95-19766. GPU Nuclear Corporation, Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station; Issuance of Partial Director's Decision Under 10 CFR Sec. 2.206  

  • [Federal Register Volume 60, Number 154 (Thursday, August 10, 1995)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 40867-40871]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 95-19766]
    
    
    
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    NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
    [Docket No. 50-219]
    
    
    GPU Nuclear Corporation, Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station; 
    Issuance of Partial Director's Decision Under 10 CFR Sec. 2.206
    
        Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
    Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has denied in part 
    a Petition, dated September 19, 1994, and supplemented December 13, 
    1994, submitted by Oyster Creek Nuclear Watch, Reactor Watchdog 
    Project, and Nuclear Information and Resource Service (Petitioners). 
    The Petition requested that the NRC take action regarding the Oyster 
    Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS) pursuant to 10 C.F.R. 
    Sec. 2.206.
        The September 19, 1994, Petition requests that the NRC (1) 
    immediately suspend the OCNGS operating license until the Licensee 
    inspects and repairs or replaces all safety-class reactor internal 
    component parts subject to embrittlement and cracking, (2) immediately 
    suspend the OCNGS operating license until the Licensee submits an 
    analysis regarding the synergistic effects of through-wall cracking of 
    multiple safety-class components, (3) immediately suspend the OCNGS 
    operating license until the Licensee has analyzed and mitigated any 
    areas of noncompliance with regard to irradiated fuel pool cooling as a 
    single-unit boiling-water reactor (BWR), and (4) issue a generic letter 
    requiring other licensees of single-unit BWRs to submit information 
    regarding fuel pool boiling in order to verify compliance with 
    regulatory requirements, and to promptly take appropriate mitigative 
    action if the units are not in compliance.
        The December 13, 1994, supplemental Petition requests that the NRC: 
    (1) suspend the license of the OCNGS until the Petitioners' concerns 
    regarding cracking are addressed, including inspection of all reactor 
    vessel internal components and other safety-related systems susceptible 
    to intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) and completion of 
    any and all necessary repairs and modifications; (2) explain 
    discrepancies between the response of the NRC staff dated October 27, 
    1994, to the Petition of September 19, 1994, and the time-to-boil 
    calculations for the FitzPatrick plant; (3) require the GPU Nuclear 
    Corporation to produce documents for evaluation of the time-to-boil 
    calculation for the OCNGS irradiated fuel pool; (4) identify redundant 
    components that may be powered from onsite power supplies to be used 
    for spent fuel pool cooling as qualified Class 1E systems; (5) hold a 
    public meeting in Toms River, New Jersey, to permit presentation of 
    additional information related to the Petition; and (6) treat the 
    Petitioners' letter of December 13, 1994, as a formal appeal of the 
    denial of the Petitioners' request of September 19, 1994, to 
    immediately suspend the OCNGS operating license.
        The Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation has denied 
    Requests (1) and (2) of the September 19, 1994, Petition and Request 
    (1) of the December 13, 1994, supplemental Petition to suspend the 
    operating license of the OCNGS until the Licensee inspects and repairs, 
    modified, or replaces all safety-class reactor internal component parts 
    subject to embrittlement and intergranular stress corrosion cracking. 
    The reasons for this denial are explained in the ``Partial Director's 
    Decision Under 10 CFR Sec. 2.206'' (DD-95-18), the complete text of 
    which follows this notice, and which is available for public inspection 
    at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman Building, 2120 L 
    Street, NW., Washington, DC, and at the local 
    
    [[Page 40868]]
    public document room for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station 
    located at the Ocean County Library, Reference Department, 101 
    Washington Street, Toms River, NJ 08753. A decision regarding Requests 
    (3), and (4) of the September 19, 1994 Petition, and Requests (2), (3), 
    and (4), of the December 13, 1994, supplemental Petition will be issued 
    under separate cover upon completion of the NRC staff's review.
        A copy of this Partial Director's Decision will be filed with the 
    Secretary of the Commission for review in accordance with 10 CFR 
    2.206(c). As provided in that regulation, the Decision will constitute 
    the final action of the Commission 25 days after the date of the 
    issuance of the Decision, unless the Commission, on its own motion, 
    institutes a review of the Decision within that time.
    
        Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 4th day of August 1995.
    
        For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
    William T. Russell,
    Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
    Appendix A--Partial Director's Decision Under 10 CFR Sec. 2.206 (DD95-
    18)
    
    I. Introduction
    
        By letter dated September 19, 1994, Reactor Watchdog Project, 
    Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), and Oyster Creek 
    Nuclear Watch (Petitioners), submitted a Petition pursuant to Section 
    2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 C.F.R. 
    Sec. 2.206), requesting that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
    (NRC) take action with regard to the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating 
    Station (OCNGS), operated by the GPU Nuclear Corporation (GPUN or the 
    Licensee). By letter dated December 13, 1994, Petitioners supplemented 
    the Petition.
        The September 19, 1994, Petition requests that the NRC (1) 
    immediately suspend the OCNGS operating license until the Licensee 
    inspects and repairs or replaces all safety-class reactor internal 
    component parts subject to embrittlement and cracking, (2) immediately 
    suspend the OCNGS operating license until the Licensee submits an 
    analysis regarding the synergistic effects of through-wall cracking of 
    multiple safety-class components, (3) immediately suspend the OCNGS 
    operating license until the Licensee has analyzed and mitigated any 
    areas of noncompliance with regard to irradiated fuel pool cooling as a 
    single-unit boiling-water reactor (BWR), and (4) issue a generic letter 
    requiring other licensees of single-unit BWRs to submit information 
    regarding fuel pool boiling in order to verify compliance with 
    regulatory requirements, and to promptly take appropriate mitigative 
    action if the unit is not in compliance.
        The December 13, 1994, supplemental Petition requests that the NRC: 
    (1) suspend the license of the OCNGS until the Petitioners' concerns 
    regarding cracking are addressed, including inspection of all reactor 
    vessel internal components and other safety-related systems susceptible 
    to intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) and completion of 
    any and all necessary repairs and modifications; (2) explain 
    discrepancies between the response of the NRC staff dated October 27, 
    1994, to the Petition of September 19, 1994, and the time-to-boil 
    calculations for the FitzPatrick plant; (3) require GPUN to produce 
    documents for evaluation of the time-to-boil calculation for the OCNGS 
    irradiated fuel pool; (4) identify redundant components that may be 
    powered from onsite power supplies to be used for spent fuel pool 
    cooling as qualified Class 1E systems; (5) hold a public meeting in 
    Toms River, New Jersey, to permit presentation of additional 
    information related to the Petition; and (6) treat the Petitioners' 
    letter of December 13, 1994, as a formal appeal of the denial of the 
    Petitioners' request of September 19, 1994, to immediately suspend the 
    OCNGS operating license.
        The September 19, 1994, Petition sought relief concerning safety-
    class reactor internal components based on the following premises: (a) 
    the core shroud in General Electric BWRs is vulnerable to age-related 
    deterioration; (b) 12 domestic and foreign BWR owners have found 
    extensive cracking on welds of the core shroud; (c) only 10 of 36 U.S. 
    BWR owners have inspected their core shrouds and 9 of the 10 core 
    shrouds had cracks; (d) 19 of 25 selected BWR internal components are 
    susceptible to stress corrosion cracking and 6 of 19 are susceptible to 
    irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking; (e) as the oldest 
    operating General Electric Mark I BWR and the third oldest operating 
    reactor in the United States, OCNGS has been subjected to the longest 
    period of operational conditions that cause embrittlement and cracking; 
    (f) the BWR Owners Group (BWROG) stated that cracking of the core 
    shroud is a warning signal that additional safety-class reactor 
    internals are increasingly susceptible to age-related deterioration; 
    (g) cracking of any single part or multiple components jeopardizes safe 
    operation of that nuclear station; (h) Oyster Creek did not inspect for 
    core shroud cracking prior to the current refueling outage and other 
    safety-class reactor internals have not been adequately inspected for 
    cracking; and (i) a safety analysis has not been performed on the 
    potential synergistic effects of multiple-component cracking.
        The September 19, 1994, Petition also sought relief concerning fuel 
    pool cooling design deficiencies, based on the following premises: (a) 
    various design defects in BWR fuel pool cooling systems pose a 
    significant increase in risk to the public safety and violate 10 CFR 
    50.59; 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix A, Criterion 63; 10 CFR Part 50, 
    Appendix B, Criterion III; and Regulatory Guides 1.13, 1.89, and 1.97; 
    (b) OCNGS is a single-unit facility with no adjacent units to rely upon 
    in the event that a design-basis event were to disable the fuel pool 
    cooling system; and (c) OCNGS has not docketed any material with regard 
    to BWR design deficiencies identified in the 10 CFR Part 21 Report of 
    Substantial Safety Hazard (November 27, 1992) of Messrs. Lochbaum and 
    Prevatte, and thus OCNGS may be in violation of NRC regulatory 
    requirements.
        The Petitioners assert the following bases to support their 
    requests in the December 13, 1994, supplemental Petition: (a) the 
    October 27, 1994, letter of the NRC staff, acknowledging receipt of the 
    Petition and denying the requests for immediate suspension of the 
    operating license, failed to address concerns central to the Petition, 
    such as the Licensee's failure to recognize that IGSCC indicates that 
    cracking could be occurring in additional safety-class reactor internal 
    components and the Licensee's failure to perform inspections of all 
    safety-class components to determine whether cracking is occurring; (b) 
    recently discovered cracking in the top guide and core plates in 
    foreign BWRs and cracking discovered on December 8, 1994, at the New 
    York Power Authority's (NYPA's) FitzPatrick reactor underscore the 
    Petitioners' concern that additional safety-class components at OCNGS 
    are degrading; (c) the Licensee did not conduct an enhanced inspection 
    of the core plate and top guide of the OCNGS facility during the 
    current outage, despite notification by the General Electric Rapid 
    Information Communication Service Information Letter (GE RICSIL) 071 
    dated November 22, 1994; (d) the Licensee, the NRC, and the BWR Owners 
    Group (BWORG) have failed to provide an analysis of the synergistic 
    effects of multiple-component cracking of additional safety-class 
    reactor internal 
    
