No Crud in NURETH 12

Today is my day to attend conferences across the USA, although unlike my neighbors, I do not have a private jet. The Internet took me to San Francisco and then to Pittsburgh (below).

The NURETH crowd has loads to say about everything that they choose to say about nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics, but there is no mention of crud. Of course, that is as I expected.

NURETH 12

Twelfth International Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics

September 30 - October 4, 2007 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

No Crud in ANS Conference on LWR Fuel

The following ANS conference on LWR Fuel is underway as I write this:



2007 International LWR Fuel Performance Meeting
September 30 - October 3, 2007 • San Francisco, California



I am at home in Sun Valley, however, I have perused many of the abstracts via the Internet. I have found no discussions of the impact of crud on fuel performance during steady state reactor operation or accidents (LOCAs and RIAs). Apparently, there are no papers by EPRI or those identified as EPRI contractors.


There is a borderline discussion of crud in paper number 1090 where Westinghouse, Windsor, Connecticut, reports that, "A numerical investigation was performed to predict regions of reduced heat transfer occurring downstream of nuclear fuel spacer grids in PWR assemblies. This study was initiated as a result of excessive crud deposits and fuel failures that have occurred on interior and peripheral rods at several plants of B&W, CE and Westinghouse design."

Technical Problems with NRC's Rulemaking Website

It has been down for over one month!

And for the first time in one month our NRC posts the following:



Home > Electronic Reading Room > Document Collections > Rulemaking-Ruleforum >

Website Offline Notification
Website Offline Notification



We are currently having technical problems with the NRC's rulemaking website. All public documents are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, the public can gain entry into the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if you have problems accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

Comments on rulemakings can be submitted via e-mail to secy@nrc.gov or via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov/. Our contractor is taking every step to remedy the problem as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

FLECHT RUN 9573

NRC Knows Little About Ultrasonic Fuel Cleaning

What is fantastic is that our NRC knows much more about the Paks event and the associated chemical cleaning equipment than it knows about ultrasonic fuel cleaning in the USA.

I sent the following e-mail to Chairman@nrc.gov and received an interesting reply from his Director, Division of Safety Systems, Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

PRM-50-84 and ultrasonic fuel cleaning and chemical cleaning
As an afterthought, it occurs to me that the NRC should have a complete record of experience with ultrasonic fuel cleaning at the nuclear power reactors that it licenses in the USA. Also, by now, the NRC should have a somewhat complete set of facts regarding chemical cleaning of power reactor fuel in Europe and elsewhere in the international scene; especially the experience with crud at Paks Unit 2 and the event with chemical cleaning on April 10, 2003.

So, I would like to hear from the NRC regarding these matters.

Actually, a search on the NRC's ADAMS system reveals quite a bit about the event of April 10, 2003, at Paks Unit 2. Much of this was revealed via several FOIAs. Of course there is a lot more to the event than has been disclosed by our NRC, and even they may not have the vital details. It would be interesting to see a TRACE analysis of that event, but it is unlikely that we will ever see one.


But what is fantastic is that our NRC knows much more about the Paks event and the associated chemical cleaning equipment than it knows about ultrasonic fuel cleaning in the USA. Although ultrasonic fuel cleaning is a complex physical-chemical process that is performed inside the containment buildings of several of our power reactors, the NRC has never performed a safety analysis of the equipment, and it has not reviewed any such safety analyses by its licensees.

More NRC Mythology Derived from Paks

Below is an old (2004) NRC interpretation of the Paks game. The NRC states that the Paks incident was under conditions "... more severe than a traditionally analyzed loss of coolant accident ..." That is not only false, it is very, very false. The power density of the Paks fuel, many days after reactor shutdown, was minuscule in comparison to a traditionally analyzed loss of coolant accident.





Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research

Items of Interest

Week Ending November 19, 2004


Meetings on Fuel-related Projects: Studsvik and Paks


The Studsvik Cladding Integrity Project was organized by Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to better understand the fundamental mechanisms of cladding failure during normal operation and anticipated transients. The first formal meetings of this project were held at the Studsvik laboratory on November 8-10, 2004, and were attended by a representative from the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. Although this project was originally designed to serve industry needs, the mechanisms being studied involve hydrogen embrittlement and delayed hydride cracking. These mechanisms play an equal role in cladding behavior under accident conditions of safety significance, so the project is also of interest to NRC.

