UNITED STATES 


NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 


WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 

May 4,2012 

LICENSEE: NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC (NextEra) 

FACILITY: Seabrook Station, Unit 1 (Seabrook) 

SUBJECT: MEETING SUMMARY REGARDING CONCRETE DEGRADATION HELD 

ON APRIL 23, 2012 

On April 23, 2012, a public meeting was held between members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) staff, and representatives of NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC (NextEra) at 

NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The 

purpose of this meeting was to discuss NextEra's plans and schedule regarding concrete 

degradation caused by alkali silica reaction (ASR) at Seabrook Station, Unit 1 (Seabrook) as 

referenced in the NRC inspection report (Agencywide Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML 120480066). 

The meeting notice was issued on March 23,2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML 121070659). By 

letter dated April 17, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML 121040102), the NRC provided NextEra 

questions to be addressed during the public meeting. The presentation slides provided by 

NextEra are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML 121160422, ML 121160349, and 

ML 121160414. The presentation slides provided by the NRC staff are available under ADAMS 

Accession No. ML 121160433. A list of the meeting attendees is provided in the Enclosure. 

The meeting commenced at 10:00 am. John G. Lamb, Senior Project Manager in Division of 

Operating Reactor Licensing (DORL) in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) started 

the meeting. Mr. Lamb stated it was a Category 1 Meeting. The public was invited to observe 

the meeting and had one opportunity to communicate with the NRC after the business portion, 

but before the meeting was adjourned. Also, there was a bridge line for the public to listen to 

the meeting. To preclude interruption of the meeting, the phone was placed on a listening mode 

during the presentations and discussions. It was requested that the speakers be close to 

microphones, identify themselves, and speak with sufficient clarity and volume so that they 

could be readily heard. Also, a webinar was available to view the meeting slides. The webinar 

was accessed by the following link: https:llwww1.gotomeeting.com/register/933281464. There 

were technical difficulties with the webinar for approximately the first 15 minutes of the meeting. 

Mr. Lamb explained that the ASR is a chemical reaction in concrete, which occurs over time in 

the presence of water, between the alkaline cement paste and reactive non-crystalline silica that 

is found in some common coarse aggregates. In the presence of water, the ASR forms a gel 

that expands, causing micro-cracks that change the physical structural properties of the 

concrete, including compressive and tensile strength, modulus of elastiCity, and Poisson's Ratio. 

At Seabrook, the below-grade concrete structures have experienced groundwater infiltration. 

Next, Mr. Lamb went over the meeting agenda, and then he turned the presentation over to 

Chris Miller, Director of the Division of Reactor Safety (DRS) in Region 1 
-2­

Mr. Miller thanked all the participants for attending and providing a significant amount of 

information that will be useful to the NRC to better understand the ASR phenomena at the 

Seabrook Station and to help determine, based on licensee plans and commitments, what the 

NRC's next steps will be. Mr. Miller pointed out that this is a complicated subject and there are 

many parts of this overall issue to consider and resolve in both current operating and license 

renewal space; and NRC staff has been doing this in a well-coordinated manner with good 

communication of the issues being our goal both internally and externally. 

Mr. Miller explained what the NRC staff was trying to accomplish at the meeting and what plans 

the NRC staff has for future communication on this topic. While the NRC staff believes that the 

structures known to be affected by ASR can perform their safety function, the NRC staff does 

not have all the information needed to evaluate the degradation at Seabrook. The NRC staff 

has informed NextEra of the need for this information at various times, including an Inspection 

Report issued on March 26, 2012. This meeting was planned as a discussion with NextEra and 

the NRC to make clear the need for timely information, plans and firm schedules for resolving 

this issue both in the short and long term. The NRC opened this up to public partiCipation 

because the NRC staff knows there is public interest in this issue. However, this meeting was 

not intended to be an information session where the NRC staff explains ASR to our 

stakeholders. The NRC staff plans to do that at a venue closer to the Seabrook site during the 

summer so many of our local stakeholders will have an opportunity to attend. At that point, the 

NRC staff expects to have more information on the issue in hand, reviewed and inspected. 

