Part 21 Report - 1996-781

 
 
ACCESSION #:  9701090070    

Farewell & Hendricks, Inc.

January 2, 1997

Document Control Desk
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
Washington, D.C.  20555
     via Operations Center

Telephone #:   (301) 816-5100
Telecopy  #:   (301) 816-5151

Subject:       Written Notification of a Known Defect Per 10CFR21

Dear Sir or Madam:

This written notification of a known defect is per Farwell & Hendricks,
Inc.  (F&H) commitment contained in F&H's original fascimile notification
dated November 1, 1996 except that this letter was delayed in order to
incorporate the customers Root Cause Analysis.  This written notification
(report) is in accordance with 10CFR21, Section 21.21, Paragraph 3 (ii).

The following written notification (report) is formatted per 10CFR21,
Section 21.21, Paragraph 4:

i.        F&H at the address listed below is the organization informing
          the USNRC.  John R.  Hendricks, F&H Corporate Officer, of the
          same address, is the specific individual informing the USNRC.

ii.       The basic components supplied by F&H which contained the
          defects are MSD (Struthers & Dunn) B255 relays with DC coils. 
          The identification of the specific facilities to which F&H
          supplied these relays is Public Service Gas & Electric Company
          (PSE&G).

iii.      F&H is the identification of the firm that supplied the basic
          component listed above.

iv.       The nature of the defects occur as:
               1)   Becoming unlatched without the reset coil being
                    energized
               2)   Failure to latch upon demand

          F&H has determined that the reported failures was neither a
          qualification or dedication issue in that the relays satisfied
          the seismic qualification requirements as well as mild
          environmental conditions for the previously qualified
          orientations.

          The defect condition of becoming "unlatched without the reset
          coil being energized", once a relay has achieved a latched
          condition, can only occur by means of an external force being
          applied to the relay, such as vibration or impact.  The
          mechanism's primary means of staying latched is the reset
          coil's return spring.  A lesser contribution is made by the
          coefficient of friction between the latch and the armature of
          the set/activate coil.  Since this version of the relay has
          passed PSE&G's seismic levels, the unidentified outside force
          must be outside the seismic levels' force and/or frequency
          qualification levels.

          The second defect which has subsequently been identified with
          these relays was a failure to latch (or unlatch) when power is
          applied to the appropriate coil.  PSE&G's concerns have been
          addressed by performing refurbishment activities as well as OEM
          design changes which replaces the reset coil's return spring
          (to improve resistance to the force described in defect #1),
          and use a screening process (with PSE&G's concurrence) in order
          to address the second defect and optimize for success.  (See
          PSE&G's Specification No.  S-C-RCP-EDS-0343 Revision 0 dated
          11/11/96 for further details.) In addition, relays purchased
          new from MSD will have a different reset coil in order to make
          the relay easier to manufacture.  

4600 East Tech Drive o  Cincinnati, Ohio 45245 o  (513) 528-7900 o 
FAX (513) 528-9292


          F&H is unable to evaluate the safety hazard which could be
          created by the defect as the potential effect is application
          specific.

v.        The date on which the information of the defect was obtained
          and determined to be a generic issue was October 31, 1996. 
          However, our customer was providing F&H with a Root-Cause
          Analysis which was received at F&H on December 30,1996.

vi.       Our records indicate that these basic components have only been
          sold to PSE&G.

vii.      The corrective action taken by F&H was to notify PSE&G and
          begin working with PS&G and MSD in order to implement a
          refurbishment activity which modifies previously sold relays as
          well as to implement design changes at MSD for future
          manufacturing of these devices.  The length of time to complete
          the refurbishment activity cannot be defined by F&H, however
          the refurbishment of these relays is currently in process.

iv.       The advice related to the defect that will be given to the
          purchasers is that the evaluation indicates that all MSD
          (Struthers & Dunn) B255 relays with DC coils manufactured prior
          to November 25, 1996 and supplied by MSD either directly or via
          third party dedicators may also contain the defect described in
          iv above.

