ML033650142

License Amendments, Revising Technical Specifications 3.3.4.1, 3.7.5, & 5.6.5 to Add References to Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power Analytical Methods That Will Be Used to Determine Core Operating Limits

ML033650142
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	12/30/2003
From:	Jabbour K NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD2
To:	Scalice J Tennessee Valley Authority
Jabbour K, NRR/DLPM, 415-1496
References
TAC MB8433, TAC MB8434
Download: ML033650142 (14)

Text

December 30, 2003 Mr. J. A. Scalice Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT:

BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 2 AND 3 ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS REGARDING CORE OPERATING LIMITS (TAC NOS. MB8433 AND MB8434)

Dear Mr. Scalice:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment Nos. 287 and 245 to Facility Operating Licenses Nos. DPR-52 and DPR-68 for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 2 and 3, respectively. These amendments are in response to your application dated April 14, 2003, as supplemented by your letters dated September 5, 2003, and November 7, 2003, which provided clarifying information.

The amendments would revise Technical Specifications (TSs) 3.3.4.1 "End-of-Cycle Recirculation Pump Trip (EOC-RPT) Instrumentation, 3.7.5 Main Turbine Bypass System, and 5.6.5 Core Operating Limits Report (COLR). The revision to TS 5.6.5 adds references to Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power analytical methods that will be used to determine core operating limits.

A copy of the Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's biweekly Federal Register notice.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Kahtan N. Jabbour, Senior Project Manager, Section 2 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-260 and 50-296

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 287 to License No. DPR-52

2. Amendment No. 245 to License No. DPR-68

3. Safety Evaluation cc w/enclosures: See next page

December 30, 2003 Mr. J. A. Scalice Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT:

BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 2 AND 3 ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS REGARDING CORE OPERATING LIMITS (TAC NOS. MB8433 AND MB8434)

Dear Mr. Scalice:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment Nos. 287 and 245 to Facility Operating Licenses Nos. DPR-52 and DPR-68 for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 2 and 3, respectively. These amendments are in response to your application dated April 14, 2003, as supplemented by your letters dated September 5, 2003, and November 7, 2003, which provided clarifying information.

The amendments would revise Technical Specifications (TSs) 3.3.4.1 "End-of-Cycle Recirculation Pump Trip (EOC-RPT) Instrumentation, 3.7.5 Main Turbine Bypass System, and 5.6.5 Core Operating Limits Report (COLR). The revision to TS 5.6.5 adds references to Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power analytical methods that will be used to determine core operating limits.

A copy of the Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's biweekly Federal Register notice.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Kahtan N. Jabbour, Senior Project Manager, Section 2 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-260 and 50-296

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 287 to License No. DPR-52

2. Amendment No. 245 to License No. DPR-68

3. Safety Evaluation cc w/enclosures: See next page DISTRIBUTION: See attached list Package: ML033650164 TSPages: ML040020305, ML040020315 Accession Number: ML033650142 OFFICE PDII-2/PM PDII-2/IN PDII-2/LA SRXB/SC OGC PDII-2\SC NAME KJabbour CSydnor BClayton FAkstulewicz RWeisman MLMarshall for:

AHowe DATE 12/4/03 12/08/03 12/03/03 12/8/03 17 Dec 2003 12/19/03 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

DISTRIBUTION FOR BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 2 AND 3 ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS REGARDING CORE OPERATING LIMITS TAC NOS. MB8433 AND MB8434)

Dated: December 30, 2003 Distribution:

PUBLIC PDII-2 R/F EHackett KJabbour AHowe BClayton (Hard Copy)

CSydnor OGC ACRS GHill(4)

FAkstulewicz TBoyce THuang SCahill, RII

SCoffin,

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY DOCKET NO. 50-260 BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNIT 2 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 287 License No. DPR-52

1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:

A. The application for amendment by Tennessee Valley Authority (the licensee) dated April 14, 2003, as supplemented by letters dated September 5, 2003, and November 7, 2003, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commissions rules and regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; B. The facility will operate in conformity with the application, the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations of the Commission; C. There is reasonable assurance (i) that the activities authorized by this amendment can be conducted without endangering the health and safety of the public, and (ii) that such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commissions regulations; D. The issuance of this amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public; and E. The issuance of this amendment is in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51 of the Commissions regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.

2. Accordingly, the license is amended by changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment and paragraph 2.C.(2) of Facility Operating License No. DPR-52 is hereby amended to read as follows:

(2) Technical Specifications The Technical Specifications contained in Appendices A and B, as revised through Amendment No. 287, are hereby incorporated in the license. The licensee shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications.

3. This license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 60 days from the completion of Unit 2 spring 2005 refueling outage.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

Allen G. Howe, Chief, Section 2 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: December 30, 2003

ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 287 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-52 DOCKET NO. 50-260 Replace the following pages of the Appendix A Technical Specifications with the attached revised pages. The revised pages are identified by amendment number and contain marginal lines indicating the areas of change.