    [[Page 40869]]
    components; (e) the time-to-boil calculation is dictated by the amount 
    of decay heat generated and the volume of water in the fuel pool rather 
    than the number of reactors at a site that store irradiated fuel in a 
    separate pool; (f) NRC documents state that the time-to-boil 
    calculation for FitzPatrick following a loss-of-coolant accident is 8 
    hours, and NYPA documents state that the time-to-boil calculations in 
    two cases are 11.86 and 5.36 hours. Finally, nothing indicates that the 
    time-to-boil calculation at OCNGS is longer than the time-to-boil 
    calculation at the Susquehanna facility; and (g) the NRC and the 
    licensee have failed to establish whether redundant components and 
    power supplies to the OCNGS fuel pool cooling system have been 
    qualified as Class 1E systems.
        The Petitioners' requests that the Commission immediately suspend 
    the OCNGS operating license were denied in my letter of October 27, 
    1994, to the Petitioners, because (1) OCNGS was in a refueling outage, 
    had inspected core shroud welds, and was making structural 
    modifications before restart of the unit to address some weld cracks 
    found during the inspection, and (2) inspections and corrective actions 
    recommended by General Electric Company and the American Society of 
    Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code for various 
    reactor internals had been and continued to be performed by the 
    Licensee.
        The Petitioners' request for treatment of their letter of December 
    13, 1994, as a formal appeal of the NRC staff's denial of their request 
    of September 19, 1994, for immediate suspension of the OCNGS operating 
    license, was denied in my letter of April 10, 1995, to the Petitioners. 
    The Petitioners provided no basis for revisiting the denial of their 
    request of September 19, 1994, for immediate suspension of the license. 
    As discussed below, the Licensee completed all ASME Code Section XI 
    reactor vessel internal inspections and BWROG recommended inspections 
    and took appropriate remedial action before re-start of OCNGS in 
    December 1994. The NRC staff was also aware of the potential problem 
    for United States BWRs raised by cracking in top guide and core plates 
    of foreign BWRs before the restart of OCNGS. The NRC staff determined, 
    as explained below, that cracks in these components would not adversely 
    affect safety of the plant because of differences in the OCNGS design 
    as compared to the affected foreign reactors.
        Regarding the OCNGS spent fuel pool cooling system capability, the 
    staff determined that the time to the onset of spent fuel pool boiling 
    following a loss of spent fuel pool cooling during periods where the 
    reactor vessel contains irradiated fuel at single unit BWR sites, such 
    as OCNGS, is long enough to allow compensatory measures. The 
    probability of a sustained loss of spent fuel pool cooling creating 
    adverse environmental conditions that may cause failure of essential 
    equipment is extremely low. Therefore, the staff has concluded that 
    immediate action to address the concerns the Petitioners have 
    identified at OCNGS is not justified. As stated in my letter of October 
    27, 1994, spent fuel pool safety is being reviewed generically by the 
    staff and this review has not yet been completed.
        The Petitioners' request for a public meeting was denied in my 
    letter of April 10, 1995.1 The issue of internals cracking has 
    been discussed at several public meetings, including a public meeting 
    on November 4, 1994, that a representative of NIRS attended regarding 
    the OCNGS core shroud. With respect to spent fuel pool cooling, the 
    staff has held several public meetings and public briefings with the 
    Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. Summaries of these public 
    meetings are available in the NRC Public Document Room, the Gelman 
    Building, 2120 L Street NW., Washington, DC, and at the local public 
    document rooms for the affected BWR plants. Transcripts of ACRS 
    meetings are also available.
    
