ML20083A023

Proposed Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law on Remedial Soils Issues

ML20083A023
Person / Time
Site:	Midland
Issue date:	12/16/1983
From:	Stamiris B STAMIRIS, B.
To:
References
ISSUANCES-OL, NUDOCS 8312200137
Download: ML20083A023 (13)

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L 00CMETED

'JSNRC U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY CO?.NISSION

'83 DEC 19 All:13 l

-Befg e the Atomic Safety and Licensing' Board in the. Matter of Docket Nos. 50-329 OM-OL 50-330 OM-OL CONSUMERS PCHER CO.

Midland Plant, Units 11).

J INTERVENOR PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS

. OF LAW ON REMEDIAL SOILS ISSUES-Decembe~r 16, 1983 -

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W di1 &

Barbara Stamiris 5795 N. River Freeland, Mich. 48623 e

8312200137 831216 '

PDR O ADOCK 05000329 PDR .

9

Intervenor Barbara Stamiris submits the following brief response to the Applicant's Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclu-sions of Law. The roman numerals in parentheses correspond with those sections of the Applicant 's Proposed Findings.

INTRODUCTION The history of the soil settlement problems at Midland (II) should indicate that the Applicant first became aware of the fill soil deficiencies in 1977 as a result of studies and audits follow-ing the settlement of the Administration Building (1).which occurred prior to,not subsequent to the settlement at the DGB. In fact the Applicant was aware of filh. soil testing,. compaction, and placement deficiencies prior to beginning construction of the DGB, BWST, and portions of the SWPS on fill. (2)

The voluntary workstop by the Apolicant in Feb. 1980.(VII),did (

1 not stop all soils remedial actions (3) and it was not unti'l later i

in the hearing that the Applicant verbally committed to obtain Staff review and concurrance for any further soils remedial work.(4)2ecause l

of continuing problems of CPC-NRC interface over permissibility of .

soils related work in 1982, and to impose. tighter CA controls, the April 30,. 1982 Board Order was issued.

Although Intervenor Stamiris specifically suggested in the May 5,1982 Conference Call that the " prior explicit approval" for soils remedial work required by the Board's April 30th Order should i

be written prior explicit approval, to avoid further communication

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problems or abuses;-we declined to adopt that suggestion agreeing with the Staf f and Applicant that some ficxibility was needed in such interface.

Subsecuent to the April 30,. 1982 nrder, several instances of Thu3e of its ternte.(to be the subject of OA Findings), necessitated the establishment of the Work.Authorizaticn Procedure in August 1982.

The Work Authorization Procedure which remains in effect today, re-cuires the prior written approval of the NRC for all soils remedial j work.

THE SOILS REMEDIAL FIXES The technical findings proposed by the Applicant and the NRC' Staff regarding the soils remedial issues represent testimony on the proposed fixes presented in 1981 and 1982 prior to the inception of the soils remedial underpinning work on Dec.9,1982. Therefore, these findings portray. the remedial progrms on paper only--the proposed remedial plans to remedy the soil settlement problems enot the actual remedy. Given the history of this case: that Consumer's problems 1.

have always been not with their conceptual programs, but with the -

implementation of those programs (5) and'given the performance in the soils work to date(6), this becomes an important distinction which must be addressed.

Both the Applicant and the Staff acknowledge the limitations of their own findings in this regard by their conclusions that .the remedial measures in cuestion are adecuate and sufficient to address contentions and safety functions only "if properly implemented". To

, address the cuestion of the adequacy of the remedial fixes apart

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from their implementation would be logical only if the soils remedial work had been suspended and was awaiting a go-ahead decision as the Dec. 6, 1979 Order Modifying Construction Permits had intended. In that case it would be a necessary evil. But to address the question of the adecuacy of the reme~ dial fixes apart from its implementation when the very work in question has been going on for a year is an empty exercise at best and an evasion of regulatory responsibility to protect public health and safety at worst.

Therefore we reject the Applicant's statement (IX, p.7) that

" we~have not allowed the.'tatus s of plant construction, including' the partial completion of soils remedial work, to influence our deci-slon as to whether Applicant 8s soils remedial measures are adecuate to protect the public health and safety 7 as an incautious and incom ~.

plete approach to our responsibilities in deciding the issues before us in this proceeding.

Due to the foregoing considerations, and due to the numerous problems encountered in the remedial underpinning work to date (7),

we consider the technical findings as submitted to be of very limited value. All parties agree that "the important question of whether -

Apolicant can carry out ule soils remedial measures in accordance with design and cuality assurance requirements " (X) will be addressed in our Partial Initial Decision on OA and Management Attitude Issues.

