NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

 Web Site: www.nrc.gov

No. 03-036 March 27, 2003

NRC TAKING ACTION ON RECOMMENDATIONS FROM

DAVIS-BESSE LESSONS LEARNED TASK FORCE

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has developed action plans to carry out the

recommendations of its Lessons Learned Task Force on the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) head

degradation event at the Davis-Besse pressurized water reactor (PWR) in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The plans

are part of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure public health and safety following the discovery

of boric acid corrosion of the RPV head.

The Davis-Besse Lessons Learned Task Force produced more than 50 recommendations, 21 of

which are considered high-priority. The action plans divide the recommendations into four major areas:

 Assessment of stress corrosion cracking, including collecting experience with cracking

and boric acid corrosion as a basis for improving agency inspections;

 Assessment of operating experience and incorporation into training, and review of

program effectiveness;

 Evaluation of inspection, assessment and project management guidance, and;

 Assessment of barrier integrity requirements, including improvements to reactor coolant

leakage detection.

In the stress corrosion area, near-term actions include continued evaluation of current crack

prediction models, and summarizing the results of licensees’ responses to Bulletin 2002-01 in a public

document. Longer-term actions include collecting and summarizing worldwide data on cracking in

nickel-based alloys and boric acid corrosion, which will provide a basis for revising regulatory

requirements and for developing inspection guidance for assessing licensee component inspection and

boric acid corrosion control programs.

The operating experience plan includes a comprehensive review of the agency’s programs for

collecting, evaluating and disseminating operating experience information, as well as an assessment of

the scope and adequacy of its requirements for licensee review of operating experience. Inspection

guidance and training relating to review of operating experience will be strengthened.
In the inspection, assessment and project management area, plans include revising guidelines for

assessing licensee problem identification and resolution programs, and developing guidance to ensure

proper documentation of decisions that deviate from agency guidelines.

The barrier integrity plan’s actions include determining if pressure boundary leakage

requirements for all plants need to be revised, reviewing requirements for leakage monitoring systems,

re-evaluating the basis for coolant system leakage requirements and developing improved performance

indicators for system leakage.

The status of high-priority recommendations will be updated quarterly, and progress on all

recommendations will be reported semiannually. The first semiannual report is expected by the end of

August. The reports will be available with other Davis-Besse documents on the NRC Web site at this

address:

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/vessel-head-degradation/news.html .

The NRC plans to conduct a public meeting to discuss these activities within the next few

months.

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