        \1\  In addition, the NRC staff determined, in accordance with 
    the guidance in NRC Management Directive 8.11, ``Review Process for 
    10 CFR 2.206 Petitions,'' that an informal public hearing was not 
    warranted because the Petition did not present new information or a 
    new approach for evaluating the concerns Petitioners raised.
        The NRC staff's review of the issues related to cracking of reactor 
    internal components, raised by Requests (1) and (2) of the September 
    19, 1994, Petition, and Request (1) of the December 13, 1994, 
    supplemental Petition, is now complete. For the reasons set forth 
    below, the Petition is denied with respect to these requests. A 
    Director's Decision concerning the issues related to irradiated fuel 
    pool cooling and fuel pool boiling, raised by Requests (3) and (4) of 
    the September 19, 1994, Petition and Requests (2), (3), and (4) of the 
    December 13, 1994, supplemental Petition will be issued upon completion 
    of the NRC staff's review regarding those matters.
    
    II. Background
    
        Intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) of BWR internal 
    components has been identified as a technical issue of concern by both 
    the NRC staff and the nuclear industry. The core shroud is among the 
    internal reactor components susceptible to IGSCC. Identification of 
    cracking at the circumferential beltline region welds in several plants 
    during 1993 led to the publication of NRC Information Notice (IN) 93-
    79, ``Core Shroud Cracking at Beltline Region Welds in Boiling-Water 
    Reactors,'' issued on September 30, 1993. Several licensees inspected 
    their core shrouds during planned outages in the spring of 1994 and 
    found cracking at the circumferential welds. The NRC has closely 
    monitored these inspection activities. Additionally, licensees have 
    inspected other BWR reactor vessel internal components as discussed 
    below. NRC issued IN 94-42, ``Cracking in the Lower Region of the Core 
    Shroud in Boiling-Water Reactors,'' on June 7, 1994, and Supplement 1 
    to IN 94-42, on July 19, 1994, concerning cracking in the core shroud 
    found at Dresden Unit 3 and Quad Cities Unit 1. IN 95-17, ``Reactor 
    Vessel Top Guide and Core Plate Cracking,'' issued on March 10, 1995, 
    concerned reactor vessel top guide and core plate cracking. The NRC has 
    monitored Licensee inspection activities of these components at the 
    OCNGS as discussed below.
    