We will further address this question in uocoming hearing sessions ;-

assessing CA implementation (8) and their decisions. Since a decision on the technical adecuacy of the proposed remedial fixes can only be meaningful in conjunction with a decision on the adequacy of their

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implementation, we will combine these Partial Initial Decisions.

AUXILI ARY BUILDING Intervenor Stamiris agrees with the exceptions noted by the NRC regarding paragraphs 215-242. Intervenor Stamiris submits that while " dwelling on the causes of the cracks is not necessary"(p.16 MBC Findings), the establishment of their cause ,1,s necessary. Indeed the Applicant.'s reluctance to f ace up to the plausible explanation that the cracking at the Auxiliary Bldg. is a result of its differ-ential settlement and stress (p.15 URC), and the NRC's attempts (pl6) to skirt this issue altogether, are indicative of a tendency to be less than forthright about soils problems by the Apolicant and acceptance of this attitude by the Staff.

Intervenor Stamiris agrees with the NRC that the issues regard-ing the problems with the Pier 11 Ioad test (p.19NRC) should have been discussed. Similarly,, problems regarding the cracking of the FIVP.(9), the unexpected rising of the EPA wings (10), and therchoonic water' seepage problems -(-11)should also have been discussed in these technical findings. ,

Based upon recent documentation of and discussions of problems with the soils remedial underpinning operation, as proposed and exe-euted by the Appiicant (BN 83-16710 /28/83,. BN'83-155 10/24/83, BN83-174 11/21/83, possibly BN83-181 11/21/83, and statements at the 1,1/

10/83 S&W meeting on cracking),and based on earlier problems cited in the preceeding paragraph, Intervenor Stam.irls does not agree that the Applicant has "adecuately and conservatively taken into account

the dynamic responses of the control tower, the EPAs, and FIVPs with regard to dewatering effects, differential soll settlement and seismic effects in the design and evaluation of those remedial soils measures"(par.242 CPC).

In light of the NRC Staff's " questions about whether the App-licant has adequately taken into account differential soils settle-ment at the Auxiliary Bldg" as raised at the Sept. 14-15, 1983 design audit (NRC p. 21) and their commitment to bring the resolution of these issues before the Board; and based on the related issues raised by Intervenor Stamiris in these findings, we f ind it imperative to require further testimony explaining the reasons for and the effects of the following outstanding issues regarding the Auxiliary Bldg.

underpinning: operation :

E) The discovery that the bearing capacity of the base soils for the underpinning is i that used'in!the original anal-ysis:(BN83-174)

2) The discovery of incorrect and unconservative calculations of' differential settlement between the Auxiliary Eidg. and the Control Tower (BN 83-174)

..n 3~) The. lack of criteria and assessments of upper movements of structures dnd the related structural stresses ( BN 83-174 )

4) The Applicants decision to substitute ACI 318 for ACl 349 and the related monitoring of the eye bars 6r other~ com-ponents' effected ( BN 83-174)

5) The effects of expected elongation on equipment between the Auxialiary Bldg. and the Control Tower. (R4 83-174 )

6) Why alert icvels for cracking (and movement?) have been exceeded and not properly reported to the NRC. (11/10/83 upcoming EN on excessive NCRs Stone & Webster discussed by D. Hood meeting 12 /3/83)

7) The continuation of repeated drilling incidents despite past controls and commitments intended to rectify this ~

oroblem (BN 83-155 Stopwork and 10/5/83 memo) .

8) The deficiencies in the design change procedures and and document control problems involving remedial soils work. (BN 83-167 ' Stopworks )

9) The continued water seepage problems in the underpinning excavations (Stone & Webster Weekly Reports According to the terms of the Dec. 6, 1979 Order, we must resolve the issues of the adecuacy of OA implementation, the Material False Statement, and the adecuacy of the technical fixes for the soils settlement problems. We can only resolve these issues by addressing the significant questions which remain unresolved regarding the soils remedial work undertaken and the state of CA performance to date.

'The safety issues related to t.he adequacy of OA implementation and the adecuacy of the soils ~ remedial measures which are cited in the Dec. 6,1979 Order, remain unresolved and have even expanded today in the face of what NRC testimony has called a deteriorating performance record in soils related work.as evaluated in the annual SALP Reports.

