81 FR 80688 - Response of Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation Cables When Exposed to Fire Conditions-Test Plan

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 221 (November 16, 2016)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting public comment on the draft test plan entitled, ``Response of Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation Cables When Exposed to Fire Conditions-- Test Plan,'' in order to receive feedback from the widest range of interested parties and to ensure that all information relevant to developing this document is available to the NRC staff. The purpose of this draft test plan is to better understand the fire-induced failure modes of instrumentation cables and evaluate the potential effect those failure modes could have on plant instrumentation circuits (i.e., circuit, component, and/or system response).

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 221 (Wednesday, November 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80688-80689]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27721]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2016-0232]


Response of Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation Cables When 
Exposed to Fire Conditions--Test Plan

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft test plan; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting 
public comment on the draft test plan entitled, ``Response of Nuclear 
Power Plant Instrumentation Cables When Exposed to Fire Conditions--
Test Plan,'' in order to receive feedback from the widest range of 
interested parties and to ensure that all information relevant to 
developing this document is available to the NRC staff. The purpose of 
this draft test plan is to better understand the fire-induced failure 
modes of instrumentation cables and evaluate the potential effect those 
failure modes could have on plant instrumentation circuits (i.e., 
circuit, component, and/or system response).

DATES: Submit comments by December 16, 2016. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 
on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0232. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Gabriel Taylor, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0781, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0232 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0232.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, 
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The 
draft test plan, ``Response of Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation 
Cables When Exposed to Fire Conditions--Test Plan,'' is available in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML16309A608.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2016-0232 in the subject line of your 
comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    In 1990, the NRC sponsored a series of tests at Sandia National 
Laboratories (SNL) to investigate the effects of thermal aging on fire 
damageability, documented in NUREG/CR-5546, ``An Investigation of the 
Effects of Thermal Aging on the Fire Damageability of Electric Cables'' 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML041270223). An instrumentation cable was tested 
to determine the failure time and temperature for both aged and unaged 
cables. During the testing, levels of leakage current, on the order of 
15 mA, were observed prior to the onset of catastrophic failure. In 
2001, additional testing was performed by the Nuclear Energy Institute 
and the Electric Power Research Institute. The NRC was invited to 
observe and participate by sponsoring SNL to evaluate various cables 
and instrumentation techniques. Six tests included instrumentation 
cables and those results are documented in NUREG/CR-6776, ``Cable 
Insulation Resistance Measurements Made During Cable Fire Tests'' 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML022600316). Those results indicated pronounced 
differences observed between the failure of the thermoplastic and 
thermoset insulated cables. In previous years the NRC has published 
cable functionality test reports which focused on power and control 
cables when exposed to fire conditions including: NUREG/CR-7102, 
``Kerite Analysis in Thermal Environment of FIRE (KATE-Fire): Test 
Results'' (ADAMS Accession No.

[[Page 80689]]

ML11333A033), NUREG/CR-7010, Volume 1, ``Cable Heat Release, Ignition, 
and Spread in Tray Installations During Fire (CHRISTIFIRE), Phase 1: 
Horizontal Trays'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML12213A056), NUREG/CR-7010, 
Volume 2, ``Cable Heat Release, Ignition, and Spread in Tray 
Installations During Fire (CHRISTIFIRE), Phase 2: Vertical Shafts and 
Corridors'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML13346A045), NUREG-2128, ``Electrical 
Cable Test Results and Analysis During Fire Exposure (ELECTRA-FIRE), A 
Consolidation of Three Major Fire-Induced Circuit and Cable Failure 
Experiments Performed Between 2001 and 2011'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML13253A087), NUREG/CR-7150, Volume 1, ``Joint Assessment of Cable 
Damage and Quantification of Effects from Fire (JACQUE-FIRE)'' (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML12313A105), NUREG/CR-7150, Volume 2, ``Joint Assessment 
of Cable Damage and Quantification of Effects from Fire (JACQUE-FIRE)'' 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML14141A129).
    The purpose of this draft test plan is to better understand the 
fire-induced failure modes of instrumentation cables and evaluate the 
potential effect those failure modes could have on plant 
instrumentation circuits (i.e., circuit, component, and/or system 
response). Specifically, this research is intended to better quantify 
the signal leakage characteristics that may occur before catastrophic 
failure in instrumentation circuits.
    The NRC is requesting public comment in order to receive feedback 
from the widest range of interested parties and to ensure that all 
information relevant to developing this document is available to the 
NRC staff. This document is not intended for interim use. The NRC will 
review public comments received on the document, incorporate suggested 
changes as necessary, and make the final test plan available.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of November, 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark Henry Salley,
Chief, Fire and External Hazard Analysis Branch, Division of Risk 
Analysis, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2016-27721 Filed 11-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P