A980012, Requests Exemption from 24 Month UFSAR Until 981231.Detailed Discussion of Proposed Exemption,Evaluation Against Criteria of 10CFR50.12 & Commitments,Encl

Requests Exemption from 24 Month UFSAR Until 981231.Detailed Discussion of Proposed Exemption,Evaluation Against Criteria of 10CFR50.12 & Commitments,Encl

ML20217A204
Person / Time
Site:	Zion  File:ZionSolutions icon.png
Issue date:	03/12/1998
From:	Brons J COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
ZRA980012, NUDOCS 9803240312
Download: ML20217A204 (7)

Text

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ZRA980012 March 12,1998 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 Attn.: Document Control Desk

Subject:

Application for Exemption From the 24 Month UFSAR Update Requirement of . _

10 CFR 50.71 Zion Station Units 1 and.2 Facility Operating Licenses DPR-39 and DPR-40 NRC Docket Nos. 50-295 and 50-304

References:

1) Letter from O. D. Kingsley, Comed, to U.S. NRC, dated February 13, 1998, Certification of Permanent Cessation of Operations

2) Letter from O. D. Kingsley, Comed, to U.S. NRC, dated March 9, 1998, Certification of Permanent Fuel Removal

3) Letter from R. P Tuetken, Comed, to U. S. NRC, dated July 5,1996, Update to Zion Station Updated Final Safety Analysis Report Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a), Comed requests an exemption until December 31,1998, from the 10 CFR 50.71(e)(4) requirement that the interval between successive updates to the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) not exceed 24 months. /

As documented in References 1 and 2, Comed has permanently ceased operations at Zion Station and defueled both reactors. Comed considers that this permanent shutdown and defueling has resulted in special circumstances in that compliance with the regulation b would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule and would result in undue hardship or

-other costs significantly in excess of those contemplated when the regulation was adopted.

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LA NRA980012 Page 2 of 3 Ndetailed ' discussion of the proposed exemption and an evaluation against the criteria of 10 CFR 50.12 is provided in Attachment A to this letter. Attachment B provides a listing of the commitments contained in this submittal.

. Please direct any questions you may have concerning this submittal to this office.

' Respectfully, t

A- B -

o n C. Brons Site Vice President Zion Nuclear Station Attachments a;

cc: NRC Regional Administrator - RIII

. Zion Station Project Manager - NRR Senior Resident Inspector - Zion Station Oflice of Nuclear Facility Safety - IDNS IDNS Resident Inspector bJiegroup'exengts'30.71' exempt 2. doc

7RA980012

' Attachment A Page1of4 ,

9 JUSTIFICATION FOR EXEMPTION FROM THE 10 CFR 30.71, REOUIREMENT TO SUBMIT REVISIONS TO THE UFSAR AT INTERVALS NO GREATER THAN 24 MONTHS EXEMPTION Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a), Comed requests an exemption until December 31,1998, from the 10 CFR 50.71(e)(4) requirement that the interval between successive updates to the UFSAR not exceed 24 months.

DISCUSSION 10 CFR 50.71(e) states, in part:

"Each person licensed to operate a nuclear power reactor pursuant to the provisions of s50.21 or s50.22 of this cart shall update periodically, as provided in paragraphs (e)(3) and (4) of this section, the final safety analysis report (FSAR) originally submitted as part of the application for the operating license, to assure that the information included in the FSAR contains the latest material developed."

10 CFR 50.71(c)(4) states:

" Subsequent revisions must be filed annually or 6 months after each refueling outage provided the interval between successive updates does not exceed 24 months. The revisions must reflect all changes up to a maximum of 6 months prior to the date of filling.

For nuclear power reactor facilities that have submitted the certifications required by s50.82(a)(1), subsequent revisions must be filed every 24 months."

The last full update to the Zion UFSAR was submitted to the NRC in July 1996 via Reference 3.

Consequently,10 CFR 50.71(e)(4) would require that the next update be submitted no later than July 1998. However, as documented in Reference 1, Zion Station has permanently ceased operation. As documented in Reference 2, both reactors have been permanently defueled and all irradiated fuel has been placed in the spent fuel pool for long term storage.

Comed requests an extension of the update interval to allow sufficient time to develop an update to the UFSA.R reflecting the permanently defueled condition. Comed estimates that the time to prepare this update, a Defueled Safety Analysis Report (DSAR), will extend beyond July 1998, and therefore requests an exemption from 10 CFR 50.71(e)(4) until December 31,1998.

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• Attachment A Page 2 of 4':

3 Comed considers that compliance with 10 CFR 50.71(e)(4) would not serve the underlying

purpose _ of the rule, and would result in undue hardship or other costs that are significantly in excess of those contemplated when the regulation was adopted! By December 31,1998, Comed will submit a DSAR which will thereafter be updated at intervals not exceeding 24 months in accordance with 10 CFR 50.71(e)(4).