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Public health and safety issues cannot be resolved by a decision assessing the adequacy of soils remedial fixes based upon theory alone-and upon proposed plans without regard for implementation of those plans,as the Applicant would have us do(IX, o.7 CPC). Niether the NRC Staff (p. 19-21 NRC),.the Intervenors, nor this Board consider that the OMd4L Proceeding can be closed out without resolution of the safety related issues regarding the Auxiliaru ridp. undcroinning ooeretion.

UNDERGROLUD PIPING Contrary to statements in Applicents proposed findings, the Condensate piping below the DGB was only disc 6nnected at one end, and stress was induced in the piping. (Stamiris Findings 12/10/81

p. 5757 )

Intervenor Stamiris agrees with the exceptions cited by the MRC to Applicants proposed findings on underground piping. However Intervenor Stamiris is not sat isfied with Applicant 's strain and set-tiement monitoring program. because, due to the variable soil proper-t ies , maximura dif f erent ial set tlement could occur at any point along the length of the pining.(tr. 7064-5, 7765-6) CPCs unconservative assump-tion (par. 336) that "the maximum differential settlement along the longitudinal axis of buried piping is anticipated to occur at anchor points" leads to a false sense of assurance that potentially unsafe conditions are being monitored. ,

1 Furthermore we believe that the inherent difficulties with the l reliability of the sensitive instruments of the pipe monitoring system, l (tr. 7880-7881); the concerns about whether strain gauges can function for the forty year lifetime of the plant (tr. 7763-4); and the Applicant 's past record-of improper and unconservative reporting practices (of Ad . Bldg. -DGB set tlement s , of surcharging instrumentation- Sondex data elimination and b1dg. settlement readings, an most recently of the failure to report properly the excessive crackiq; at the Aux. Bldg) gi've us no choice but to reject the Applicant's settlement and strain monitoring program as proposed in these findings. .

CORROSION Interveror Stamiris agrees with the exceptions noted by ;he NRC to the Applicant's proposed findings regarding the effects of corr-osion on underground pioing. Since the corrosion-inhibiting orotective wrappings described by the Applicant (nar.385) are subject to degradation due to different ial set tlement bending, the combined effect*of pines

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- weakened by- bending and by corrosion at the same -lo~ cations :a.resthc9&,6p conditions we must here consider. We note that neither the Applicant nor the Staff has addressed this concern raised by Judge Decker at the February 1982 hearir.g session. (13) The hoplicant's statements that the protective wrappings are inherently flexible and should not fall (par.392), are unsupported assumptions. (footnote G75 does l not correctly address the wranoings themselves) l We further note that neither the Applicant nor the Staff has addressed the concern raised by Resident inspector Ron Cook that if a galvanic protection system is improperly installed it can actually promote corrsion problems.(14) The problems with' anodes being encased in concrete (tr. 9223-9226) and with carbon steel lugs being welded to stainless steel pipes (15) constituted unconservative and potentially unsafe practices which make Mr. Cook's concern more than a hypothetical.

The Applicants finding (par. 391) that corrosion would not be serious evcn without the galvanic protection system or protective wrappings ,'.'for ocriods of un to at 1c as t six months", offers no assur-ance of safety in that:the corrosive effects would be cumulative,"the galvanic protection system has periodically shut down for extended periods". during plant construction,like the six months in 1982 (CPC footnote 674), and because there is no oractical way to observe cumu-lative corrosion effects on buried cloing.

The Applicant's assertion that the severe pitting corrosion found in the stainless steel condensate lines (Stamiris Ex. 36; was due to stray welding currents is faulty and represents an unconserv-tive assumption. (par.393) The 1979 Condensate Pipe Corrosion Study performed to assess this oroblem (Stamiris Ex. 36) addressed and ruled

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'out thisvery theory on the basis that "there were no known electrical

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sources in the vicinity of the corroded section or the pipe. There were no adjacent buried olpes or oower lines nor was there any field welding perfsrmed in the immediate vicinity of the corroded section".

(p.3, Stamiris Ex. 36)

Applicants explanation that "it is unlikely that this pitting would have been ca.used by interaction between the piping and the soil" in view of the good soil chemestry at the Midland site (par. 393) is also faulty. The 1979 Corrosion Study states that " based upon the results of the analytical chemistry tests which were conducted on the sand samples, corrosion products and pipe metal, it is not possible to establish the cause of the corrosion." (p.2. Stamiris Ex. 36)

Furthermore the existance of "several areas of reddish brown surface stain " composed of corrosion products (p.6 Ibid) would tend to indicate the existance of a more benign or gradual corrosive agent,such as chemical as opposed to " welding current" causes. acting on the Condensate lines. The fact that the Corrosion Studies were based upon the exmnination of only two local sand samoles,unscientif-ically collected, and one " clean" sample, (p.6,2 Ibid) contributes to the fnability of this study' to rule out chemical contamination.

The second Corrosion Study conducted on a stainless steel nitrogen line three months later in January 1981 (Stamiris Ex. 37) which concludes that both this corrosion and that in the first study were caused by stray welding currents (despite the contrary evidence in the first report),. represents a classic case of Interpreting data to succort a precencieved conclusion: that stray welding currents were

, .. .w the c a'us e oY't'he c o r r~o s i on. ' Th'I s c one l us i o n a f f o rd e d Ja mo r e " cEntF6 FX-d.KPIT able problem than what the second study calls "the ubiquitous sugges-tion of random contraination " established by the first study. (p.2, Ibid)

Based upon the foregoing inadequacies in the Applicant's anal-yses and the Staff's essential concurrence, we reject their conclu-sion that corrosion,by itself or in conjunction with differential settlement effects, does not pose a significant threat to the integ-rity of the function of the underground safety piping at Midland.

Although selected portions of buried piping have been examined for corrosion,.the potential for undetected damage to buried piping whether caused by past welding practices, ehemical contamination,,or other agents, is too great to be ignored or condoned if regQlatory safety requirements are to be upheld.

PROPOSED CONCLUSIONS OF LAW I. Absent a decision upholding the adequacy of the Applicant's implementation of the soils remedial work undertaken to date, we do not have reasonable assurance that the remedial measures described in the foregoing findings are adeouate and sufficient to correct the safety concerns at issue in this proceeding, or to enable the affected safety systems to perform their intended function.

2. Absent resolution of unresolved safety issues which were not adequately addressed in these findings regarding the Auxiliary Bldg. underpinning operations, or were raired s a r-suit of the

. . .. 2 September 14-15, 1983 Audit, we conclude that the Applicant still has not poovided the Staff or the ASLB with the appropriate technical information and acceptance criteria necessary to accept the proposed remedial measu.res.

3. Based on the submitted findings, we conclude that the Auxiliary Eldg. underpinning- operations do not provide reasonable assurance that this structure and its related systems can perform their required safety functions.

4. Based upon the submitted findings, we conclude that the underground I

safety piping cannot be reasonably expected to perform its recuired 1

safety functions due to differential settlement, corrosion, and the

( inadequate means of monitoring these problems.

l S. As a reruit of the foregoing conclusions, we will combine. the assessment of QA implementation of our upcoming P.I.D. with this P.I.D. on technical issues, to provide a more meaningful ' ,

decision.

6. As a result of the most recent unresolved safety issues regarding underpinning. work, (Conclusion 2. and the nine issues listed on Stamiris p. 7,8) we hereby prohibit further underpinning work from occuring until we have had the opportunity to hear and assess these issues.

7. On the bases of these findings and conclusions, we will hold the OM-OL Hearing open until the safety issues of Conclusion 6 are resolved before this ASLB.

FOOTNOTES ggtY;kfi U

1. 1977 Ad. Bldg. Settlement Recort, attached Stamiris motion; Audit F-77-32, Board Ex. 3 10/5/6gy 0$}fp g

2. Keeley tr. 1313-14; Xeeley prep. test imony c.4 ; Gallache cFtr42573-4 DGr Hood testimony p.12,. fol. tr. 1560, *EV?ST ; S9tPS- ? . -q ;

00C.".E Brat TTds ;?ck*%

3. Keeley tr. 1210-12; Howell tr. 2826-27: 7/7/91 testimony esserd memo; t r. 7784-88 ; un' authorized drilling 7 e xcavat inc

4. 4/15/82'Sp/30/82 cited *in 4 Order

5. Gilray test imony p.2, fol .tr. 3718 ; tr. 3834; tr. 3719-21

6. Stamiris 9/4/82 motion,. attachment A; ens83-155, 83-167,83-174, 83-106, and 82-98; SALP II & SALP III Soils & Foundations ; Stam-Iris Ex. 40-44, 76,7Q,89, 92, 97,and lo3

7. Ibid

8. 11/1/83 tr. Z312, 2321

9. Landsman Cook tr. 14632-14658

10. 1/19/83 NRC memo;'. Landsman tr. 14671-14680; Stamiris Ex. 52 -

1 l 11. CPC ex. 33 i

l 12. SALR: II I, , p . 8, p a r t. b . , Stamiris Ex. 55 1

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. 15. * 's i

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• The appropriate transcripts were missing from the library; I therefore I have no way to find the correct citations at this time.

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