ML17076A002

NRC Region I Response to Connecticut Deep Regarding Millstone Unit 2

ML17076A002
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	03/17/2017
From:	Dorman D H Region 1 Administrator
To:	Kaliszewski R State of CT, Dept of Energy and Environmental Protection
Greives J E
References
SST-17-0930
Download: ML17076A002 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BOULEVARD, SUITE 100 KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406-2713 March 17, 2017 Mr. Robert Kaliszewski Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Quality Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection 79 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106-5127

Dear Mr. Kaliszewski:

Thank you for your letter dated February 23, 2017, expressing your concerns in manufacturing irregularities identified at Areva's Creusot Forge facility and, specifically, how they pertain to Millstone Power Station Unit 2. The NRC values the cooperative agreement established between the NRC and the Governor-appointed State Liaison Officer for keeping the State informed of NRC activities with respect to the regulatory oversight of the Millstone Power Station.

As was discussed with your staff in a briefing on February 9, 2017, the NRC is closely following the investigation of Areva and the French Nuclear Safety Authority, ASN, and there remain no safety concerns at operating US nuclear plants at this time.

With regard to the recommendations documented in your letter, the NRC acknowledges your support of Dominion's planned activities to address the issue during the planned refueling outage of Millstone Unit 2 this spring. We also acknowledge your request that any testing or analyses conducted to evaluate the susceptibility of the Millstone 2 pressurizer be independently verified by technical experts not associated with Areva. At this time, there are no known safety concerns at any U.S. nuclear operating plant for either the carbon segregation topic or the fabrication record anomalies. This is based on the NRC's knowledge of the U.S. material qualification process, preliminary structural evaluations for the carbon segregation issue, and NRC staff participation in the inspection at Creusot Forge and information received from AREVA for the documentation fabrication record anomalies. Consequently, the NRC is not currently requiring any specific action by U.S. plant owners who have large components installed in their plants manufactured at Creusot Forge. On March 22, 2017, the NRC will meet with Connecticut's Nuclear Energy Advisory Council (NEAC) at the Waterford Public Library to discuss our assessment of the safety performance at the Millstone Power Station for calendar year 2016. We have attached the notice of the public meeting, which can also be found in the NRC's document management system (ADAMS) or on the NRC's public website by searching for accession number ML17068A058 . Following this discussion, we will respond to questions by NEAC members and members of the public on specific performance issues at the plant and our role in ensuring safe plant operations. Staff from the NRC's Offices of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and New Reactors will be in attendance Mr. Robert Kaliszewski 2 at the meeting to answer questions pertaining to carbon segregation and fabrication record anomalies identified at Areva's Creusot Forge facility.

Finally, you requested that the NRC staff conduct a "government to government" meeting in April 2017 to update your staff on the NRC's assessment of the applicability of manufacturing irregularities to Millstone Unit 2. Through discussions with Mr. Jeffrey Semancik, State Liaison Officer, DEEP, we understand that a phone call between our technical staff and the DEEP would be responsive to your request. As such, we plan to coordinate a call with Mr. Semancik at an appropriate time to update you on our assessment of the continued safe operation of the facility.

Thank you for your interest in this issue. We hope that we have been responsive to your requests. If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact either myself at (610) 337-5299 or Mr. Jonathan Greives, Regional State Liaison Officer at (610) 337-5337.

Sincerely,

(Original Signed by: David C. Lew for)

Daniel H. Dorman Regional Administrator

Enclosure:

Notice of Public Meeting dated March 9, 2017 (MN 17-003)

cc: Robert Klee, Commissioner, DEEP Jeffrey Semancik, State Liaison Officer, DEEP Representative Kevin Ryan, Chairperson, NEAC

ML17076A002 ADAMS Package Accession No.: ML17076A004 SUNSI Review Non-Sensitive Sensitive Publicly Available Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI/ORA RI/DRP RI/RA NAME JGreives/jeg TSetzer/tcs DDorman/DCL for DATE 3/15/17 3/16/17 3/16/17