REMOVE INSERT 3.3-30 3.3-30 3.3-31 3.3-31 3.7-17 3.7-17 5.0-24 5.0-24

___ 5.0-24a

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY DOCKET NO. 50-296 BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNIT 3 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 245 License No. DPR-68

1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:

A. The application for amendment by Tennessee Valley Authority (the licensee) dated April 14, 2003, as supplemented by letters dated September 5, 2003, and November 7, 2003, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commissions rules and regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; B. The facility will operate in conformity with the application, the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations of the Commission; C. There is reasonable assurance (i) that the activities authorized by this amendment can be conducted without endangering the health and safety of the public, and (ii) that such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commissions regulations; D. The issuance of this amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public; and E. The issuance of this amendment is in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51 of the Commissions regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.

2. Accordingly, the license is amended by changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment and paragraph 2.C.(2) of Facility Operating License No. DPR-68 is hereby amended to read as follows:

(2) Technical Specifications The Technical Specifications contained in Appendices A and B, as revised through Amendment No. 245, are hereby incorporated in the license. The licensee shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications.

3. This license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 60 days from the completion of Unit 3 spring 2004 refueling outage.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

Allen G. Howe, Chief, Section 2 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: December 30, 2003

ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 245 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-68 DOCKET NO. 50-296 Replace the following pages of the Appendix A Technical Specifications with the attached revised pages. The revised pages are identified by amendment number and contain marginal lines indicating the areas of change.

REMOVE INSERT 3.3-30 3.3-30 3.3-31 3.3-31 3.7-17 3.7-17 5.0-24 5.0-24

____ 5.0-24a

SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 287 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-52 AND AMENDMENT NO. 245 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-68 TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 2 AND 3 DOCKET NOS. 50-260 AND 50-296

1.0 INTRODUCTION

By letter dated April 14, 2003, as supplemented by letters dated September 5, 2003, and November 7, 2003, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA or the licensee) submitted a request for changes to the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) Technical Specifications (TSs) for Units 2 and 3. The requested changes are, (1) to revise two Limiting Conditions for Operation (LCO) by adding LCO 3.3.4.1.c and LCO 3.7.5.c to LCO 3.3.4.1 and LCO 3.7.5, respectively, which require core thermal limits adjustments for inoperable equipment, and (2) to add references to Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power (FANP) analytical methods to Core Operating Limits Report (COLR) TS 5.6.5.b. TVAs supplemental letters provided clarifying information that did not expand the scope of the original application or change the initial proposed no significant hazards consideration determination.

2.0 EVALUATION 2.1 Regulatory Evaluation Section 182a of the Atomic Energy Act, as amended, requires applicants for nuclear power plant operating licenses to include TSs as part of the operating license. The content of the TSs is specified in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 50.36, "Technical Specifications." Traditionally, cycle-specific parameter limits have been listed in the plant TSs.

In an effort to avoid TS changes for every fuel reload cycle that results in changing cycle-specific parameter limits, licensees have relocated the cycle-specific core operating parameters from the TSs to the COLR. This is done in accordance with the guidelines of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Generic Letter (GL) 88-16, "Removal of Cycle-Specific Parameter Limits from Technical Specifications." GL 88-16 also provides that licensees identify, in the TS section titled "Reporting Requirements," the previously approved analytical methods used to determine the core operating limits by identifying the topical report number, title, and date (or identify by NRC letter and date the staffs safety evaluation for a plant-specific methodology).

Enclosure 3

2.2 Technical Evaluation 2.2.1 LCO 3.3.4.1 End-of-Cycle Recirculation Pump Trip (EOC-RPT) Instrumentation The licensee proposed to add LCO 3.3.4.1.c to LCO 3.3.4.1. The proposed change references additional core thermal limits adjustment factors for linear heat generation rate (LHGR) for equipment out-of-service (EOOS) to ensure that thermal margins are maintained.

The methods for calculating the additional core thermal limits adjustment factors have previously been reviewed and approved as part of the NRC staff review of the FANP reload methodologies. A minor revision to the EOOS LCO is now needed to account for the differences in applying the core limits adjustment factors because FANP will now perform the core design analysis, and transient and accident analysis services for BFN Units 2 and 3, where these analyses were previously performed by Global Nuclear Fuels. For FANP fuel, power-dependent corrections and flow-dependent corrections are applied as necessary to the LHGR limits, and no corrections are applied to the Average Planar LHGR limits. For this reason, for the subject LCOs, when using FANP analysis methods, it may be necessary to apply an LHGR adjustment if the EOC-RPT system instrumentation or main turbine bypass system is not operable. The proposed change to the TSs requires the licensee to implement the previously approved methods to make necessary adjustments for EOC-RPT instrumentation. Therefore, the staff finds that the proposed change is acceptable.

