HomeMy WebLinkAbout841145.tiff SSINS NO: 6835
IN 84-44
NEID 'mpo,
UNITED STATES tyrglaissnims
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION rj
OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEM
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555 JU1gy 5
June 8, 1984 934 /11
GREELEY. LULU,
IE INFORMATION NOTICE NO 84-44: ENVIRONMENTAL QUALIFICATION TESTING OF
ROCKBESTOS CABLES
Addressees:
All holders of a nuclear power reactor operating license (OL) or construction
permit (CP).
Purpose:
This information notice is provided to inform licensees and construction
permit holders of potential generic problems regarding Rockbestos environmental
qualification (EQ) testing of Class 1E electrical cables. Addressees are
expected to review the information for applicability to their facilities.
No specific action or response is required.
Description of Circumstances:
The NRC has performed a number of inspections of the QA programs established
at several environmental testing facilities. This effort was started in
late August 1982 to assess the facilities' establishment and implementation
of a QA program based on the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B.
Several such inspections were recently conducted at the Rockbestos Company
in New Haven, Connecticut. The NRC inspection team reviewed qualification
related documents such as EQ reports, associated supporting items including
test plans, test procedures, test instruments, test log books, related raw
data and QA documents. The inspections revealed several QA nonconformances
and related testing/documentation problems. Details of these nonconformances
and inspection findings are documented in the following NRC Inspection Reports:
99900277/83-01, 99900277/83-02, and 99900277/83-04. Listed below are some of
the QA nonconformances and related testing/documentation problems which may
affect the qualification of Rockbestos cables that are installed at licensees'
facilities:
1. The Rockbestos Company did not impose quality assurance/test control re-
quirements on an outside test organization which performed testing (LOCA/
HELB) during the period of 1969-1979.
2. The Rockbestos Company did not establish and implement a QA program in
accordance with 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B requirements to control Rock-
bestos EQ testing; i . e. , the EQ program was controlled by a Rockbestos
engineering organization which was not under a QA program until 1983.
841145
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IN 84-44
June 8, 1984
Page 2 of 3
3. As a result of inadequate QA controls, testing and the required documen-
tation were not properly controlled. Several discrepancies between final
qualification reports and supporting test data were found.
4. Rockbestos' QA and engineering organizations did not impose QA and techni-
cal requirements/acceptance criteria on organizations that performed
qualification testing for Rockbestos between 1969 and 1979. Furthermore,
no supporting test data for these tests were available for audit at Rock-
bestos or subtier test organizations.
5. Test equipment and instrumentation were observed to have inadequate reso-
lution to record LOCA test parameters and functioning of test specimen
during testing.
6. Test equipment was not properly calibrated or under the control of the
calibration system. An internal Rockbestos audit dated May 10, 1983,
documented these generic deficiencies in their calibration system.
7. Test plans, acceptance criteria, and test procedures for certain quali-
fication tests were not made available during the NRC audits.
8. A number of test deficiencies, deviations, and other anomalies were not
documented and evaluated in the test reports.
Discussion:
The results of the NRC inspections show that several deficiencies were present
in the Rockbestos Company qualification programs in effect at time of the audit.
Individually, some deficiencies could be adequately reconciled, but taken col-
lectively, the nature and number of deficiencies identified would not adequately
demonstrate that acceptable qualification had been established. It appears that
the validity of some of the Rockbestos qualification reports is in doubt, how-
ever, the NRC staff has concluded at this time that no immediate safety problem
exists in the use of Rockbestos cables. The NRC staff considers that it is the
responsibility of the user utilities to review the information provided above
and take applicable corrective action to ensure the qualification of Rockbestos
cables installed in their plants. The following possible courses of corrective
action should be considered:
a) Perform a valid qualification test of the installed Rockbestos
cables.
b) Obtain documentation from other available qualification tests
already performed and determine its applicability to the install-
ed cables.
IN 84-44
June 8, 1984
Page 3 of 3
c) Perform analyses of existing qualification reports applicable to
the installed cables to ensure that the documentation relied upon to
demonstrate environmental qualification supports such a conclusion.
The NRC staff considers this review to be part of the on-going activities that
the licensees are currently undertaking to resolve other environmental quali-
fication deficiencies to meet the deadline and requirements set forth in the
EQ final rule, 10 CFR 50.49.
Questions regarding details of, and resolutions to the NRC inspection findings
described above should be directed either to the equipment manufacturer, or the
cognizant design/test agency. If you have questions regarding this information
notice, contact the Regional Administrator of the appropriate NRC Regional
Office, or this office.
�7 dward Jordan, Director
Divisi of Emergency Preparedness
and gineering Response
Office of Inspection and Enforcement
Technical Contacts: R. G. LaGrange, NRR
(301) 492-8208
N. B. Le, IE
(301) 492-9673
Attachment:
List of Recently Issued IE Information Notices
Attachment
IN 84-44
June 8, 1984
LIST OF RECENTLY ISSUED
IE INFORMATION NOTICES
Information Date of
Notice No. Subject Issue Issued to
84-43 Storage and Handling of 06/07/84 All medical licensees
Ophthalmic Beta Radiation
Applicators
84-42 Equipment Availability for 06/05/84 All power reactor
Conditions During Outages facilities holding
Not Covered by Technical an OL or CP
Specifications
84-41 IGSCC in BWR Plants 06/01/84 All BWR reactor
facilities holding
an OL or CP
84-40 Emergency Worker Doses 05/30/84 All power reactor
facilities holding
an OL or CP; research
and test reactor and
fuel cycle licensees
83-66 Fatality at Argentine 05/25/84 All power reactor
Critical Facility facilities holding
an OL or CP; non-
power reactor,
critical facility,
& fuel cycle
licensees
84-39 Inadvertent Isolation of 05/25/84 All power reactor
Spray Systems facilities holding
an OL or CP
84-38 Problems With Design, 05/17/84 All power reactor
Maintenance, and Operation facilities holding
of Offsite Power Systems an OL or CP
84-37 Use of Lifted Leads and 05/10/84 All power reactor
Jumpers During Maintenance facilities holding
or Surveillance Testing an OL or CP
84-36 Loosening of Locking Nut on 05/01/84 All power reactor
Limitorque Operator facilities holding
an OL or CP
OL = Operating License
CP = Construction Permit
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