Morning Report for May 16, 2008

Headquarters Daily Report

• REGION I

REGION I

Poor Insulation Removal Practices Damage Safety Related Piping

Licensee/Facility: CONSTELLATION ENERGY Ginna ONTARIO, New York Dockets: 05000244 [1] W-2-LP License No:

Notification: MR Number: H-2008-0005 Date: 05/06/2008 E-MAIL from SRI

Discussion:

Over the past two years, damage has occurred to safety related piping systems at three different licensees due to insulation removal work by site/contractor staff. This problem was discovered most recently during Ginna Station's Spring 2008 refueling outage, but this problem has also occurred at Fermi and Turkey Point. After discovery of the damage, the licensees involved performed thorough investigations into the cause. One possibility considered was intentional tampering. In each of these cases, it has been determined that poor work practices were employed by technicians during either installation or removal of insulation coverings. Specifically, electric powered hand drills are used to drill holes for pop rivets or sheet metal screws or to drill out pop rivets that secure the metal insulation covering. The technicians did not use adequate means to prevent the drill bit from penetrating beyond the depth of the covering. The result is that the drill bit contacted the piping under the insulation, causing damage to the piping that required inspection and code repair.

Regional Action - Inform Resident Staff to be aware of the possibility of pipe damage during insulation removal or installation work.

Contacts:

Name	Office Abbrev	Phone No	E-Mail
HERRITY, THOMAS J	NRR	(301) 415-8496	TJH2@nrc.gov