In addition, OECD is organizing a small international project to examine the damaged fuel from the cleaning incident at the Paks-2 nuclear power plant in Hungary. A meeting of fuel experts was held at the Studsvik laboratory immediately following the other meetings, and NRC's representative attended the Paks meeting as well. Because the Paks incident resulted in conditions more severe than a traditionally analyzed loss-of-coolant accident, yet the fuel remained well below any melting temperature (i.e., it was coolable), this project appears to have the potential to provide significant insights to fuel behavior under accident conditions.

Leyse docs PRM-50-84, etc in ADAMS

5.
(82)
2007/08/03-Comment (5) of James H. Riley on Behalf of the Nuclear Energy Institute on Leyse's PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072150609
2007-08-03
7

PROJ0689 72FR28902 00005 PRM-50-84 2007-08-03 2007-08-06 2007-08-03 N U C L E A R E N E R G Y I N S T I T U T E James H. Riley DIREC~OR ENGINEERING NUCLEAR GENERATION DIVISION August 3, 2007 Ms. Annette L. Vietti-Cook Secretary Rulemaking and Adjudications



6.
(82)
G20070273 - Mark Edward Leyse Petition for an Enforcement Action Re: 10 CFR 2.206 - Indian Point, Units 2 and 3
ML071150299
2007-04-25
44

05000247 05000286 2.206 G20070273 2007-04-25 2007-05-10 ML071500267+ EDO Principal Correspondence Control FROM: DUE: 05/30/07 EDO CONTROL: G20070273 DOC DT: 04/25/07 FINAL REPLY: Mark Edward Leyse TO: Reyes, EDO FOR SIGNATURE OF : ** GRN ** CRC NO: Dyer, N







1.
(99)
G20070273 - Mark Leyse Ltr from Jennifer Golder Re.: Petition for an Enforcement Action Re: 10 CFR 2.206 - Indian Point, Units 2 and 3
ML071500238
2007-05-31
35

05000247 05000286 DPR-026 DPR-064 2.206 G20070273 PRM-50-84 2007-05-31 2007-06-07 ML071500267+ May 31, 2007 Mr. Mark E. Leyse P.O. Box 1314 New York, NY 10025 Dear Mr. Leyse: In an email addressed to Mr. Reyes, the Executive Director for Operations at the






21.
(81)
2007/03/15-Petition for Rulemaking PRM-50-84 Submitted by Mark Edward Leyse re adddressing corrosion of fuel rod cladding surfaces and a change in the calculations for a loss-of-coolant accident.
ML070871368
2007-03-15
45

PRM-50-84 2007-03-15 2007-03-29 2007-03-27 Annette L. Vietti-Cook Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-000 1 PETITION FOR RULE MAKING DOCKETED USNRC March 27,2007 (8:55am) OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF



22.
(81)
G20070508 - Mark E. Leyse Ltr Re: Overrule Decision of the Petition Review Board.
ML072140819
2007-08-21
5

05000247 05000286 DPR-026 DPR-064 G20070508 Tac MD6074 Tac MD6075 2007-08-21 2007-08-29 August 21, 2007 Mr. Mark E. Leyse P.O. Box 1314 New York, NY 10025 Dear Mr. Leyse: On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your le







24.
(81)
2007/08/15-Comment (9) of Robert H. Leyse on Leyse's PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072320368
2007-08-15
4

05000458 72FR28902 00009 PRM-50-84 2007-08-15 2007-08-23 2007-08-16 Robert H. Leyse P. 0. Box 2850 Sun Valley, ID 83353 August 15,2007 August 16,2007 (2:33pm) OFF ICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Ms. Annette L. Vietti Cook Secretary U.