    III. Discussion
    
        A. Petitioners request that the NRC suspend the OCNGS license until 
    the Licensee inspects and repairs or replaces all safety-class reactor 
    internal component parts subject to embrittlement and cracking. Nuclear 
    power reactor licensees, including GPUN, are required by 10 C.F.R. 
    Sec. 50.55a to implement inservice inspection programs in accordance 
    with the guidelines of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 
    Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME Code). The scope of the inservice 
    inspection programs for reactor pressure vessels and their internal 
    components is prescribed by ASME Code, Section XI, Division 1, 
    Subsections IWA and IWB. The Licensee is also required by ASME Code, 
    Section XI, Article IWA-6000, to submit the results of these 
    inspections to the NRC within 90 days of completion. The NRC staff 
    performs periodic audits of licensee-implemented inservice inspection 
    programs to determine compliance with applicable codes and regulations. 
    These audits are documented in NRC inspection reports, which are 
    publicly available at the NRC Public Document Room, the Gelman 
    Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC, and at the local public 
    document room for the OCNGS located at the Ocean County Library, 
    Reference 
    
    [[Page 40870]]
    Department, 101 Washington Street, Toms River, NJ 08753.
        The Licensee performed inspections of the OCNGS reactor vessel and 
    its internal safety-related components in accordance with the 
    requirements of ASME Code, Section XI, and the NRC staff has reviewed 
    the Licensee's inservice inspection programs, as discussed below.
        Cracking of the core spray piping was first detected during 
    Licensee inspections at OCNGS in 1978, and its extent has been 
    evaluated by the Licensee during each subsequent outage. The core spray 
    piping was repaired in 1978 and 1980. Since that time, additional 
    visual inspections by the Licensee have not identified any significant 
    degradation of the piping or of the repairs made to the piping. The 
    NRC's review of the Licensee's inspection results and disposition 
    during the 14R outage, documented in NRC Inspection Report 50-219/92-
    22, dated March 19, 1993, and a letter to GPUN dated November 18, 1994, 
    regarding the 15R inspection concluded that the Licensee inspections 
    and dispositions of core spray system findings were appropriate.
        The Licensee first detected cracking of the top guide in 1991 and 
    has closely monitored it in successive outages. The NRC staff conducted 
    an inspection in June 1991, and concluded that the Licensee's 
    disposition of the top guide crack as ``acceptable as is'' was 
    adequate. The results of the inspection were reported in NRC Inspection 
    Report 50-219/91-21, dated August 9, 1991. During an NRC inspection 
    conducted in December 1992 and January 1993, the NRC staff evaluated 
    the results of a remote visual inspection of the top guide conducted by 
    General Electric Corporation for GPUN. The staff evaluated the quality 
    of the Licensee's visual inspection of the top guide and agreed with 
    the Licensee's determination that the top guide was acceptable to ``use 
    as is''. The results of the inspection were reported in NRC Inspection 
    Report 50-219/92-22, dated March 19, 1993.
        The Licensee notified the NRC staff during an October 11, 1994, 
    telephone call that additional cracking in the top guide had been 
    found. The Licensee also reported that cracks found in earlier 
    inspections of the top guide had not shown any measurable growth. In 
    addition, during the refueling outage for Cycle 15 of operation (15R 
    refueling outage), which began in September 1994, the Licensee assessed 
    all the cracks that had been identified to ensure they would not 
    jeopardize the structural integrity or function of the top guide.
        It should be noted that the location of the cracks that have been 
    detected in the OCNGS top guide is different from that in the foreign 
    reactor cited in the NIRS letter of December 13, 1994, and the subject 
    of GE RICSIL-071. Moreover, both the top guide and the core plate at 
    OCNGS are components of a GE BWR while the foreign plant is a non-GE 
    BWR. Furthermore, the OCNGS core plate is bolted in place, and the top 
    guide is restrained vertically by hold-down devices and horizontally by 
    lateral supports. These configurations result in a highly redundant 
    structure, and even if cracking similar to that observed in the foreign 
