March 24, 2010 

MEMORANDUM TO: Michele G. Evans, Director 

 Division of Component Integrity 

 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 

FROM: Robert O. Hardies, Senior Level Advisor /RA/

 Division of Component Integrity

 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT: SUMMARY OF CATEGORY 2 PUBLIC MEETING BETWEEN THE 

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AND INDUSTRY 

REPRESENTATIVES TO DISCUSS THE INDUSTRY’S BURIED 

PIPING INTEGRITY INITIATIVE 

On February 24, 2010, a meeting was held between Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 

staff and industry representatives at the Legacy Hotel Meeting Center in Rockville, MD. The 

meeting was held at the industry’s request to describe their plans and schedule related to the 

Buried Piping Integrity Initiative. At the beginning of the meeting, NRC staff presented an 

overview of regulations, codes and standards, and industry activities related to management of 

buried piping. The NRC slides presented at the meeting are available at Agencywide Document 

Access Management System (ADAMS) Accession number ML1005509780. A list of attendees 

is enclosed. 

After the presentation by the staff, the utility lead of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s (NEI’s) Buried 

Piping Integrity Task Force discussed the background and development of the Nuclear Strategic 

Issues Advisory Committee (NSIAC) Buried Piping Integrity Initiative, including reviewing the 

initiative goals, reviewing the purpose of the NEI guideline document NEI 09-14, and describing 

essential program elements and implementation dates. The goal of the Buried Piping Integrity 

Initiative was described as providing “reasonable assurance” of structural and leakage integrity 

of all buried piping with special emphasis on piping that contains radioactive materials. 

A representative from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and the utility lead for 

the EPRI Buried Piping Integrity Group (BPIG) discussed industry arrangements for collection, 

documentation and sharing of operational experience information. 

The program manager for the EPRI Balance of Plant Corrosion Program described existing and 

planned research programs to support inspection of buried piping. 

The industry’s presentations are available at ADAMS Accession Number ML100810295. 

CONTACT: Robert O. Hardies, NRR/DCI 

 (301-415-5802) or Robert.Hardies@nrc.gov
M. Evans - 2 - 

The staff intends to consider the information presented as part of an ongoing activity to 

understand the Buried Piping Integrity Initiative. The industry agreed to provide some additional 

discussion of the following questions. 

 1) The industry indicates they were considering expanding the scope of the initiative to 

address additional buried and underground assets that contain liquids and gases (besides 

buried piping). The industry agreed to inform the staff regarding plans for expansion. 

 2) The industry agreed to provide additional detail describing how the deviation process 

is established and maintained. 

 3) The industry agreed to provide additional details or examples that describe the risk 

ranking process. 

The additional discussion will be addressed in future meetings. 

Enclosure: 

List of Attendees 
M. Evans - 2 - 

The staff intends to consider the information presented as part of an ongoing activity to 

understand the Buried Piping Integrity Initiative. The industry agreed to provide some additional 

discussion of the following questions. 

 1) The industry indicates they were considering expanding the scope of the initiative to 

address additional buried and underground assets that contain liquids and gases (besides 

buried piping). The industry agreed to inform the staff regarding plans for expansion. 

 2) The industry agreed to provide additional detail describing how the deviation process 

is established and maintained. 

 3) The industry agreed to provide additional details or examples that describe the risk 

ranking process. 

The additional discussion will be addressed in future meetings. 

Enclosure: 

List of Attendees 

DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC KHoffman RLaVera NRay ALewin 

DCI R/F MMagyar SGarry EReichelt JStrishna 

DTerao AShaikh JWhite RConte WHolsten 

MBaker MKing JDixon-Herrity RConatser DAlley 

TLupold jhr@nei.org searsjt@inpo.org

ADAMS PACKAGE ACCESSION NO.: ML100810295 

OFFICE NRR/ADES/DCI NRR/ADES/DCI 

NAME RHardies JLubinski 

DATE 3/23/10 3/24/10 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
ENCLOSURE 

LIST OF MEETING ATTENDEES 

NAME AFFILIATION EMAIL ADDRESS 

David Alley NRC David.Alley@nrc.gov

John Lubinski NRC John.Lubinski@nrc.gov

Joe Abisamra Entergy jabisam@entergy.com

Glen Schinzel STARS geschinzel@stpegs.com 

John Caves Progress Energy John.Caves@PGNMail.com 

Steve Hall Intertek - Aptech Steve.Hall@intertek.com 

Richard Conatser NRC Richard.Conatser@nrc.gov 

Martin Phalen NRC Martin.Phalen@nrc.gov 

Steve Garry NRC Steve.Garry@nrc.gov 

Ernest Shaw Southern Nuclear ewshaw@southernco.com 

Ron LaVera NRC Ronald.LaVera@nrc.gov 

Bruce Lin NRC Bruce.Lin@nrc.gov 

David Terao NRC David.Terao@nrc.gov 

Bill Freebairn Nudernics Weck William.Freebairn@platts.com 

Scott Lebsack MISTRAS - Impro slebsack@impro-technologies.com 

Keith Hoffman NRC Keith.Hoffman@nrc.gov 

Tim Lupold NRC Tim.Lupold@nrc.gov 

Joe Sears INPO searsit@inpo.org 

Chris Burton PENOC cjburton@firstenergycorp.com 

David Smith Duke Energy David.Smith7@duke-energy.com 

Bo Clark EPRI BHClark@epri.com 

Bob Hardies NRC Robert.Hardies@nrc.gov 

Michelle Kichline NRC Michelle.Kichline@nrc.gov 

William Holston NRC William.Holston@nrc.gov 

Paul Gunter Beyond Nuclear Paul@beyondnuclear.gov

Richard Hall Exelon Richard.Hall@exeloncorp.com 

William Campbell Constellation William.Campbell@cengllc.com 

Mark Smith AREVA Mark.Smith@areva.com 

Michael Benson NRC Michael.Benson@nrc.gov 

Eric Reichelt NRC Eric.Reichelt@nrc.gov