Headquarters Daily Report DECEMBER 22, 1997 *************************************************************************** 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 - REGION III DEC. 19, 1997 Licensee/Facility: Notification: Toledo Edison Co. MR Number: 3-97-0118 Davis Besse 1 Date: 12/19/97 Oak Harbor,Ohio SRI VIA TELECON Dockets: 50-346 PWR/B&W-R-LP Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES Discussion: On December 18, 1997, the licensee announced that effective January 15, 1998, John Sampson, who is the current Plant Manager, will be promoted to Vice-President of Indiana Michigan Power Company. Mr. Sampson will assume the role of Site Vice President and also retain the title of Plant Manager. Al Blind, currently Site Vice President, will assume the new position of Vice President Nuclear Engineering. Jim Kobyra, currently Chief Nuclear Engineer, will assume the new position of Steam Generator Replacement Project Manager. Contact: BRUCE L. BURGESS (630)829-9629 _ HEADQUARTERS MORNING REPORT PAGE 2 DECEMBER 22, 1997 Licensee/Facility: Notification: MR Number: H-97-0158 Turbine Governor Valve Stem Binding Date: 12/22/97 Subject: Recent instances of RCIC turbine governor valve stem binding Discussion: At Hope Creek, on December 5, 1997, while restarting from a refueling outage, the licensee tested the RCIC turbine at 18 percent power and discovered that the controller had no effect on steam flow (MR 1-97-0062). The licensee root cause evaluation of the failure concluded that the dominant reason was interference between the RCIC turbine governor valve stem and the carbon spacers that are interlayered with carbon steel washers along the axis of the stem. The coefficient of thermal expansion of the inconel stem is more than twice that for the carbon spacers. The licensee remedied the situation by boring out the carbon spacers such that the gap between the stem and spacers was increased when cold. The carbon steel washers fit around the stem more loosely. Other potential reasons for governor valve inoperability involve the linkage and the servo mechanism controlling the valve. At Perry, on October 21, 1997, during startup from a refueling outage, the RCIC turbine tripped when the licensee attempted to restart it after it was accidentally tripped during a long run. Previous cold surveillance starts had been successful. The licensee also determined the cause to be binding of the inconel stem, installed in August 1997, by the carbon spacers. The licensee replaced the inconel stem with a nitrided stem. An example of linkage-caused interference occurred at Limerick on September 10, 1997. The licensee observed during a quarterly surveillance test that the Unit 1 RCIC turbine would not operate at less than 2800 rpm. After much troubleshooting and repair activity, the licensee discovered unacceptable stem to plug runout (alignment). The stem runout was properly set, and the subsequent pump runs were satisfactory in that speed control was proper at all speeds (NRC Inspection Report 50-352/97-08). The NRC staff is considering issuance of an information notice on this topic. Similar interference problems were considered previously in IN 94-66, "Overspeed of Turbine-Driven Pumps Caused by Governor Valve Stem Binding," on September 19, 1994, and in Supplement 1 issued on June 16, 1995. In 1995, the Terry Turbine Users Group recommended using stem material that is not susceptible to corrosion, such as gas-nitrided steel or inconel. Contact: Vern Hodge, NRR (301) 415-1861 Email cvh@nrc.gov _ HEADQUARTERS MORNING REPORT PAGE 3 DECEMBER 22, 1997 Licensee/Facility: Notification: MR Number: H-97-0159 Relays Date: 12/22/97 Subject: Potter & Brumfield Relay Problems Discussion: Siemens Electromechanical Components Inc, manufacturer of Potter & Brumfield relays, informed one of its cutomers (ABB-CE; Accession No: 9712190171) that certain relays could be vulnerable to binding when used in hot environments or in energized application. The factory tests done at Siemens with 10 percent over voltage on the highest wattage application with relay energized for 48 hours at 65 degrees C, indicated grease hardening in MDR relays made during 1993 through 1995. Waterford 3 Nuclear Generating Station experienced the same problem in normally energized applications. This relay problem was identified during the quarterly surveillance for plant protection system. The tests at the factory concluded that contamination in the grease was the cause. This contamination is believed to be from silicon dioxide fibers that came off from the contact ring insulator plates. The tests conducted on relays produced after 1995, with additional precautions to prevent such contamination, was demonstrated to be free from this problem. Siemens has furnished the following list of potentially affected relays, with date codes 9317 to 9532, that can be sent to the factory for inspection. MDR-141-1 MDR-6059 MDR-7033 MDR-141-1-SCE-2 MDR-6060 MDR-7033-SCE-0 MDR-141-2 MDR-6064 MDR-7034 MDR-142-1 MDR-6069 MDR-7034-SCE-0 MDR-167-1 MDR-6074 MDR-7033-SCE-1 MDR-170-1 MDR-6100 MDR-7036 MDR-170-2 MDR-6101 MDR-7045 MDR-172-1 MDR-66-4 MDR-7048 MDR-173-1 MDR-7020 MDR-7052 MDR-6007 MDR-7025 MDR-7056 MDR-6019 MDR-7029 MDR-7059 MDR-6041 MDR-7032 MDR-7067 MDR-6050 MDR-7032-SCE-0 MDR-7068 MDR-6054 MDR-7069 Contact: Thomas Koshy, NRR (301)415-1176 E-mail txk@nrc.gov _