April 2, 2015 

MEMORANDUM TO: John W. Lubinski, Director 

 Division of Engineering

 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

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

 Division of Engineering

 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 PROGRESS ON THE 

INDUSTRY’S BURIED PIPING AND UNDERGROUND PIPING AND 

TANKS INITIATIVE 

On January 21, 2015, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held a Category 2 

public meeting with representatives from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the Electric Power 

Research Institute, the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), the American Society of 

Mechanical Engineers, NACE International (formerly known as the National Association of 

Corrosion Engineers) and other industry representatives at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, MD. 

This public meeting was one in an ongoing series of interactions between NRC staff, industry 

representatives and other stakeholders to understand the scope and schedule for industry 

activities related to degradation of buried and underground piping and tanks. Minutes of 

previous meetings are available at Agencywide Document Access and Management System 

(ADAMS) Accession Numbers ML093070162, ML100810295, ML103230366, ML11137A171, 

ML113210661, ML12116A043, ML13050A590, ML13301A792, ML13133A206 and 

ML14184B374. A list of meeting attendees is enclosed. The meeting notice and agenda is 

available at ADAMS Accession Number ML15005A426. Meeting presentations are available at 

ADAMS Accession Number ML15023A490. 

At the beginning of the meeting, NRC staff reviewed the status of the NRC’s Buried Piping 

Action Plan. The staff described the action plan activities, schedule for action, and reiterated 

NRC objectives with respect to buried piping. All action plan activities are scheduled to be 

completed by spring 2014. The staff provided an update of license renewal activities related to 

buried and underground piping and tanks. 

CONTACT: Robert O. Hardies, NRR/DE 

 (301) 415-5802 
J. Lubinski - 2 - 

NEI provided an update of Underground Piping and Tanks Initiative implementation status. All 

plants completed all milestones by December 31, 2014 except five plants ceased operations 

and one inspection at one plant was deferred to a spring 2015 outage. NEI noted that asset 

management plans will drive future inspections. In response to an action item from previous 

meetings NEI noted that the industry issued formal guidance for transferring responsibility for 

buried and underground assets at decommissioning plants from the initiative to the site 

decommissioning plans. INPO described its assessment role and summarized industry 

performance and findings with respect to the initiatives. INPO also discussed approaches for 

future enhancements to the graphical summaries of industry experience. 

The Electric Power Research Institute discussed progress and plans related to development 

and deployment of nondestructive examination equipment, processes and procedures. 

Highlights included descriptions of buried pipe inspection technology, tank inspection 

technology, guided wave for direct inspections, future research plans and currently available 

publications. 

The NRC presented a summary of results from the TI-182 inspections. The inspection results 

indicated all operating plants participated in the initiative in a committed fashion. 

A representative of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) discussed the status 

of Section XI buried piping activities, including plans and progress in the “Task Group Buried 

Component Inspection and Testing.” This task group is developing potential changes to the 

ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code to address inspection, testing, mitigation, repair, 

replacement and design of buried and underground piping. 

A representative of NACE International described ongoing activities in NACE Task Group 404, 

“Nuclear Buried Piping,” to develop buried piping inspection, assessment and corrosion 

prevention standards optimized for nuclear power plant applications. 

The following new action items were recorded at this meeting: 

1) There has been one plant that needed to deviate from the initiative schedule in order to 

complete the inspections. The inspections are scheduled to be completed during the 

spring outage. NEI took an action to inform the plant of NRC interest in the deviation. 

NEI will seek to have the plant inform the NRC when the inspections have been 

completed. 

2) The next meeting should include a presentation by industry on the manner in which 

future inspection planning is incorporated into asset management plans. 

3) NEI will provide the updated program status presentation (this was completed after the 

meeting). 
J. Lubinski - 3 - 

The next meeting is scheduled for October 2015, at NRC headquarters. 

Enclosure: 

Attendance list 

CONTACT: Robert O. Hardies, NRR/DE 

 (301) 415-5802 
J. Lubinski - 3 - 

The next meeting is scheduled for October 2015, at NRC headquarters. 

Enclosure: 

Attendance list 

CONTACT: Robert O. Hardies, NRR/DE 

 (301) 415-5802 

DISTRIBUTION: 

DCI R/F DE R/F DAlley SGarry ASengupta 

WHolston AShaikh HGray KHoffman SVitto 

IAnchondo 

dsmith@epri.com 

dwittas@apsc.com

Gabriel.OGUNDELE@kinectrics.com 

searsjt@inpo.org 

 

 

Vicki.Armentrout@dom-eng.com 

dlamond@aesengineering.com

mar@nei.org 

skenefick@epri.com 

 

ADAMS ACCESSION NOs.: 

PACKAGE ML15023A490 

MEETING NOTICE ML15005A426 

SUMMARY ML15092A805 

*concurred via email 

OFFICE NRR/DE* 

NAME RHardies 

DATE 04/06/2015 

 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY 
ENCLOSURE 

List of Attendees 

Name Email Affiliation 

David Alley David.Alley@nrc.gov NRC 

Steve Kenefick skenefic@epri.com EPRI 

Mark Richter mar@nei.org NEI 

Daniel Wittas dwittas@apsc.com APS 

Keith Hoffman Keith.hoffman@nrc.gov NRC 

Bob Hardies Robert.Hardies@nrc.gov NRC 

David Smith dsmith@epri.com EPRI 

Bill Holston William.holston@nrc.gov NRC 

Joseph Sears searsjt@inpo.org INPO 

Viki Armentrout Viki.armentrout@dom-eng.com Dominion 

Greg Lupia Greg.lupia@exeloncorp.com Exelon 

Paul Gunter Paul@beyondnuclear.org Beyond Nuclear 

John Tsao John.Tsao@nrc.gov NRC 

Phil Kohn Philip.kohn@dule-energy.com Duke 

Chris Hovanec Christopher.Hovanec@nrc.gov NRC 

Catherine Nolan Catherine.nolan@nrc.gov NRC 

Alex Culla acullu@curtisswright.com Scientech