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THE
FACTS |
SUBSTANDARD AND COUNTERFEIT PARTS
INDUSTRY -WIDE PROBLEM IDENTIFIED BY GAO In 1987, the widespread use of counterfeit parts in the industry was identified; Pilgrim was among those reactors listed with substandard or counterfeit parts. The U.S. Government Accounting Office issued a report - GAO/RCED 91-6, Counterfeit and Substandard Products, October 1990. The parts perform a variety of functions from protecting against electric overloads to keeping equipment securely anchored. Pilgrim was among the reactors identified by GAO using parts that did not meet government standards - nuts, bolts, pipe fittings, circuit breakers and fuses. The use of counterfeit parts destroys the validity of NRC risk assessments and assurances of safety.
UNTESTED INACCESSIBLE SUBSTANDARD PARTS IDENTIFIED AT PILGRIM NRC Bulletin 88-05, and Supplements 1 & 2: Nonconforming Material Supplied by Piping Supplies, Inc. at Folsom, New Jersey and West Jersey manufacturing Company at Williamstown, New Jersey, BECO 88-133, License DPR-35, Docket 50-293, September 9, 1988, states that SSW Discharge system has (4) flanges supplied by the suspect vendor Piping Supplies Inc. The four flanges were inaccessible so that they were not directly tested. They were identified as 22” ASTM A105 150# flanges. Subsequent evaluations of similar flanges from PSI indicated that, “they were acceptable for these applications.” Also two 2” 900# flanges, one on each scram discharge standpipe were located in a high radiation area were inaccessible for in situ testing. The BECO Report to NRC did not indicate whether the tests evaluated performance for 40 years or 60 years. (Source: Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman, LLP Disclosure, PILLR00005508, for Entergy in Pilgrim’s License Renewal Adjudication, Pilgrim Watch, Contention 1).
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