NRC Staff Review of Responses To I&E Bulletins 79-06 and 79-06a (Generic Letter 79-19)

GL79019 

                               UNITED STATES 
                       NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 
                          WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 

                               May 22, 1979 

Docket Nos. 50-3 
        and 50-247 


Mr. William J. Cahill, Jr. 
Vice President 
Consolidated Edison Company 
  of New York, Inc. 
4 Irving Place 
New York, New York 10003 

Dear Mr. Cahill: 

SUBJECT: NRC STAFF REVIEW OF RESPONSES TO I&E BULLETINS 79-06 AND 79-06A 

We have completed a preliminary review of the licensee responses to I&E 
Bulletins 79-06, 79-06A, and amendment 1 to 79-06A. The purpose of this 
letter is to advise you of the potential problem areas, and to identify 
related concerns which we believe require your further examination. 

We have scheduled a meeting with owners of all operating plants having 
Westinghouse designed nuclear supply systems. This meeting will be held on 
May 30, 1979, in rooms P-110/114 at our Phillips Building office in 
Bethesda, Maryland. You are expected to attend the meeting and be prepared 
to discuss those matters identified below along with a schedule and 
procedure for providing the information needed by NRC to complete the review 
of these issues. 

(1)  Our preliminary review of the Bulletin responses indicates that a 
     number of the Bulletin items are not yet satisfactorily resolved. 
     Enclosure 1 provides a summary of our current assessment of the 
     responses to the Bulletins issued on Westinghouse plants. 
     
(2)  In certain instances, licensee responses differ, without apparent 
     justification, from the Westinghouse recommendations for individual 
     Bulletin items. We expect to resolve each such difference, as well as 
     licensee exceptions to specific Bulletin responses, prior to our 
     approval of the Bulletin responses. A copy of the Westinghouse 
     recommendations is provided as Enclosure 2. 

(3)  The Westinghouse advice is prescriptive on resetting of the high 
     pressure injection system and incomplete as to the need for keeping the
     reactor coolant pumps running. 
.

Mr. William J. Cahill, Jr.
Consolidated Edison Co. of New York 
                                    - 2 -

(4)  We are finalizing a generic report on TMI-2 matters related to 
     Westinghouse operating plants. Although this report is not yet 
     complete, among other things, we expect that it will recommend further 
     analyses of transients and small reactor coolant system breaks, the 
     development of appropriate written procedure guidance to operators in 
     the use of these new procedures. 
     
(5)  In certain instances, licensees are using fuel and relying on safety 
     analyses, which were not provided by Westinghouse. As a result, it is 
     not clear to us what the respective roles of the licensees, 
     Westinghouse, the fuel suppliers, and/or other parties should be in 
     implementing those requirements described in item (4) above. We need a 
     clear and concise definition of their respective roles in these cases. 

(6)  The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has issued five 
     letters to the Commission as a result of their examination of the TMI-
     2 accident. We need a clear and concise position from all licensees 
     with respect to each of the recommendations contained in these letters. 
     A summary of the ACRS recommendations is provided as Enclosure 3. 
     
(7)  Individual licensees have indicated an interest in meeting directly 
     with the staff regarding the Bulletin items for their facilities. 
     Experience to date has demonstrated that the staff does not have time 
     to meet individually with each licensee to resolve these items. 
     
It is clear that there are a significant number of technical issues yet to 
be resolved for a large number of Westinghouse operating plants. There are 
limited resources available within the NRC staff to perform the necessary 
work. This situation is exacerbated by the need to conduct similar and 
concurrent activities with those owners of B&W, C-E, and GE designed 
operating plants. At the same time, there is a need to resolve these matters
promptly. 

To resolve the issues described above in a prompt and expeditious manner, we
believe there is a compelling need to establish an owner's group for 
Westinghouse operating plants. We expect that such a group would be needed 
for the remainder of calendar year 1979. Owner's groups have worked 
effectively in the past in minimizing staff and industry resource 
requirements to resolve other generic problems. We strongly urge you meet 
with other owners of Westinghouse operating plants to consider the formation
of such a group prior to our meeting May 30. This will be one of the 
principal agenda items at that meeting. 
.

Mr William J. Cahill, Jr. 
Consolidated Edison Co. of New York 
                                    - 3 -

Please note that investigation of a number of areas related to the TMI-2 
accident, including the long-term ACRS recommendations and long-term action 
items from NUREG-0560, will be specifically included as part of the future 
"Lessons Learned" staff activity. You can expect additional correspondence 
in the future on these items. 

If you require any clarification for the matters discussed in this letter 
please contact Patrick D. O'Reilly, the staff's assigned project manager for
these activities on Westinghouse plants. Mr. O'Reilly may be reached on 
(301) 492-7745. 

                                        Sincerely, 



                                        A. Schwencer, Chief 
                                        Operating Reactor Branch #1 
                                        Division of Operating Reactor 

Enclosures:
As Stated

cc:  w/enclosures
     See next page 
.

Mr. William J. Cahill, Jr.
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.  
                                    - 4 -

cc:  White Plains Public Library 
     100 Martine Avenue 
     White Plains,New York  10601 

     Joseph D. Block, Esquire 
     Executive Vice President 
       Administrative 
     Consolidated Edison Company 
       of New York, Inc. 
     4 Irving Place 
     New York, New York 10003 

     Edward J. Sack, Esquire 
     Law Department 
     Consolidated Edison Company 
       of New York, Inc. 
     4 Irving Place 
     New York, New York 10003 

     Anthony Z. Roisman 
     Natural Resources Defense Council 
     917 15th Street, N.W. 
     Washington, D. C. 20005 

     Dr. Larence R. Quarles 
     Apartment 51 
     Kendal at Longwood 
     Kennett Square, Pennsylvania 19348 

     Theodore A. Rebelowski 
     U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
     P. O. Box 38 
     Buchanan, New York 10511