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.
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