Information Notice No. 97-63, Supplement 1: Status of NRC Staff's Review of BWRVIP-05

UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001

May 7, 1998

NRC INFORMATION NOTICE 97-63, SUPPLEMENT 1:

STATUS OF NRC STAFF'S REVIEW OF BWRVIP-05

Addressees

All holders of operating licenses for boiling water reactors (BWRs).

Purpose

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this supplemental information notice to inform addressees about the status of the NRC staff's review of "BWR Vessel and Internals Project, BWR Reactor Pressure Vessel Shell Weld Inspection Recommendations (BWRVIP-05)." This information notice supplement alerts BWR licensees that relief may be requested from inservice inspection requirements of 10 CFR 50.55a(g) for volumetric examination of circumferential reactor pressure vessel (RPV) welds. No specific action or written response is required.

Background

On August 7, 1997, the staff issued Information Notice (IN) 97-63, "Status of NRC Staff's Review of BWRVIP-05," which informed the industry that the staff would consider technically justified requests for reliefs from BWR licensees who were scheduled to perform inspections of the BWR RPV circumferential shell welds during the Fall 1997 or Spring 1998 outage seasons. Acceptably justified reliefs were considered for inspection delays of up to two operating cycles for BWR RPV circumferential shell welds only.

Discussion

The staff has not yet completed its review and safety evaluation (SE) of the BWRVIP-05 report, and does not expect to complete the review before the Fall 1998 outage season. Therefore, the staff is extending the period in which it will consider technically justified requests for relief from the augmented examination in accordance with 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3)(i), 50.55a(a)(3)(ii), and 50.55a(g)(6)(ii)A(5) from BWR licensees who are scheduled to perform inspections of the BWR RPV circumferential shell welds during the Fall 1998 or Spring 1999 outage seasons. Acceptably justified relief would be considered for inspection delays of up to two operating cycles for BWR RPV circumferential shell welds only. Licensees will still need to perform their required inspections of "essentially 100 percent" of all axial welds.

This information notice supplement requires no specific action or written response. If you have any questions about the information in this notice, please contact the person listed below or the appropriate NRC Regional Office.

orig /s/'d by David B. Matthews for Jack W. Roe, Acting Director Division of Reactor Program Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Technical contact:

C. E. Carpenter, NRR (301) 415-2169 E-mail:cec@nrc.gov

---

(NUDOCS Accession Number 9805050213)