EVALUATION AGAINST 10 CFR 50.12 CRITERIA C' omEd considers that the criteria for granting an exemption, as specified in 10 CFR 50.12(a)(1),1 are met in that:

. The requested exemption and the activities which woodd he aHowed thereunder are authori:ed by kiw.

The Commission is authorized by law to grant this exemption request, since as described below, the other criteria specified by 10 CFR 50.12(a) are satisfied, and since there are no other prohibitions oflaw which preclude the activities that would be authorized by the requested exemption.

The requested exemption will not present undue risk to the public health and safety.

4 The req ~uested exemption involves the interval for submitting updated licensing basis information to the NRC. The requested exemption would allow an extension ofless than 25% of the currently specified interval. The effect of the requested exemption would be to allow Comed to forego submittal by July 1998 of updated information on systems, stmetures, and components that no longer have relevance-to safety, while ensuring that more relevant information would be submitted no later than December 31,1998.' The requested exemption would have no impact on the ability of systems, structures, and components to perform the safety functions required with the plant permanently shutdown and the reactors defueled, nor does it affect the safety of activities conducted with the facility in this condition.

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o ZRA'980012

• Attachment A -

Page 3 of 4 w

1he requested exemption is consistent svith the common defense andsecurity.

The requested exemption is a schedular extension involving an update to the licensing basis facility description. The requested exemption would not affect the safety or security of operations at the facility in any manner, nor would it affect the ability of systems, structures, and components to perform required safety or security functions. Accordingly, the common defense and security are unaffected by the requested exemption.

Comed considers that at least two of the special circumstances defined by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2) are present in that:

Application of the regidation in the particular circumstances would not serve the underlyingpurpose of the rule or is not necessary to achieve the underlyingpurpose of the rule.

Regulation 10 CFR 50.34(b) requires that the FSAR include a description and analysis of the systems, structures, and components of the facility " . sufficient to permit understanding of the system designs and their relationship to safety evaluations." This regulation also requires that the various facility systems should be " .. discussed insofar as they are pertinent." Regulation 10 CFR 50.71(e) requires that the FSAR be updated periodically " ..to assure that the information included in the FSAR contains the latest material developed." In publishing 10 CFR 50.71(e) the NRC stated that regulation was being amended " ..to provide an updated reference document to be used in recurring safety analyses performed by the licensee, the Commission, and other interested parties." (45 FR 30614)

It is evident that the underlying purpose of the regulations is to assure that licensees maintain a docketed description of those aspects of the facility and its operation that are relevant to safety as described in 10 CFR 50.34(b), and that this description be updated at a reasonable frequency. However, Zion Station's circumstances are such that, in a short amount of time with little or no forewarning, a major reduction has occurred in the number of systems, structures, and components that are relevant to safety, and in the scope of activities and postulated events that can affect safety. Since Comed estimates the time to develop a DSAR would extend beyond July 1998, application of the update interval requirement specified by 10 CFR 50.71(e)(4) in these circumstances would require Comed to submit updates to UFSAR descriptions which may have no safety significance. Therefore, the underlying purpose of the rule would not be served by compliance with the regulation.

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. ZRA'980012

• Attachment A Page 4 of 4 Compliance would restdt in undue hardship or other costs that are sigmficandy in excess of those contemplated uhen the regulation was adopted, or that are sigmficantly in excess of those incurred by others similarly situated.

Development of a DSAR is important to Zion Station because the DSAR will derme those systems, structures, components, activities, and postulated events that are relevant to safety in the permanently defueled condition, and will therefore serve as a basis for other activities involved with establishing the facility in its long term configuration. Accordingly, Comed would prefer to begin preparation of the DSAR as soon as practicable. However many of the technical, administrative, and management resources needed to develop a DSAR are the same as those that would be involved in updating the UFSAR. Consequently, compliance with the regulation would result either in a delay in developing a DS AR or in the expenditure of significant additional resources to develop a DSAR while preparing an UFSAR update submittal in parallel. Comed considers that either of these conditions would constitute a significant and undue hardship or cost, and it is unlikely that these circumstances were contemplated when the regulation was adopted.

Based on the preceding, Comed considers that the criteria for granting an exemption, as specified in 10 CFR 50.12(a)(1) and (2) have been met.

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. .- ZRA980012

• Attachment B Page1of1 List of Commitments identified in ZRA980012 The following table identifies those actions committed to by Comed in this document. -Any other .

actions discussed is this submittal represent intended or planned actions by Comed. They are described to the NRC for the NRC's information and are not regulatory commitments. Please notify Mr. Robert Godley, Zion Station Regulatory Assurance Manager, of any questions regarding this' document or any associated regulatory commitments.

Commitment Committed Date Comed will replace the UFSAR with a Defueled Safety Analysis Report December 31,1998 (DSAR) which will provide the information specified by 10 CFR 50.34(b) as applicable to the facility with both Unit I and Unit 2 reactors permanently defueled and the fuel placed in the spent fuel pool for long term storage.

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