25.
(81)
2007/08/17-Comment (10) of Robert H. Leyse on Leyse's PRM-50-84 regarding Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072330060
2007-08-17
4

72FR28902 00010 PRM-50-84 2007-08-17 2007-08-23 2007-08-20 DOCKETED USNRC Robert H. Leyse P. 0. Box 2850 Sun Valley, ID 83353 OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Ms. Annette L. Vietti Cook Secretary U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission W






36.
(81)
2007/08/14-Comment (8) of Robert H. Leyse on Leyse's PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072260544
2007-08-14
7

72FR28902 00008 PRM-50-84 2007-08-14 2007-08-15 2007-08-14 Robert H. Leyse P. 0. Box 2850 Sun Valley, ID 83353 August 14,2007 Ms. Annette L. Vietti Cook Secretary U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555-0001 DOCKETED USNRC August 14,200



37.
(81)
2007/07/27-Comment (2) of Robert Leyse on Leyse's PRM-50-84 re addressing corrosion of fuel rod cladding surfaces and a change in the calculations for a loss-of-coolant accident.
ML072110410
2007-07-27
6

05000458 72FR28902 00002 IR-05-008 PRM-50-84 2007-07-27 2007-07-31 2007-07-30 Robert H. Leyse P. 0. Box 2850 Sun Valley, ID 83353 July 27, 2007 Ms. Annette L. Vietti Cook Secretary U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555-0001 DOCKETED U






63.
(81)
2007/08/05-Comment (7) of Mark Edward Leyse on Leyse's PRM-50-84 regarding Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072180472
2007-08-05
11

72FR28902 00007 PRM-50-84 2007-08-05 2007-08-07 2007-08-06 USNRC August 5,2007 Annette L. Vietti-Cook Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 August 6,2007 (2:07pm) OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Atte



64.
(81)
2007/08/05-Comment (6) of Mark Edward Leyse on Leyse's PRM-50-84 Regarding Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072180434
2007-08-05
8

72FR28902 00006 PRM-50-84 2007-08-05 2007-08-07 2007-08-06 DOCKETED @ USNRC August 5,2007 Annette L. Vietti-Cook Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 August 6,2007 (2:07pm) OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS



65.
(81)
2007/07/31-Comment (3) of David Lochbaum on Behalf of Union of Concerned Scientists on Leyse PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072130342
2007-07-31
5

72FR28902 00003 PRM-50-84 2007-07-31 2007-08-01 2007-08-01 Union of Concerned Scientists Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions July 3 1, 2007 Annette Vietti-Cook, Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 DOCKETED







78.
(81)
2007/08/15-Comment (11) of T. Moser on Behalf of Strategic Teaming and Resource Sharing (STARS), on Leyse's PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072360363
2007-08-15







81.
(81)
Federal Register Notice re: Mark Edward Leyse, Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking (PRM-50-84).
ML071290466
2007-05-15
14

7590-01-P FR Citation: 05/23/2007 72 FR 28902 PRM-50-84 2007-05-15 2007-06-05 [7590-01-P] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 10 CFR Part 50 [Docket No. PRM-50-84] Mark Edward Leyse; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTIO



82.
(81)
2007/07/27-Comment (1) of Robert H.Leyse on PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072080298
2007-07-27
4

72FR28902 00001 PRM-50-84 2007-07-27 2007-07-31 2007-07-27 Robert H. Leyse P. 0. Box 2850 Sun Valley, ID 83353 July 27,2007 July 27, 2007 (12:58prn) OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Ms. Annette L. Vietti Cook Secretary U. S. Nuclear






140.
(80)
2007/08/03-Comment (4) of C.C. Lin on Leyse's PRM-50-84 re Addressing Corrosion of Fuel Rod Cladding Surfaces and a Change in the Calculations for a Loss-of-Coolant Accident.
ML072150603
2007-08-03
2

72FR28902 00004 PRM-50-84 2007-08-03 2007-08-06 2007-08-03 SECY - Comments on Petition to amend 10 CFR Part 50 (PRM-50-84) Page I I PRM-50-84 (72FR28902) From: "C.C. Lin" TO: DOCKETED USNRC Date: Fri, Aug 3, 2007 1 :59






181.
(80)
G20070273 - Mark Leyse Ltr from Jennifer Golder Re.: Petition for an Enforcement Action Re: 10 CFR 2.206 - Indian Point, Units 2 and 3.
ML071500267

NRC's Current Rulemakings Website Does Not Respond

For the record: the following has not been accessible since at least August 30, 2007. I'll keep checking on this beginning September 4 (after labor day). Other aspects of the NRC's website respond very well.


For the record: it is still not accessible on September 7, 2007.

For the record: it is still not accessible on September 12, 2007.

http://ruleforum.lnl.gov/cgi-bin/rulelist?type=all

Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage


Most likely causes:
You are not connected to the Internet.
The website is encountering problems.
There might be a typing error in the address.

What you can try: