Bulletin 80-02: Inadequate Quality Assurance for Nuclear Supplied Equipment

                                                       SSINS No.: 6820 
                                                       Accession No.: 
                                                       7912190653 

                                UNITED STATES
                       NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 
                    OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT 
                           WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 
                                     
                              January 21, 1980

                                                      IE Bulletin No. 80-02 

INADEQUATE QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR NUCLEAR SUPPLIED EQUIPMENT 

Description of Circumstances: 

The Marvin Engineering Company (MEC) of Inglewood, California was the 
subject of a special NRC inspection conducted on September 18-21, 1979 to 
evaluate their overall QA and QC programs which had come under severe 
criticism by a former Marvin Engineering employee. The special inspection 
was judged necessary since the Marvin Engineering Company was a known 
subcontractor and supplier to General Electric of BWR reactor internal 
feedwater spargers and feedwater thermal sleeves. The results of the NRC's 
inspection established that serious deficiencies exist in the implementation 
of the MEC quality assurance program relative to the manufacture of these 
components. During this inspection, twenty seven deviations from applicable 
codes, and contractual and regulatory requirements were documented in the 
areas of material identification and control, process control, welding and 
nondestructive examination. 

Corrective Action 

The Marvin Engineering Company has been issued the NRC's detailed inspection
report of the Company, and given 30 days to inform the NRC how the 
deviations discussed in the report will be corrected and preventive action 
taken. 

Action To Be Taken 

All BWR licensees and construction permit holders shall supply the following
information within 90 days for operating plants and 120 days for plants 
under construction. 

1.a. Have reactor feedwater spargers and thermal sleeves manufactured and/or
     fabricated by the Marvin Engineering Company been purchased and/or 
     installed in your facility?  Since Marvin Engineering is principally a 
     subcontracting Company, determine if your equipment originated with the
     Marvin Company and was eventually supplied to your facility through 
     another contractor/supplier. 

1.b. Provide a description of this equipment to include its purchase date 
     and its design function during both normal and accident conditions. 

2.   For each piece of identified equipment, provide the performance history
     associated with its usage. This should include the cause of any 
     failures or malfunctions and the frequency of such events. 
.

IE Bulletin No. 80-02                                       January 21, 1980
                                                            Page 2 of 2 

3.   Provide information on the suppliers and receiver's QA/QC program in 
     effect at the time of purchase. This information should be discussed in
     terms of it providing sufficient bases for judging that the integrity 
     of the equipment is sufficient to permit plant operation during normal 
     and accident conditions. 

Approved by GAO, B180225 (ROO72); clearance expires 7-31-80. Approval was 
given under a blanket clearance specifically for identified generic 
problems.