Even though the mechanical properties of concrete have been reduced or degraded, there is no 

indication that the ASR issue has rendered any structure at Seabrook incapable of performing 

its safety function at this time. However, the issue is recognized as a significant condition 

adverse to quality being addressed in detail under the Corrective Action program. Questions 

related to the design basis are being pursued. The NRC staff is thoroughly evaluating this 

technical issue. The results of detailed and long-term testing, structural evaluations and 

effectiveness of the long-term aging management plan, including measures to reduce 

groundwater intrusion, will determine whether any future structural retrofits are necessary. The 

NRC staff has inspected elements of NextEra's technical work in this matter to date. Currently, 

the NRC's independent assessment of the situation supports NextEra's determination that the 

affected structures can fulfill their safety functions. However, the NRC staff needs additional 

information from NextEra to ensure that their determination remains valid, and that all factors 

supporting this determination are fully brought to light. Mr. Miller stated that the NRC staff 

needs firm commitments from NextEra to undertake the necessary efforts to provide the 

information highlighted in this meeting in a timely manner. 

Mr. Miller turned the meeting over to Mr. Conte of DRS Region 1 staff to discuss the NRC staff 

informational needs in order to fully evaluate the ASR problem, both, in the near-term and 

longer term. 
-3­

Mr. Conte presented the questions that the NRC staff has posed to NextEra: 

(1) What buildings are affected by alkali silica reaction (ASR)? How do you plan to confirm 

ASR and what is your supporting basis? 

(2) When do you plan to update the operability determinations for all buildings affected by 

ASR and what key information do you plan to incorporate into them including key 

assumptions, bases for inputs, including material properties, and calculation methods 

used? 

(3) If you continue to use the empirical relationships in the American Concrete Institute 

(ACI) design basis code for operability determinations, what is the basis for use of those 

relationships, and what is the explanation regarding why these are appropriate for the 

degraded conditions in the building? 

(4) What are your ongoing or planned methods, analysis or testing that will be used to 

monitor/manage ASR affected structures? What is your knowledge of the ASR reaction 

rate, possible end point, and how it affects operability? 

(5) When will you submit to the NRC staff your Corrective Action Plan to address this issue? 

(6) When will you provide the technical details for the larger-scale testing planned at the 

contracted research and development facility? 

Mr. Michael Marshall of the Division of License Renewal presented the relationship of Part 50 to 

Part 54 regarding aging management programs (AMPs). Mr. Marshall described the impact of 

the Seabrook ASR issue on the license renewal. The Seabrook license renewal review 

schedule has been impacted by the ASR issue. 

Even though the NRC staff has questions regarding Seabrook ASR, Mr. Miller clearly stated that 

the NRC staff has no immediate safety concern and the Seabrook structures affected by ASR 

are operable but degraded. Mr. Miller turned the meeting over to NextEra. 

Mr. Paul Freeman, the Site Vice President at Seabrook, provided an overview of the ASR issue. 

Mr. Freeman stated that the ASR was self-identified by NextEra. He said that ASR has very 

limited impact of the performance of Seabrook and that the ASR impacts a small localized 

percentage of Seabrook structures. Mr. Freeman stated that a formal monitoring plan is in 

place to identify any change in performance. Mr. Freeman provided overview information 

regarding Seabrook. Mr. Freeman said that NextEra identified that the concrete walls in the lOB" 

electrical tunnel were experiencing ASR in September 2010. 

Mr. Rick Noble of NextEra explained the ASR reaction. He stated that Seabrook concrete 

structures comply with the American Concrete Institute (ACI) 318-71 design code. Mr. Noble 

explained that ASR can potentially affect the following concrete properties: (1) compressive 

strength, (2) modulus of elasticity, (3) flexural stiffness, (4) shear strength, and (5) tensile 

strength. Mr. Noble provided information regarding NextEra's concrete core testing and 
-4­

petrographic examination results. He explained that NextEra confirmed ASR in Seabrook 

structures and listed the affected structures. 

Mr. Noble provided the following actions performed by NextEra to date: (1) engaged industry 

experts, (2) assessed extent of condition, (3) assessed impact of reduced modulus of elasticity, 

(4) performed petrographic examinations, (5) evaluated structural anchors, and (6) evaluated 

the affect of ASR on concrete structures. Mr. Noble explained restrained versus unrestrained 

expansion of test specimens. 