2.2.2 LCO 3.7.5 Main Turbine Bypass System The licensee proposed to add LCO 3.7.5c to LCO 3.7.5. The proposed change references additional core thermal limits adjustment factors for LHGR for EOOS to ensure that thermal margins are maintained.

The same basis as described above in Section 2.2.1 applies to this LCO. Specifically, the methods for calculating the additional core thermal limits adjustment factors have previously been reviewed and approved as part of the staff review of the FANP reload methodologies.

Therefore, the staff finds that the proposed change is acceptable.

2.2.3 TS 5.6.5.b COLR The licensee proposed to add 16 additional NRC approved FANP topical reports, provided in Reference 1, to the list of approved analytical methods in this TS.

The staff has reviewed the justification for the proposed revision and the applicability of each proposed approved topical report to BFN Units 2 and 3 TS 5.6.5.a. Based on this review, the staff has determined that the proposed TS revision is acceptable because: (1) the transition to FANP fuel will necessarily involve appropriate adjustments to core operating limits for the two EOOS TSs stated above, and (2) these 16 topical reports to be used to determine core thermal limits have been previously reviewed and approved by the NRC, and are applicable to BFN Units 2 and 3 and the fuel proposed for use there.

2.2.4 Summary The staff concludes that the proposed revisions to LCO 3.3.4.1, LCO 3.7.5, and TS 5.6.5.b are acceptable for the BFN Units 2 and 3 TSs.

3.0 STATE CONSULTATION

In accordance with the Commissions regulations, the Alabama State official was notified of the proposed issuance of the amendments. The State official had no comments.

4.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION

The amendments change a requirement with respect to installation or use of a facility component located within the restricted area as defined in 10 CFR Part 20. The NRC staff has determined that the amendments involve no significant increase in the amounts, and no significant change in the types, of any effluents that may be released offsite, and that there is no significant increase in individual or cumulative occupational radiation exposure. The Commission has previously issued a proposed finding that the amendments involve no significant hazards consideration, and there has been no public comment on such finding (68 FR 28858). Accordingly, the amendments meet the eligibility criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(9). Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b) no environmental impact statement or environmental assessment need be prepared in connection with the issuance of the amendments.

5.0 CONCLUSION

The Commission has concluded, based on the considerations discussed above, that: (1) there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered by operation in the proposed manner, (2) such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commissions regulations, and (3) the issuance of the amendments will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.

6.0 REFERENCES

1. Letter from T. E. Abney to USNRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2 and 3 -

Technical Specifications (TS) Change 425 - Framatome Fuel - Core Operating Limits Report (COLR) References, TVA-BFN-TS-425, April 14, 2003.

2. Letter from T. E. Abney to USNRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2 and 3 -

Technical Specifications (TS) Change 425 - Framatome Fuel - Core Operating Limits Report (COLR) References - Response to Request for Additional Information (RAI) and TS Mark-up Correlation (TAC Nos. MB8433, MB8434), TVA-BFN-TS-425, September 5, 2003.

3. Letter from T. E. Abney to USNRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2 and 3 -

Technical Specifications (TS) Change 425 - Framatome Fuel - Core Operating Limits Report (COLR) References - Response to Request for Additional Information (RAI)

(TAC Nos. MB8433, MB8434), TVA-BFN-TS-425, November 7, 2003.

Principal Contributor: Tai Huang Date: December 30, 2003

Mr. J. A. Scalice BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT Tennessee Valley Authority cc:

Mr. Karl W. Singer, Senior Vice President Mr. Mark J. Burzynski, Manager Nuclear Operations Nuclear Licensing Tennessee Valley Authority Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 4X Blue Ridge 1101 Market Street 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Mr. James E. Maddox, Vice President Mr. Timothy E. Abney, Manager Engineering & Technical Services Licensing and Industry Affairs Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant 6A Lookout Place Tennessee Valley Authority 1101 Market Street P.O. Box 2000 Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Decatur, AL 35609 Mr. Ashok S. Bhatnagar, Site Vice President Senior Resident Inspector Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant P.O. Box 2000 10833 Shaw Road Decatur, AL 35609 Athens, AL 35611 General Counsel State Health Officer Tennessee Valley Authority Alabama Dept. of Public Health ET 11A RSA Tower - Administration 400 West Summit Hill Drive Suite 1552 Knoxville, TN 37902 P.O. Box 303017 Montgomery, AL 36130-3017 Mr. Michael J. Fecht, Acting General Manager Nuclear Assurance Chairman Tennessee Valley Authority Limestone County Commission 6A Lookout Place 310 West Washington Street 1101 Market Street Athens, AL 35611 Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Mr. Michael D. Skaggs, Plant Manager Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, AL 35609