95-27625. Issuance of Urgent Bulletin; NRC Bulletin 95-02, Unexpected Clogging of a Residual Heat Removal (RHR) Pump Strainer While Operating in Suppression Pool Cooling Mode

[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 56361]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27625]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Issuance of Urgent Bulletin; NRC Bulletin 95-02, Unexpected 
Clogging of a Residual Heat Removal (RHR) Pump Strainer While Operating 
in Suppression Pool Cooling Mode

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of issuance.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued Bulletin 
95-02 to request certain remedial actions and associated reporting by 
holders of boiling water reactor (BWR) licenses and construction 
permits as a result of the unexpected clogging of a residual heat 
removal pump strainer at a boiling water reactor facility while 
operating in the suppression pool cooling mode. This bulletin is 
available in the NRC Public Document Room under accession number 
9510040059. This bulletin was issued as an urgent generic communication 
under NRC procedures for issues that the staff considers urgent. This 
bulletin is discussed in Commission information paper SECY-95-255 which 
is also available in the NRC Public Document Room.

DATES: The bulletin was issued on October 17, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Not applicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert B. Elliott, [phone] or 
Robert M. Latta, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC issued this bulletin to accomplish 
the following:
    (1) Alert BWR owners to complications experienced during a recent 
event in which a licensee initiated suppression pool cooling in 
response to a stuck-open safety relief valve (SRV) and subsequently 
experienced clogging of one RHR pump suction strainer.
    (2) Request BWR owners to review the operability of their emergency 
core cooling system (ECCS) and other pumps which draw suction from the 
suppression pool while performing their safety function. The evaluation 
should be based on suppression pool cleanliness, suction strainer 
cleanliness, and the effectiveness of foreign material exclusion (FME) 
practices. In addition, BWR owners are requested to implement 
appropriate procedural modifications and other actions (e.g., 
suppression pool cleaning), as necessary, to minimize foreign material 
in the suppression pool, drywell and containment. BWR owners are 
requested to verify their operability evaluation through appropriate 
testing and inspection.
    (3) Require that BWR owners report to the NRC whether and to what 
extent they have complied with the requested actions. In addition, 
require a second report indicating completion of confirmatory test(s) 
and inspection(s) and providing the test results by BWR owners that 
have complied with the requested actions, or indicating completion of 
any proposed alternative course of action by BWR owners that have not 
complied with the requested actions.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of November, 1995.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dennis M. Crutchfield,
Director, Division of Reactor Program Management Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 95-27625 Filed 11-7-95; 8:45 am]
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