    plant were to occur, it would not adversely affect the safety of the 
    plant, and these components could still perform their safety-related 
    functions.
        The BWROG has addressed the issue of cracking in the internal 
    components of reactor pressure vessels by recommending that BWR 
    licensees perform inspections of various components pursuant to vendor 
    recommendations of the General Electric Company. Among inspections 
    recommended by the BWROG are examination of core spray spargers, core 
    shrouds, top guides, return line nozzles, and in-core instrumentation, 
    which in the case of OCNGS are the intermediate power range monitors. 
    The BWROG has also formed the Boiling Water Reactor Vessels & Internals 
    Project (BWRVIP), chaired by five nuclear industry vice presidents, to 
    develop a proactive program to address and mitigate cracking in reactor 
    pressure vessel internal components. NRC staff correspondence with the 
    BWRVIP, staff evaluation of the BWRVIP generic submittals, summaries of 
    meetings with the BWRVIP, and staff assessments of plant-specific 
    submittals in regard to these subjects are also available to the public 
    for review at the local public document room of each BWR plant.
        The Licensee inspected the following safety-related components 
    during the 15R refueling outage, which began in September 1994: core 
    spray sparger and annular piping, steam dryer and separator assembly, 
    core shroud head bolts, core support plate holddown bolts, guide rod 
    and steam dryer support brackets, feedwater spargers, top guide 
    assembly, four intermediate-power range monitors, one low-power range 
    monitor, core shroud brackets, conical support to shell weld, and the 
    core shroud. Cracking was observed on the core shroud and a steam dryer 
    bracket, and required repairs to these components were made. Minor 
    cracking was observed on the core spray piping, a tack weld on the 
    keeper bolt of the feedwater spargers, and the top guide cross beams. 
    None of these cracks would have prevented the components from 
    performing their normal operating and postulated accident functions. 
    These indications were dispositioned as is. The Licensee submitted 
    results of its core shroud inspection and its core spray sparger 
    inspection to the NRC in separate letters, both dated November 3, 1994. 
    As a result of a conference call on January 19, 1995, the Licensee 
    submitted a summary of the results of its inspections of reactor vessel 
    internal components performed during the 15R refueling outage. By a 
    letter dated March 16, 1995, in accordance with 10 CFR Sec. 50.55a(g) 
    and ASME Section XI, IWA 6220, (1986 Edition with no addenda), GPUN 
    forwarded the reports of its inservice inspection activities conducted 
    during the 15R refueling outage. In the report GPUN lists the 
    inspections performed and discusses unacceptable indications of certain 
    components and their disposition. Inservice inspection of reactor 
    vessel internal components is required by the ASME Code and the 
    licensee's inservice inspection program for future outages provides 
    assurance that degradation of components will be detected and 
    appropriate action will be taken. The documents discussed above are 
    available at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman 
    Building, 2120 L Street NW., Washington, DC, and at the local public 
    document room located at the Ocean County Library, Reference 
    Department, 101 Washington Street, Toms River, NJ 08753.
        The Licensee's inspection of the OCNGS core shroud found that one 
    of the ten circumferential welds (the H4 weld) had indications of 
    substantial cracking. To ensure shroud integrity under all postulated 
    accidents, the Licensee elected to install a modification, consisting 
    of ten stabilizing tie-rods, designed to ensure that the core shroud 
    would perform its design functions under normal operation and 
    postulated accidents even if it were to develop 360 deg. through-wall 
    cracks. The NRC staff reviewed this modification and issued a safety 
    evaluation on November 25, 1994, which concluded that the core shroud 
    modification proposed by the Licensee is acceptable and, therefore, is 
    approved. The safety evaluation is also available at the public 
    document rooms previously listed.
        On the basis of the NRC staff's review of various plant-specific 
    and industry programs implemented by the Licensee, the NRC staff 
    concluded that the Licensee took appropriate actions to address 
    embrittlement and cracking in, 
    
