L-09-335, Request for Extension of Enforcement Discretion for Noncompliances Related to Fire Protection Programs

Request for Extension of Enforcement Discretion for Noncompliances Related to Fire Protection Programs

ML100191803
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	01/14/2010
From:	Allen B FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
L-09-335
Download: ML100191803 (6)

Text

V FENOC FEIJO 5501 North State Route 2 FirstEnergyNuclear Operating Company Oak Harbor,Ohio 43449 Barry S. Allen 419-321-7676 Vice President - Nuclear Fax: 419-321-7582 January 14, 2010 L-09-335 10CFR50.48 ATTN: Document Control Desk U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001

SUBJECT:

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Docket No. 50-346, License No. NPF-3 Request for Extension of Enforcement Discretion for Noncompliances Related to Fire Protection Programs By Interim Enforcement Policy published in the FederalRegister (69 FR 33684) on June 16, 2004, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) established terms and conditions regarding enforcement discretion for certain noncompliances related to fire protection programs. As outlined in the Enforcement Policy, a two-year period of enforcement discretion would begin with a licensee's letter of intent to transition a plant's fire protection program to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

Standard 805 (Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric Generating Plants, 2001 Edition) in accordance with Section 50.48(c) of Part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of FederalRegulations (10 CFR 50.48(c)).

On April 18, 2006, the NRC published in the Federal Register (71 FR 19905) a revision to its enforcement policy, extending the NFPA 805 transition discretion period from two to three years. In accordance with the policy, the enforcement discretion period would continue through the NRC review and approval of the license amendment request required by 10 CFR 50.48(c). By letter dated February 27, 2007 (ML070590517)

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) notified the NRC that transition activities to adopt NFPA 805 at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station (DBNPS) would begin on March 1, 2007, thereby initiating the initial three-year period of enforcement discretion. By letter dated May 1, 2007 (ML071000033), the NRC acknowledged the request, and informed FENOC that the request for a 3-year enforcement discretion period was granted. The discretion period for Davis-Besse began on March 1, 2007, and will expire on March 1, 2010.

By FederalRegister notice dated September 10, 2008 (73 FR 52705), the NRC further revised the enforcement policy to allow licensees the option to request an extended enforcement discretion period, to be granted by the NRC on a case-by-case basis, if a licensee has made substantial progress in the transition effort. The additional period of Aco

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station L-09-335 Page 2 of 3 discretion would expire six months after NRC issuance of a safety evaluation approving the second pilot plant license amendment.

As stated in the enforcement policy, licensees that request enforcement discretion beyond the three years currently available should compile or submit the following information to the NRC.

• Compile, for on-site NRC audit/inspection, a list of all fire protection-related noncompliances and the related compensatory measures for those noncompliances.

• Document, for onsite NRC audit/inspection, that each Operator Manual Action put in place as compensatory measures are feasible and reliable, in accordance with staff provided guidance in Regulatory Issue Summary 2005-07, "Compensatory Measures to Satisfy the Fire Protection Program Requirements."

• Submit a description of the physical modifications performed, if any, to address existing risk-significant fire protection issues.

• Submit a status report of the transition, including a schedule of milestones for completing the fire PRA (Probabilistic Risk Assessment). The status report should be broken down into the following major areas:

o Classical fire protection transition (in accordance with NFPA 805 Chapter 3).

o Nuclear Safety Performance Criteria transition (in accordance with NFPA 805 chapters 1, 2 and 4).

o Nonpower operational transitions.

o NFPA 805 monitoring program.

To address the above-stated NRC informational needs for DBNPS, the following information is provided. .

" Fire protection-related noncompliances and the related compensatory measures for those noncompliances are documented in the FENOC Corrective Action Program. A list has been compiled, and is available for on-site NRC audit/

inspection.

" Evaluations have been completed to demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of existing manual actions, and are available for NRC audit/inspection. Upon completion of the NFPA 805 change evaluations, the existing feasibility evaluations will require revision to reflect actions credited for compliance under the new licensing basis.

" Since DBNPS began operation, various fire protection design changes and circuit modifications have been implemented to improve system performance and to comply with applicable regulations; however, no physical modifications have been performed at DBNPS to address existing risk-significant fire protection issues. Identification of potential modifications to resolve identified variances from deterministic requirements is pending completion of transition review and completion of change evaluations.

" As demonstrated in Attachment 1, Status Report - NFPA 805 Transition Progress for DBNPS, FENOC has completed a substantial effort toward transition activities at DBNPS. Some of these activities are iterative in nature due to lessons learned

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station L-09-335 Page 3 of 3 from ongoing industry experience. Attachment 2, Fire PRA Milestone Schedule for DBNPS, provides the major milestones for completion of the DBNPS Fire Probabilistic Risk Assessment (FPRA).

Because the necessary application for amendment of the DBNPS Operating License has not yet been submitted for NRC review, the current three-year period of enforcement discretion for DBNPS will expire on March 1, 2010. In accordance with the existing enforcement policy, FENOC hereby requests NRC approval of an extension to the enforcement discretion period for DBNPS, to six months after the date of the safety evaluation approving the second pilot plant license amendment.

FENOC has made a substantial investment in the NFPA 805 transition effort for DBNPS; however, delays in industry progress and continuing uncertainty in regulatory expectations for the associated licensing activities have led to escalating costs and delays in the completion activities for the DBNPS transition. Additionally, the need for a stable licensing basis to support DBNPS License Renewal efforts has resulted in schedule conflict regarding the transition. As a result, the necessary license amendment request is currently forecast to be submitted in the third quarter of 2012.

Until amendment of the Operating License authorizes implementation of a fire protection program based on NFPA 805, FENOC will continue to maintain fire safety at DBNPS in accordance with License Condition 2.C(4) of Operating License NPF-3. During the period of enforcement discretion, FENOC will evaluate options for permanent resolution of existing noncompliances.

There are no regulatory commitments contained in this submittal. If there are any questions, or if additional information is required, please contact Mr. Thomas A. Lentz, Manager- Fleet Licensing, at 330-761-6071.

Sincerely, Barry S. Allen Attachments:

1. Status Report - NFPA 805 Transition Progress for DBNPS

2. Fire PRA Milestone Schedule for DBNPS cc: NRC Region III Administrator NRC Resident Inspector Director, NRC Office of Enforcement NRC Project Manager Utility Radiological Safety Board

Attachment 1 L-09-335 Status Report - NFPA 805 Transition Progress for DBNPS Page 1 of 2 Transition Activity/ Tasks Status Est. %

Complete Classical Fire Protection Transition (in accordance with NFPA 805 Chapter 3)

• Fundamental Fire Protection The NFPA 805 Chapter 3 requirements 16%

Program and Design were organized into "non-fire Elements Review - compartment specific requirements" and Completion of NEI 04-02, "fire compartment specific requirements."

Table B-1 (Transition Report Review of the non-fire compartment (TR) Sec 4.1 and License specific records (typically programmatic or Amendment Request (LAR) global type requirements) is in progress.

Attachment A) The fire compartment specific records (typically Fire Protection Feature (FPF) requirements are discussed below.

Radioactive Release Transition (in accordance with NFPA 805 Table G-1)

• Completion of NEI 04-02, All of the required compartments have 100%

Table G-1 (TR Sec 4.4 and been reviewed against the NEI 04-02, LAR Attachment-E) Rev. 1 implementing guidance. This review included a review of pre-fire plans and fire brigade training materials for locations that have the potential for contamination to ensure that specific steps are included for containment and monitoring of potentially contaminated fire suppression water.

Nuclear Safety Performance Criteria Transition (in accordance with NFPA 805 Chapters 1, 2 and 4)

• Validation of Nuclear Safety Project Instructions for methodology have 100%

Capability Assessment been approved.

Methodology

" Completion of NEI 04-02, A Safety Capability Assessment 100%

Table B-2 (TR Sec 4.2.1 and Methodology Review has been LAR Attachment B) documented in NEI 04-02, Table B-2 format, reviewed and completed.

" Safe Shutdown Analysis As part of the re-baselining of the safe 100%

Update shutdown (SSD) analysis, the Davis-(pre-requisite task) Besse SSD analysis was incorporated into and checked by EPM's SAFE software.

L-09-335 Page 2 of 2 Transition Activity/ Tasks Status Est. %

Complete

" Existing Engineering Scheduled. 0%

Equivalency Evaluations Transition (TR Sec 4.2.2.2.1 and LAR Attachment J)

" Licensing Actions Transition Scheduled. 0%

(TR Sec 4.2.2.2.2 and LAR Attachment K)

• Completion of fire area by The fire area by fire area review records 60%

fire area safe shutdown to demonstrate compliance with the analysis and NEI 04-02, performance goals of NFPA 805 Section Table B-3 (TR Sec 4.2.2 and 1.5 have been performed and LAR Attachment C) documented in WebTRAN and are in review. The final report will be provided in a format similar to NEI 04-02, Table B-3.

Updates may be required to document results of multiple spurious operations reviews and NFPA 805 change evaluations

" Review of fire protection The fire compartment specific records 35%

features (FPFs) required for (typically fire protection feature Chapter 4 per the requirements) have been associated with requirements of Chapter 3. each applicable fire compartment where they are credited to meet NFPA 805 Chapter 4 requirements. Detailed reviews were then performed and reviewed for each applicable compartment.

Non-power Operational Transitions

• Completion of NEI 04-02, Component selection and cable selection 67%

Table F-1 (TR Sec 4.3 and for additional components has been LAR Attachment D) completed. Further action is awaiting the results of the NRC review of the pilot LARs to the requirements of NFPA 805.

Final results will be documented in NEI 04-02, Table F-1 format.

Note: This is a new requirement and enforcement discretion for variances to the requirementsof NFPA 805 is not required.

NFPA 805 Monitoring Program J(TR Sec 4.5) Scheduled. 0%

Attachment 2 L-09-335 Fire PRA Milestone Schedule for DBNPS Page 1 of I Task Description Status Schedule Estimated Completion Percent Date Complete TR Sec 4.5.1 Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Development Plant Boundary Definition and Complete 100%

Partitioning Fire PRA Component Selection Complete 100%

Fire PRA Cable Complete 100%

Qualitative Screening Complete 100%

Fire-Induced Risk Model Complete 100%

Fire Ignition Frequencies Complete 100%

Quantitative Screening Complete 100%

Fire-Risk Scoping Model Complete 100%

Detailed Circuit Failure Analysis In progress 07/12 20%

Circuit Failure Mode Likelihood In progress 07/12 1%

Analysis Detailed Fire Modeling In progress 06/12 12%

Post-Fire Human Reliability In progress 07/12 50%

Analysis Seismic Fire Interactions Scheduled 05/12 0%

Assessment Uncertainty and Sensitivity Scheduled 05/12 0%

Analysis Fire PRA Documentation Scheduled 07/12 0%

Peer Review Scheduled 07/12 0%

TR Sec 4.8.2.1 Fire Induced Multiple Spurious

• The DRAFT MSO *

• Attachment F Operations (MSO) Resolution resolution report has been Methodology prepared and reviewed.

Changes may be required based on industry experience.

TR Sec 4.8.2.2 Operator Manual Actions - In progress 05/12 40%

Attachment G Transition to Recovery Actions TR Sec 4.5 Change Evaluations Development of ** A draft Project **

methodology, content, and Instruction establishing format methodology, content and format has been completed. Changes may be required based on industry experience.