Part 21 Report - 1997-272

 
 

ACCESSION #: 9704090034



GENERAL ATOMICS



                                        April 4, 1997

                                        696-2707



VIA OVERNIGHT EXPRESS SERVICE



U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

ATTN: Document Control Desk

Washington, DC 20555



Subject:  Written Notification of 10 CFR 21 Reportable Item



Dear Sir or Madam:



This letter is provided in compliance with the requirements of 10 CFR

21.21 (d)(3)(ii) for providing written notification within 30 days

following receipt of information by the director or responsible

corporate officer on the identification of a defect.  Initial

notification was made by facsimile to the NRC Operations Center on March

27, 1997.



The information following is in accordance with the reporting

requirements of 10CFR21.21 (a)(4):



i)   Name of person informing the Commission in writing:



     Dr. Keith E. Asmussen, Director

     Licensing, Safety and Nuclear Compliance

     General Atomics

     3550 General Atomics Court

     San Diego, CA 92121



     Name of person who provided initial notification by facsimile:



     Mr. John E. Jones

     Sr.  Vice President, Administration

     General Atomics

     3550 General Atomics Court

     San Diego, CA 92121



ii)  Description of the defect:



     In the process of performing software verification and validation

     (V&V) of the RM-23A Control and Display Module (part number

     03575300-001), Sorrento Electronics, Inc. (SE) has determined that

     the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Manual for the RM-23A may not

     adequately define the requirements for performing periodic

     surveillance of certain safety related applications.



iii) Identification of the firm:



     Sorrento Electronics, Inc.

     An Affiliate of General Atomics



iv)  The nature of the defect:



     A series of diagnostics tests are used to identify hardware failures

     which may not be detected during normal operation.  These

     diagnostics tests are described in the O&M Manual and include:



3550 GENERAL ATOMICS COURT, SAN DIEGO, CA 92121-1194 PO BOX 85608, SAN

DIEGO, CA 92186-9784 (619) 455-3000



               A.  Lamp and LED test



               B.  Keyboard input test



               C.  Clock interrupt test



               D.  Digital inputs test



               E.  Digital outputs test



               F.  Analog outputs test



          The O&M Manual does not adequately emphasize the need to

          consider performing these tests as part of normal maintenance

          to declare operability in safety related applications.



V)        The date on which the information was obtained:



          Potential defect was first discovered on January 30, 1997



          Director or responsible person informed of defect on March 26,

          1997



vi)       The number and location of the components:



          (See Attachment 1)



vii)      Corrective action:



          Sorrento Electronics made the individual purchasers aware of

          this possible problem and will revise the RM-23A Operation and

          Maintenance Manual E-115-1256 (Rev. 1) to clarify the periodic

          surveillance requirements for the RM-23A.



viii)     Advice to Purchasers:



          The functions tested by the above diagnostics tests should be

          evaluated for the affect on plant safety.  Any function which

          affects plant safety should be periodically tested.



          Sorrento Electronics recommends that as a minimum, the clock

          interrupt test should be performed since the RM-23A will not

          schedule tasks without the interrupt being present.



          The interval between these tests should be determined by the

          Purchaser.



If you have any questions concerning this report, please call Mr.  Brian

Laney at (619) 455-4369 or me at (619) 455-2823.  Any technical questions

should be addressed to Mr. Dirk Koopman at 619-457-8899.



                              Yours Very Truly,



                              Dr. Keith E. Asmussen, Director

                              Licensing, Safety and Nuclear Compliance



Attachment: As stated above



cc: Regional Administrator, NRC Region IV



                              Attachment 1



                          Locations of RM-23A's



                              Number of RM-23A's

               Site            Installed in



     Beaver Valley                      16



     Bruce A                            10



     Chinshan 1 and 2                    6



     Dresden 2 and 3                     1



     Hope Creek                         18



     Indian Point 3                     16



     Kori 1 and 2                        6



     Kuosheng 1 and 2                    7



     Millstone 2                         1



     Oconee 1, 2, and 3                  6



     Sequoyah 1 and 2                    8



     South Texas 1 and 2                 34



     Turkey Point 3 and 4                3



     Zion 1 and 2                        1



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