Information Notice No.79-35 - Control of Maintenance and Essential Equipment
UNITED STATES SSINS No.: 6870
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Accession No:
OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT 7910250510
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555
December 31, 1979
Information Notice No. 79-35
CONTROL OF MAINTENANCE AND ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
Description of Circumstance:
Enclosed is a copy of a recent enforcement action against Duquesne Light
Company. A copy of this action is being forwarded to all utilities with a
power reactor operating license or a construction permit. This is being done
to apprise you of a serious condition which revealed an apparent weakness in
facility control of maintenance and essential equipment.
You should review your existing procedures and control for independent
verification of operability of redundant counterpart equipment when an
essential component, subsystem, or system is determined inoperable.
Operability is defined as follows:
A system, subsystem, train, component or device shall be OPERABLE or
have OPERABILITY when it is capable of performing its specified
function(s). Implicit in this definition shall be the assumption that
all necessary attendant instrumentation, controls, normal and emergency
electrical power sources, cooling or seal water, lubrication or other
auxiliary equipment that are required for the system, subsystem, train,
component or device to perform its function(s) are capable of
performing their related support function(s).
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact the Director
of the NRC Regional Office in which your facilities are located. No written
response to this Information Notice No. is required.
Enclosures:
1. Letter to Duquesne Light Company
from V. Stello, Jr., dtd, 12/5/79
2. Recently Issued IE Information
Notices
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