Quad Cities Unit I RPV was fabricated entirely in the United States by Babcock &Wilcox (B&W). The Unit 2 RPV was fabricated by several different

vendors, including onein Holland, as noted in the following paragraphs.

[5.3-2]Fabrication work on the Unit 2 bottom head assembly and lower shell course wasperformed by the Rotterdam Dockyard Company (RDM) in Rotterdam, Holland.

These twopieces were seam-welded together and returned to the United States as a fully completed subassembly including control rod drive (CRD) stub tubes, shroud support skirt, and vesselsupport skirt.According to the licensee, the component steel was fabricated in the US by Babcock & Wilcox. These weresent to RDM where they were "bent" to shape and welded together.

Final assembly of the vessel wasperformed in the US. Without looking further, I can't determine if the beltline region was included in the RDMwork.As far as inspection, they only look at the seam welds. According to the ISI guys, the only other inspection they ever did after initial construction was a VT3 on the inner clad surface and that was stopped after it wasdetermined to have no value.They had the initial communication on the issue and are currently waiting for more specific information from theutility before determining what they need to do. The sites understanding is that the components in question atthe Belgian facility were manufactured in total at the RDM facility as opposed to being assembled there as wasUnit 2. I will follow up as more information comes available.

JimFrom: Ring, MarkSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 11:24 AMTo: McGhee, James

Subject:

RE: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELGood. Thanks.2 From: McGhee, JamesSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 11:06 AMTo: Ring, MarkCc: Cushman, Brian; Orlikowski, Robert; Draper, Jason; Elliott, Roy

Subject:

RE: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELChecking to verify manufacture of Unit 1 RPV and any beltline inspections performed that could show this typedefect.JimFrom: Ring, MarkSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 9:40 AMTo: Cushman, Brian; McGhee, James; Ray, TeresaCc: LUIS GASCO LEONARTE; Draper, Jason; Elliott, Roy; Orlikowski, Robert

Subject:

FW: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELFYIFrom: Lara, JulioSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 9:30 AMTo: Casto, Chuck; Pederson, Cynthia; Shear, Gary; Reynolds, Steven; OBrien, Kenneth; Skokowski, RichardCc: Cameron, Jamnes; Daley, Robert; Dickson, Billy; Duncan, Eric; Giessner, John; Hills, David; Kunowski, Michael;Peterson, Hironori; Riemer, Kenneth; Ring, Mark; Skokowskl, Richard; Stone, AnnMarie

Subject:

FW: DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELFrom: Bernardo, RobertSent: Monday, August 13, 2012 9:26 AMTo: Taylor, RyanCc: Brand, Javier; Lara, Julio; Powers, Dale

Subject:

DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELGood morning,We wanted to pass this along to the regional OpE POC's, since there are POTENTIALLY US plants that mightbe affected (mostly region 2): We'll keep you informed as we get more information.

IRS 8244P -DOEL 3 (BELGIUM)

-FLAW INDICATIONS IN THE REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELDoel 3 is a PWR that commenced operation in 1982. In July, UT examinations to detect possible under-clad defects of the reactor vessel belt region instead found indications of fabrication flaws. This was the first timethis type of testing had been performed on this portion of the vessel. The flaws appear to be laminar in nature,running parallel to the inside and outside surfaces being examined.

The vessel rings containing the flaws wereforged in the early 1980's at the Rotterdam Dockyards, which also forged reactor vessel rings for severalplants in the U.S., including Catawba 1, McGuire 2, North Anna 1 & 2, Quad Cities 1, Sequoyah I & 2, Surry 1& 2, and Watts Bar 1. Staff are in communication with the Belgian regulator to exchange information andreview pending results from follow-up testing.Bob Bernardo3 Reactor Systems EngineerUS Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRR/DIRS/IOEB O-7D17; MS O-7C02A301-415-2621 Robert.Bernardo@nrc.gov 4