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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Development of alternate visual examination requirements for dynamic restraints (snubbers)

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6066561
Current plant technical specifications require an initial inservice visual examination of safety related equipment dynamic restraints (snubbers) to provide assurance of operability. The time to the next examination is as short as 1 month if 8 or more snubbers are found to be inoperable. Plant operators have observed that as the snubber population of a plant increases, the current plan becomes burdensome by requiring frequent shutdowns for examination of snubbers. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recognized the need and has sponsored a program to develop alternate visual examination criteria which would require examinations at constant intervals such as at refueling outages. Brookhaven National Laboratories (BNL) was selected by the NRC to conduct this program. Based on the review and evaluation of the information gathered to date, and the conclusions drawn from plant visits and the Snubber Utility Group (SNUG) data base, BNL has developed an alternate statistically-based plan which provides the permissible number of inoperable snubbers for constant and twice constant visual examination intervals for various snubber population groups. 3 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH00016
OSTI ID:
6066561
Report Number(s):
BNL-NUREG-42727; CONF-890721-35; ON: DE89014711
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English