Headquarters Daily Report MAY 21, 1996 *************************************************************************** REPORT NEGATIVE NO INPUT ATTACHED INPUT RECEIVED RECEIVED HEADQUARTERS û REGION I û REGION II û REGION III û REGION IV û PRIORITY ATTENTION REQUIRED MORNING REPORT - HEADQUARTERS MAY 21, 1996 MR Number: H-96-0041 NRR DAILY REPORT ITEM GENERIC COMMUNICATIONS NRC Information Notice 96-31, "Cross-Tied Safety Injection Accumulators," dated May 22, 1996. The NRC is issuing this information notice to alert addressees to the potential for operation in an unanalyzed condition with safety injection accumulators cross-tied. Technical contacts: Frank Orr, NRR (301) 415-1815 John Tappert, NRR (301) 415-1167 _ REGION I MORNING REPORT PAGE 2 MAY 21, 1996 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Northeast Utilities MR Number: 1-96-0050 Millstone 1 2 3 Date: 05/21/96 Waterford,Connecticut Dockets: 50-245,50-336,50-423 BWR/GE-3,PWR/CE,PWR/W-4-LP Subject: PERSONNEL CHANGES Discussion: On May 20, 1996, Northeast Utilities Service Company announced that Fred R. Dacimo, Vice President of Nuclear Operations was no longer employed by the company. Northeast Utilities stated that they are conducting a search for Mr. Dacimo's replacement. In the interim, Mr. Ted. C. Feigenbaum, Executive Vice President - Nuclear will temporarily assume Mr. Dacimo's duties. Regional Action: None Contact: Norm Blumberg (610)337-5199 _ REGION IV MORNING REPORT PAGE 3 MAY 21, 1996 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Houston Lighting & Power Co. MR Number: 4-96-0047 South Texas 1 Date: 05/20/96 Wadsworth,Texas RESIDENT INSPECTORS Dockets: 50-498 PWR/W-4-LP Subject: UNIT SHUTDOWN FOR REFUELING OUTAGE Discussion: On May 18, 1996, at approximately 12:01 a.m. (CDT) the licensee opened the main generator output breaker to officially start their 6th refueling outage for Unit 1. The outage is scheduled to last 28 days. Major activities associated with the outage include inspection of all steam generators, main turbine/generator inspection and repair, check valve inspections, local leak rate testing, and refueling. The current schedule indicates a restart date of June 15, 1996. During reactor shutdown, the Control Banks were manually inserted to rod bottom to achieve subcriticality. As during the March 2, 1996, reactor shutdown, Rod F10 in Control Bank C failed to fully insert. The rod remained at six steps from the bottom (i.e., within the dashpot region). Following the reactor shutdown, licensee personnel performed rod drop testing. Six shutdown bank rods did not fully insert; five were six steps from rod bottom and one was at 12 steps. Five control bank rods did not fully insert; four were at six steps from rod bottom and one was at 12 steps. Seven of the eleven control rods which failed to fully insert were the same rods that were identified during previous testing. The licensee indicated that there was no significant degradation in rod drop times since the previous tests. However, the licensee noted that two of the stuck rods were in fuel assemblies with less than 40.0 Gigawatt-Day/Metric Ton of Uranium (GWD/MTU) burn up. One was at 32.2 GWD/MTU, and the other was at 35.4 GWD/MTU. All the previous rod insertion failures had occurred in fuel assemblies with greater than 40.0 GWD/MTU burnup. The licensee is still reviewing and analyzing the rod drop testing data. Regional Action: The residents have been following the licensee's activities including the unit shutdown. Routine, scheduled inspections are planned during the outage. Contact: L. Smith (817)860-8183 R. Kopriva (817)860-8104 _