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UNITED STATESNUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONOFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATIONWASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001

May 7, 1998

**Addressees**

All holders of operating licenses for boiling water reactors (BWRs).

**Purpose**

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this supplemental information notice to inform addresseesabout the status of the NRC staff's review of "BWR Vessel and Internals Project, BWR Reactor Pressure Vessel Shell WeldInspection Recommendations (BWRVIP-05)." This information notice supplement alerts BWR licensees that relief may berequested from inservice inspection requirements of 10 CFR 50.55a(g) for volumetric examination of circumferentialreactor pressure vessel (RPV) welds. No specific action or written response is required.

**Background**

On August 7, 1997, the staff issued Information Notice (IN) 97-63, "Status of NRC Staff's Review of BWRVIP-05," whichinformed the industry that the staff would consider technically justified requests for reliefs from BWR licensees who werescheduled to perform inspections of the BWR RPV circumferential shell welds during the Fall 1997 or Spring 1998 outageseasons. Acceptably justified reliefs were considered for inspection delays of up to two operating cycles for BWR RPVcircumferential shell welds only.

**Discussion**

The staff has not yet completed its review and safety evaluation (SE) of the BWRVIP-05 report, and does not expect tocomplete the review before the Fall 1998 outage season. Therefore, the staff is extending the period in which it willconsider technically justified requests for relief from the augmented examination in accordance with 10 CFR50.55a(a)(3)(i), 50.55a(a)(3)(ii), and 50.55a(g)(6)(ii)A(5) from BWR licensees who are scheduled to perform inspections ofthe BWR RPV circumferential shell welds during the Fall 1998 or Spring 1999 outage seasons. Acceptably justified reliefwould be considered for inspection delays of up to two operating cycles for BWR RPV circumferential shell welds only.Licensees will still need to perform their required inspections of "essentially 100 percent" of all axial welds.

This information notice supplement requires no specific action or written response. If you have any questions about theinformation in this notice, please contact the person listed below or the appropriate NRC Regional Office.

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