Abstract
In response to several leaks from buried and underground piping at nuclear power plants in the 2009 time frame both the nuclear industry and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) took actions to: better understand the issue of leakage from buried and underground piping; better understand the condition of condition of buried and underground pipes; and to improve the reliability of buried and underground piping. In the nuclear industry this primarily consisted of developing and implementing the Underground Piping and Tanks Integrity Initiative. At the NRC, this primarily consisted of revising guidance regarding buried and underground piping related to license renewal and developing a process for the oversight of buried and underground piping activities at currently operating nuclear power plants. This process included the development of the buried piping action plan and a temporary instruction addressing inspection activities associated with buried piping. The primary focus of this paper will be to report on observations obtained from the Temporary Instruction. This paper will also consider future NRC activities associated with buried and underground piping.