Mr. Michael Collins of NextEra stated that the Seabrook structures affected by ASR are 

operable but degraded. Mr. Collins said that testing is anticipated to show that performance of 

ASR-affected concrete structures is not compromised and the operability determinations will be 

closed documenting compliance with ACI 318-71, once testing is completed. Mr. Collins 

explained the margin summary bar graph slide. 

Mr. Collins stated that the root cause evaluation identified: 

(1) The ASR developed because concrete mix designs unknowingly utilized an aggregate 

susceptible to ASR. Although testing was conducted per ASTM standards, those testing 

standards were subsequently identified as limited in their ability to predict long-term 

ASR. 

(2) The Health Monitoring Program for systems and structures does not contain a process 

for periodic reassessment of failure modes excluded from the monitoring criteria to 

ensure monitoring/mitigating strategies remain applicable and effective. 

Mr. Collins explained that shear and lap splice test programs will be conducted at the University 

of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at Austin will conduct a series of full-scale, 

concrete beam tests to provide representative test data of in-situ strength of restrained concrete 

elements. He also provided information regarding the anchor test program, aggregate 

expansion testing, and monitoring. 

Mr. Collins stated that the AMP for the Seabrook license renewal application will initially reflect 

criteria to be used for periodic inspection of the 20 previously crack indexed locations, at 6­

month intervals. He said the AMP criteria and frequency will be revised as the full-scale 

concrete beam test program develops. 

Mr. Collins concluded that Seabrook's structures remain fully operable assuming conservative 

losses in concrete structural performance. 

The lunch break started at 12:35 pm and ended at 1 :30 pm. 

Oguzhan Bayrak, Ph.D. from the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University 

of Texas at Austin presented the findings and structural testing plan for NextEra's Seabrook 

ASR-affected concrete. Dr. Bayrak presented four topics: (1) knowledge base, (2) involvement 

to date, (3) interim assessment, and (4) structural testing. 
-5­

Dr. Bayrak presented his experience with ASR and explained his involvement with Seabrook 

began in November 2011. Dr. Bayrak stated that he wrote two white papers: (1) Structural 

Implications of ASR State of the Art, and (2) Perspectives on ACI 318-71 Shear Strength and 

Lap Splice Performance. He explained that these two white papers were inputs for the 

"Seabrook Station: Impact of Alkali-Silica Reaction on Concrete Structures and Attachments," 

written by MPR Associates, Inc. for NextEra. 

Dr. Bayrak explained that the shear and lap splice test programs will (1) quantify margin 

available above code-calculated capacities, and (2) quantify impact of ASR on structural 

capacity and stiffness. He stated that the concrete mixture will be developed through trial 

batching with representative coarse and fine aggregates, will be sufficiently reactive to obtain 

the necessary data in a timely manner, and will develop mechanical properties that are 

representative of Seabrook structures. 

Dr. Bayrak explained the shear testing, anchorage testing, and project workflow (beam 

fabrication, conditioning, expansion monitoring, and structural testing). He provided graphs 

showing that ASR beams were stronger than beams without ASR. Dr. Bayrak said the testing 

results will provide input for the final structural assessment by MPR Associates, Inc. which will 

provide input to NextEra's AMP. . 

Dr. Bayrak stated that testing to quantify margin available above code-calculated capacities will 

be completed in November 2012 and testing to quantify impact of ASR on structural capacity 

and stiffness will be completed in May 2013. He said the final report by University of Texas at 

Austin will be issued in April 2014, and this final report will input the final structural assessment 

by MPR Associates, Inc., which will provide input to NextEra's AMP. Dr. Bayrak also presented 

his backup slides. 

A break occurred at 3:20 pm and ended at 3:30 pm. 

Mr. Miller of the NRC provided a summary. Mr. Miller stated that the NRC staff agreed with 

NextEra that the Seabrook ASR-affected structures are operable but degraded. Ms. Melanie 

Galloway of the NRC stated that the NRC review of the Seabrook license renewal application 

(LRA) has already been impacted by an 11-month delay, and it will be further impacted since 

NextEra will not provide a final AMP until sometime after April 2014. 