Please note that F&H has reviewed PSEG's "Root Cause Analysis of
Struthers-Dunn Operate-Reset Relay Latch Failures for Salem Nuclear
Generation Station" dated December 6, 1996 (Attached).  F&H has also
reviewed the Struthers-Dunn Model 255XCXP Relay Root Cause Evaluation..."
(also Attached) but does not consider it completely germane.  The bulk of
the discussion compares the A255 Series with the B255 Series and the
similarly between them.  However, F&H has never qualified the A255 Series
and did not reference the A255 Series in either the Qualification or
dedication activities.

Written By:

Mike Wooldridge               Roy A. Woeste
Engineering Manager           Quality Assurance

John R. Hendricks, P. E.
President

CC:  Tom Mahaffey, MSD 
     Craig Bersak, PSE&G

Attachments:
     F&H's Notification of a Potential Defect per 10CFR21
     PSE&G's Root Cause Analysis ...  Condition Reports CR960906195,
     CR961101269, CR961105229
     PSE&G's ...  Root Cause Evaluation FPI 96-829
     PSE&G's Specification No.  S-C-RCP-CDS-0343


Farewell & Hendricks, Inc.

November 1, 1996


Document Control Desk
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, D.C.  20555
     via Operations Center

Telephone #:   (301) 816-5100
Telecopy  #:   (310) 816-5151

Subject:       NOTIFICATION OF A POTENTIAL DEFECT PER 10CFR21

Dear Sir of Madam:

This facsimile notification of a potential defect is in accordance with
10CFR21, Section 21.21, Paragraph 3(i).

The following initial information is formatted per 10CFR21, Section
21.21, Paragraph 4:

     i.        Farwell & Hendricks, Inc.  (F&H) at the address listed
               below is the organization informing the USNRC.  John R. 
               Hendricks, F&H Corporate Officer, of the same address is
               the specific individual informing the USNRC.

     ii.       The basic components supplied by F&H which contains the
               defect are MSD B255 latching relays with a DC unlatching
               coil.  The identification of the specific facilities to
               which F&H supplied these relays is not fully compiled at
               this time.  The specific facilities will be provided in a
               detailed report within the thirty (30) days as specified
               by 10CFR21, Section 21.21, Paragraph 3(ii).

     iii.      F&H is the identification of the firm that supplied the
               basic component described above.

      iv.      The nature of the defect is that the relay becomes
               unlatched without the reset coil being energized.  PSE&G
               has identified eight (8) installed occurrences, all of
               which occurred in the "floor mounted" orientation.  This
               defect was detected using standard bench testing practice. 
               Note that this defect could also occur in the wall mounted
               orientation.

               F&H is unable to evaluate the safety hazard which could be
               created by the defect as the potential effect is
               application specific.

     v.        The date on which the information of the defect was
               obtained and determined to be a generic issue was October
               31, 1996.  An evaluation will be provided in the detailed
               report within the specified thirty (30) days.

4600 East Tech Drive o  Cincinnati, Ohio 45245  o  (513) 528-7900 
FAX (513) 528-9292


Page 2

     vi.       The specific number and specific site locations of all
               such devices supplied by F&H are not fully compiled at
               this time.  This information will be provided in the
               detailed report within the specified thirty (30) days.

     vii.      The corrective action to be taken by F&H is to notify all
               purchasers of such devices within thirty (30) days. 
               Further corrective action to be taken, the responsible
               organization(s) and the length of time to complete the
               action cannot be defined by F&H at this time.

     viii.     Advice related to the defect that will be given to the
               purchasers is that the evaluation indicates that all B255
               style relays with DC unlatch coils previously supplied
               commercially by MSD may also contain the defect described
               in iv. Above.

F&H will be providing a written report to the USNRC within thirty (30)
days as specified by 10CFR21.  The USNRC will receive the report NO LATER
THAN NOVEMBER 29, 1996.

Written By:

Mike Wooldridge
Engineering Manager

Roy A.  Woeste
Quality Assurance

Reviewed and Reported By:

John R. Hendricks, P. E.
President

Farewell & Hendricks, Inc.
4600 East Tech Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio 45245

Telephone #: (513) 528-7900
Telecopy #: (513) 528-9292

cc: Tom McHaffey, MSD 
     Craig Bersak, PSE&G


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