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ASME Section XI Meeting Notes (Subgroup on Water-Cooled Systems) – May 2009		Site Updates
Introduction Prepared By: Steve Brown, P.E. Company: Entergy Services Incorporated Meeting Date: May 13, 2009 Meeting Location: San Diego, California Meeting Notes 1. Introductions 2. Approval of the agenda and minutes 3. Presentation of Award to Ernie Throckmorton for work as a chair on SGWC for several years prior to Ken Thomas (current chair) 4. General administrative recurring items were discussed: a. Meeting locations i. Next meeting in Memphis ii. Feb 10 meeting in Atlanta iii. Aug 10 meeting in Washington, DC b. Desire to use letter ballots more and include next higher committee for comment. c. Use of non-mandatory appendices – references should be consistent. Working Group General Requirements is addressing this item. d. ASME to address a British article that was overly critical of ASME Appendix VIII. 5. NRC Report a. 10 CFR 50.55a expected out for public comment by the end of the year. NRC endorsement N-770 is expected to be in this rule making along with 2007 Edition with 2008 addenda of the code. b. Lean 6 sigma projects are popular with the commission currently and one has been performed on the 10 CFR 50.55a process. The result was that the importance of the rule making on regulatory guidelines has been raised. c. Reg Guide 1.200 issued on Risk Uncertainty was released in March. d. Visual testing new reg's from Pacific Northwest Labs are critical of current visual methods. The NRC is investigating development of mockups and asking vendors to conduct a round robin for demonstration of remote visual techniques. The round robin is anticipated for next summer. The current thinking is that this effort will result in removal of the 1 mil wire requirement from 10 CFR 50.55a in favor of character height. 6. SG NPAM Report a. Draft strategic plan developed. b. Efforts to establish the NRC Rep. c. Ad hoc team developed to review 1 time inspections as candidates for a 20 year interval. 7. TG Steam Generator Tube Examinations – Group is not meeting. 8. TG Cast Stainless Steal a. ET code case passed TG to use ET as a complimentary technique to UT. b. Workshop being setup in June in Seattle related to inspection of cast stainless steel. Several groups working on the issues are expected to present. Presentations should also include regulatory aspects of the issues. 9. TG Risk-Informed a. Concern on how low safety significant components are addressed in Repair and Replacement. b. Initial meeting with TG Alloy 600 occurred. c. N-716 will go out for letter ballot. It was requested that sub-group be included in the letter ballot. 10. TG Alloy 600 a. Drafted revision to code case N-770. It will go out for letter ballot to the task group and sub-group water cooled. b. NRC gave presentation of PWSCC crack growth rate. c. Met with TG Risk-Informed. d. N-722-2 not covered due to time. e. Will start at 8:30 in Memphis. 11. WG ISIO a. Two items on the agenda closed. b. Other items closed. 12. International Reports a. British Energy Report i. British Energy taken over by EDF. ii. Aggressive new build strategy is envisioned. 7 New builds anticipated. Strong support from the government. iii. MRP-139 and Code Case N-770 to be used for inspection regime to manage Alloy 600 issues. UK is looking at inspection route versus the mitigation route. British Energy investigated 1600 welds around the world. Only two instances of through wall defects, both associated with extensive repair and weld ID grinding. Written report to be provided for attachment to the minutes. b. Spanish Report i. Report on risk informed use in Spain. ii. Spain installing weld overlay on DM welds (Alloy 82/182). c. Japanese – No Japanese participation due to concerns with H1N1 flu virus. 13. Item of Note: Mr. Throckmorton reported that at several earlier meetings he attended during the week, the NRC representative reminded the groups of requirements when weld overlays are applied to leak before break piping. If weld overlays are used on leak before break piping, the leak before break analysis must be updated. 14. BNCS – Ray West provided a written report on BNCS activities as well as a brief overview of the highlights of the report. 15. IWE-IWL Ambiguous Wording Actions a. BC 08-1125, "Working Group Containment, Subsection IWE; Code Changes to Address Imprecise Language" received two negative votes from Section XI. Working group has met and provided response to the negative. b. BC 08-1126, "Working Group Containment, Subsection IWL; Code Changes to Address Imprecise Language" received several negative votes from Section XI. The comments and changes made to address these negatives were discussed. c. Both items will be presented for reconsideration at the Section XI. 16. The committee considered an inquiry from Mr. Douglas Henry on the application of exemption rules of IWB-1220 (b) and (c) to nozzles sized consistent with NPS 2" piping that have NPS 2.5" piping attached. The initial thought was that the nozzle to vessel was exempt, but that the piping to nozzle weld is not exempt. There were several questions posed by the committee, and it became clear that the committee as a whole did not agree with the initial position. The NRC voiced concern that this should not be addressed in Section XI. The requester asked that the question be changed to, "Is the exemption of IWB-1220 (c) for a vessel connection based on the size of the connecting pipe?" with a proposed reply of "yes." Changed to "Is it a requirement of IWB-1220 (c) that the connecting pipe be 2" NPS or smaller to satisfy the exemption requirements for the vessel connection?" with a proposed reply of "yes." The straw vote was 17-1-1-1. 17. The committee considered an inquiry from Charles Wirtz with relation to the conduct of successive examinations and IWB-3600 evaluations under IWB-3132.3. While the primary responsibility for the inquiry is with Evaluation and Standards Committee, Sub-Group Water Cooled was asked to provide an opinion. The majority of Sub-Group Water Cooled could support the inquiry as an intent inquiry. 18. There was no action on IN 06-07. 19. Changes to Code Case N-771 were considered. Comments were provided to the project manager for improvement to the code case. 20. WG-ISC closed BC 09-428 therefore no action was taken on BC 09-428. 21. BC 09-704 reference open ended piping was reviewed. The action was amended to remove the limitation to "discharge" piping and include all open ended piping. The action passed with a vote of 19-0-0-0. 22. A review of the previously passed actions of the SG WCS was made and updates where provided. 23. Dan Lamond presented new business related to Pressure Boundary Leakage Evaluation and Acceptance. a. Mr. Lamond walked through a slide presentation providing background on the through wall, through weld leakage position of ASME. The presentation also covered the plans for a phased approach to address the issue more clearly within the code. i. Phase I – Update to the current code rules for clarification to include incorporation of N-513-2 (or N-513-3) into code. ii. Phase II – Address the potential interaction with non-code exams. iii. Phase III – Review and Recommend New Rules. b. BC 09-794 was proposed to address Phase I actions. After discussion, minor changes were incorporated. The item passed with a vote of 17-0-1-0. This action is contingent on acceptable resolution of wording with regards to invoking a non-mandatory appendix.
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