Mr. Michael O'Keefe of NextEra stated that NextEra is committing to send a letter on the docket 

by May 6, 2012, with dates for submitting a root cause evaluation, interim assessment 

engineering evaluation, revised operability determination, University of Texas test results, ASR 

reaction rate, and corrective action plan. Mr. O'Keefe also said that NextEra plans to submit an 

ASR AMP for the Seabrook LRA by May 25, 2012. 

The public comment period started at 3:40 pm. Ms. Debbie Grinnell of C-10 Foundation, Mr. 

Bruce Skud of No More Fukishimas!, Doug Bogen of Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, and David 

Gress of the University of New Hampshire participated during the public comment/question 

period. 
-6­

Ms. Grinnell provided the NRC staff with the following documents: (1) Concrete Degradation at 

the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, (2) Commentary on the Alkali-Silica Reaction in Concrete 

Structures at the Seabrook Nuclear Plant, dated March 14, 2012, and (3) a letter requesting 

additional information concerning Seabrook's ASR concrete degradation's extent of condition 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML 121160459). Documents (1) and (2) are located on the Union of 

Concerned Scientists webpage at the following link: 

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/pressrelease/report-finds-many-unanswered.html 

On April 24, 2012, Ms. Grinnell provided an email (ADAMSAccessionNo.ML121160451) 

replacing questions from the letter provided at the public meeting contained in ADAMS 

Accession No. ML121160459. 

Mr. Skud provided comments (ADAMS Accession No. ML 121160467). 

Mr. Bogen stated that the sea level rise/storm surge coastal impacts in coming decades, even 

being 20 feet above sea level, is no guarantee against "worst case" potential storm surge 

impacts. Mr. Bogen made reference to Dr. Cameron Wake and University of New Hampshire's 

Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and Dr. Ellen Douglas at University of 

Massachusetts in Boston. Mr. Bogen said that these and others are contributing to a growing 

body of research on the acceleration of change in water regimes of coastal areas, including the 

seacoast of New Hampshire, that threatens coastal infrastructure in coming decades that the 

NRC ignores to resident's peril. 

Mr. Gress was supportive of the approach NextEra was taking concerning the ASR issue and 

he agreed that the University of Texas at Austin testing plan is the best approach. 

The public comment period ended at 4:25 pm. No regulatory decisions were made during the 

meeting. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm. 

Please direct any inquiries to me at 301-415-3100 or John.Lamb@nrc.gov. 

J hn . Lamb, Senior Project Manager 

la Licensing Branch 1-2 

. sion of Operating Reactor Licensing 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 

Docket No. 50-443 

Enclosure: List of Attendees 

cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv 
1. John G. Lamb 

2. Meena Khanna 

3. George Thomas 

4. Mike Marshall 

5. Alice Erickson 

6. Abdul Sheikh 

7. Rich Conte 

8. Chris Miller 

9. Melanie Galloway 

10. Louise Lund 

11. Art Burritt* 

12. Jacob Philip* 

13. Debbie Grinnell 

14. Bruce Skud* 

15. Dave Mullen* 

16. Matthew Brock* 

17. Steve White* 

18. Joanna Hammond* 

19. Nicolas Petit* 

20. Kurt Sitler* 

21. Jennifer Fallace* 

22. Brenda Buote* 

23. Sandra Lindo-Talin* 

24. Michael Waldron* 

25. Dean Deschenes* 

26. Allen Hiser* 

27. Dom Nicasto* 

28. Sara Gebo* 

29. Matthew Hiser* 

30. Tom Irwin* 

31. Paul Willougby* 

32. AI Griffith* 

33. Michal Freedhoff* 

34. Charles Moskowitz 

SEABROOK ASR PUBLIC MEETING 


ATTENDANCE 


April 23, 2012 

10:00 AM 

Commissioner Hearing Room 0-1 F16/0-1G16 

Branch 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

RES 

C-10 

No More Fukushimas! 

IBEW 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. 