    [[Page 40871]]
    and thus to ensure the reliability of, the OCNGS reactor vessel 
    internal components.
        Based on the above, the staff has concluded that suspension of the 
    Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station operating license due to 
    embrittlement and cracking of the reactor vessel internal components is 
    not warranted. As stated previously, continued monitoring of reactor 
    vessel internals as required by the ASME Code and the licensee's 
    inservice inspection program will provide assurance that degradation of 
    components will be detected and appropriate action will be taken.
        B. Petitioners request that the NRC suspend the OCNGS operating 
    license until the Licensee provides an analysis regarding the 
    synergistic effects of through-wall cracking of multiple safety-class 
    components. The majority of reactor internals are fabricated from high-
    toughness materials such as stainless steel and were designed with 
    significant margins on allowable stresses. As such, cracking must be 
    severe to adversely impact plant safety. It is unlikely that licensee 
    inspections would not find such severe degradation. In fact, 
    identification and sizing of the cracks in the H4 location on the OCNGS 
    core shroud are good examples of the effectiveness of the inspections. 
    In addition, NRC staff evaluation of the results from internals 
    inspections performed to date at OCNGS resulted in the conclusion that 
    ASME Code safety margins have been maintained.
        The Licensee has not provided an analysis to NRC that addresses the 
    synergistic effects of cracking in multiple safety-class components. 
    The NRC staff does not consider the lack of such an analysis to be a 
    safety concern because of the inspection requirements that pertain to 
    reactor internals and the results of inspections performed to date. See 
    Section III.A, supra.
        Continued monitoring of reactor vessel internals as required by the 
    ASME Code and the licensee's inservice inspection program will provide 
    information about the structural integrity of reactor vessel internals 
    in the long term. The NRC has asked the BWR Vessel Internals Project 
    (BWRVIP), an industry group, to develop an assessment to address 
    cracking in BWR reactor vessel internals. A report from the BWRVIP is 
    expected on the long term effects of reactor vessel internals cracking 
    in late 1995. In addition, the NRC has undertaken a longer term 
    evaluation of the effects of cracking in multiple reactor vessel 
    internal components that will be approached with appropriate treatment 
    of the key variables (safety function, material susceptibility, 
    loading, environment, etc.).
        Based on the above, the staff has concluded that suspension of the 
    Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station license, due to the lack of an 
    analysis of the synergistic effects of through-wall cracking of safety-
    class reactor internal components, is not warranted.
    
    IV. Conclusion
    
        The Petitioners requested that the NRC suspend the operating 
    license of Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station until: (1) the 
    Licensee inspects, repairs, or replaces, all safety-class reactor 
    internal components subject to embrittlement and cracking, and (2) the 
    Licensee provides an analysis regarding the synergistic effects of 
    through-wall cracking of multiple safety-class components. For the 
    reasons discussed above, I conclude that the issues raised by the 
    Petitioners are being adequately addressed and that there is no basis 
    for suspending the OCNGS operating license or taking the other 
    requested action. Accordingly, the Petitioners' above-referenced 
    requests are denied.
        A copy of this Partial Director's Decision will be filed with the 
    Secretary of the Commission for review as stated in 10 CFR 2.206(c). 
    This Decision will become the final action of the Commission 25 days 
    after issuance unless the Commission, on its own motion, institutes 
    review of the Decision within that time.
    
        Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of August 1995.
    
        For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
    William T. Russell,
    Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
    [FR Doc. 95-19766 Filed 8-9-95; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
    
    

Document Information

Published:
08/10/1995
Department:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Entry Type:
Notice
Document Number:
95-19766
Pages:
40867-40871 (5 pages)
Docket Numbers:
Docket No. 50-219
PDF File:
95-19766.pdf