[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 140 (Friday, July 19, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37775-37776]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18371]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Notice of Meeting
SUMMARY: The NRC will hold a public meeting in Rockville, Maryland to
receive comments from licensees and the public on its initiative to
perform research on electric cables to resolve technical issues related
to the Environmental Qualification (EQ) process. All interested
licensees, and members of the public are invited to attend this
meeting. Interested parties, unable to attend the meeting, are
encouraged to provide written comments pertinent to the proposed EQ
research by August 2, 1996.
DATES: The meeting will be held on August 6-7, 1996, beginning at 8:30
a.m.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel at
1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. Visitor parking is also
available at the hotel, however, the hotel is located adjacent to the
Twinbrook Station on the Metro Red Line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact
Satish K. Aggarwal, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, Mail Stop T
10 E-10, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555,
telephone 301-415-6005; fax: 301-415-5074; INTERNET: [email protected]
Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, August 6, 1996
8:30 am--Welcome and Introductions
8:45 am--Overview of EQ Research
9:30 am--Overview of EQ Task Action Plan
10:15 am--Overview of Issues to be Resolved and Planned Research
11:00 am--Discussion of Issue 1
12:00 noon--Lunch Break
1:00 pm--Discussion of Issue 2
1:30 pm--Discussion of Issue 3
2:00 pm--Discussion of Issues 4 and 5
3:00 pm--Discussion of Issues 6 to 9
5:00 pm--Adjourn
Wednesday, August 7, 1996
8:30 am--Discussion of Issues 10 to 13
10:00 am--Discussion of Issues 14 and 15
12:00 noon--Lunch Break
1:00 pm--Discussion of Issues 16 to 19
4:00 pm--Adjourn
Unresolved Issues
The following issues have been identified for further research.
Information that may help fully or partially resolve these issues may
be presented at this meeting.
Issues 1 & 2: Thermal Preaging Process
--Arrhenius application
--Activation energies
Issue 3: Other Aging Factors
--The effects on humidity
Issues 4 & 5: Cable Construction
--Multiple vs. single conductor cables
--Bonded jacket cables
Issues 6, 7, 8 & 9: Installed Environment
--Hot spots
--Vibration
--Water/steam impingement
--Maintenance activities
Issues 10, 11, 12 & 13: Installed Configuration
--Bends, vertical runs, overhangs
--Cable trays, conduits
--Fire protection coatings
--Installation damage
Issues 14 & 15: Condition Monitoring
--Effectiveness
--LOCA survivability
Issues 16, 17, 18 & 19: Life Extension
--Requalification options
--Definition of qualified life
--Use of operating experience
--Extension of qualified life
Further information on these issues can be obtained from NUREG/CR-
6384, Volumes 1 and 2, which are available from the Government Printing
Office.
[[Page 37776]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When the latest regulation for environmental
qualification (EQ) of electric equipment, 10 CFR 50.49, was issued, it
contained provisions that allowed licensees to meet different standards
for qualification. In general, one standard required testing of
electric equipment by exposing it to a harsh environment. The second
standard required similar testing in addition to artificial radiation
and thermal aging of equipment prior to LOCA testing. Although the
first standard does not include consideration of the effects of aging,
both standards include margin for operating temperature, radiation
levels, and some physical damage mechanisms. It is believed that this
margin compensates for any damage mechanisms which are not modelled
precisely in the accelerated testing.
As a result of the staff's activities related to license renewal in
the early 1990s, EQ was identified as an area that required further
review. As discussed in SECY-93-049, a major concern related to EQ was
whether the EQ requirements for older plants were adequate to support
license renewal. Subsequently, the NRC staff concluded that differences
in EQ requirements between older and newer plants constituted a
potential generic issue which should be evaluated for backfit,
independent of license renewal activities. Furthermore, recent test
results raise questions with respect to the environmental qualification
and accident performance capability of certain types of cables, and
there have been some instances of cable failures as a result of
exposure to high temperature and/or radiation during normal plant
operation.
The NRC staff developed a task action plan (TAP) which has been
designed to identify, evaluate and resolve EQ concerns. One item of the
TAP was for the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research to develop and
implement a research program which will focus on (1) data collection
and analysis, and (2) technical issues. Since most of the electrical
equipment in operating nuclear power plants can be replaced with
relative ease except for cables, the research program was subsequently
developed to focus on low-voltage I&C cables within the scope of 10 CFR
50.49.
For the data collection and analysis, Brookhaven National
Laboratory (BNL) was designated the lead laboratory to perform a
literature review and establish an extensive database. The assessment
of the literature has been completed and includes an analysis of
available data, both domestic and foreign, to determine which EQ
related technical issues can be resolved with existing information and
which will require further research. For those issues identified which
require further research, testing of both naturally aged and
artificially aged cable samples will be performed.
The primary objective of this research program is to answer EQ
questions related to electrical cables based upon actual testing. The
testing phase of the program will provide information to assess the
effectiveness of condition monitoring (CM) methods to determine the
extent of degradation, if any, of qualified low voltage instrumentation
and control (I&C) cables within the scope of 10 CFR 50.49, and evaluate
the adequacy of accelerated aging techniques in the environmental
qualification process.
This meeting will provide an opportunity for licensees and the
public to provide input on the issues identified for further research,
and the research to be performed. A transcript of this meeting will be
available for inspection, and copying for a fee at the NRC Public
Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW., Lower Level, Washington, DC 20555,
on or about September 2, 1996.
The meeting will be open to the public, and the public will be
provided opportunities throughout the workshop to comment on the issues
under discussion.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland on this 15th day of July, 1996.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lawrence C. Shao,
Director, Division of Engineering Technology, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 96-18371 Filed 7-18-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