No More Fukushimas! 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Boston Globe 

NRC 

NextEra 

Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory 

NRC 

Gatehouse Media 

NextEra 

NRC 

Conservation Law Foundation 

NextEra 

NextEra 

Congressman Markey's office 

Congressman Tierney's office 

Enclosure 
-2­

35. Tom Crimmins'" 

36. Kenneth Chew'" 

37. PaulO. Freeman 

38. Richard Noble 

39. Michael Collins 

40. Michael O'Keefe 

41. Richard Cliche 

42. Brian Brown 

43. Theodore Vassallo 

44. Thomas Roberts 

45. John Simons 

46. Dr. Oguzhan Bayrak 

47. Alan Griffith 

48. Steve Hamrick 

49. Bill Raymond'" 

50. John Joliceur 

51. Shir Haberman'" 

52. Cimberly Nickell'" 

53. Kenneth Snyder'" 

54. Doug Bogen'" 

55. Ryan Maisel'" 

56. Jim Haddadin'" 

57. Kevin Gantz'" 

58. James Connolly'" 

59. Sandra Gavutis'" 

60. Dan Naus'" 

61. Neil Sheehan'" 

62. David Gress'" 

63. Daniel Diorio'" 

64. Mark Fuhrmann 

65. Martin Murphy 

66. Mike Cheok 

67. James Clifford 

68. Suresh Chaudhry 

69. Herman Graves 

70. John Vera 

71. Eugene Dacus 

72. Scott Burnell 

73. Mary Spencer 

"'via telephone 

Worley Parsons (consultant for 

Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale 

Electric Company) 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NextEra 

MPR Associates 

MPR Associates 

University of Texas at Austin 

NextEra 

NextEra 

NRC 

NRC 

Portsmouth Herald 

NRC 

NIST 

Seacoast Anti-Pollution League 

MPR Associates 

Foster's Daily Democrat 

MPR Associates 

FPL 

C-10 

ORNL 

NRC 

University of New Hampshire 

Senator Scott Brown's office (R-MA) 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 

NRC 
-6­

Ms. Grinnell provided the NRC staff with the following documents: (1) Concrete Degradation at 

the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, (2) Commentary on the Alkali-Silica Reaction in Concrete 

Structures at the Seabrook Nuclear Plant, dated March 14, 2012, and (3) a letter requesting 

additional information concerning Seabrook's ASR concrete degradation's extent of condition 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML 121160459). Documents (1) and (2) are located on the Union of 

Concerned Scientists webpage at the following link: 

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/pressrelease/report-finds-many-unanswered.html 

On April 24, 2012, Ms. Grinnell provided an email (ADAMS Accession No. ML121160451 ) 

replacing questions from the letter provided at the public meeting contained in ADAMS 

Accession No. ML 121160459. 

Mr. Skud provided comments (ADAMS Accession No. ML 121160467). 

Mr. Bogen stated that the sea level rise/storm surge coastal impacts in coming decades, even 

being 20 feet above sea level, is no guarantee against "worst case" potential storm surge 

impacts. Mr. Bogen made reference to Dr. Cameron Wake and University of !'Jew Hampshire's 

Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and Dr. Ellen Douglas at University of 

Massachusetts in Boston. Mr. Bogen said that these and others are contributing to a growing 

body of research on the acceleration of change in water regimes of coastal areas, including the 

seacoast of New Hampshire, that threatens coastal infrastructure in coming decades that the 

NRC ignores to resident's peril. 

Mr. Gress was supportive of the approach NextEra was taking concerning the ASR issue and 

he agreed that the University of Texas at Austin testing plan is the best approach. 

The public comment period ended at 4:25 pm. No regulatory decisions were made during the 

meeting. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm. 

Please direct any inquiries to me at 301-415-3100 or John.Lamb@nrc.gov. 

John G. Lamb, Senior Project Manager 

/ra! 

Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 

Docket !'Jo. 50-443 

Enclosure: List of Attendees 

cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv 

Distribution: 

Public LPL 1-2/Branch Reading RidsNrrLPL 1-2 Resource 

RidsNrrPMSeabrook RidsNrrLAABaxter 

ADAMS Accession No. ML 121220109 

RI/DRS/BC RI 

.ILamb ABaxter * RConte* ABurritt* 

4130/12 05/03/12 05/03/12 04/27/12 

Official Record Copy