ML040570239
| ML040570239 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Kewaunee  |
| Issue date: | 03/04/2004 |
| From: | John Lamb NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD3 |
| To: | Coutu T Nuclear Management Co |
| References | |
| TAC MC1790 | |
| Download: ML040570239 (5) | |
Text
March 4, 2004 Mr. Thomas Coutu Site Vice President Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear Management Company, LLC N490 State Highway 42 Kewaunee, WI 54216
SUBJECT:
KEWAUNEE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT - REVIEW OF LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST NO. 201 TO TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS, EQUIPMENT HATCH AND CONTROL ROOM POST ACCIDENT RECIRCULATION SYSTEM (TAC NO. MC1790)
Dear Mr. Coutu:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff will not meet your requested August 27, 2004, date regarding the License Amendment Request No. 201 to the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) Technical Specifications (TS),
Equipment Hatch and Control Room Post Accident Recirculation System. Our reasons for this review schedule are discussed below.
Nuclear Management Company, LLC (NMC) submitted License Amendment Request No. 201 dated January 16, 2004, to revise the KNPP TS Equipment Hatch and Control Room Post Accident Recirculation System. You requested that the NRC complete its review by August 27, 2004, to support KNPPs Refueling Outage scheduled for October 2004.
The NRC staff will not be able to meet your requested August 27, 2004, date, due to its current workload in the containment and accident dose assessment area. The NRC staff projects that it will complete its review in October 2004, provided there are no technical concerns with your application.
Additionally, your planned schedule for performing a American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) consensus standard E741, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Change in a Single Zone by Means of a Tracer Gas Dilution may adversely impact our schedule for completing the review of your January 16, 2004 submittal. In your response dated November 5, 2003, to the NRCs Generic Letter (GL) 2003-01, Control Room Habitability dated June 12, 2003, you informed us of your plan to complete this test in December 2004.
This test will verify your current licensing basis of 200 cfm control room in-leakage. This information is necessary for the NRC staff to make a determination on the acceptability of your January 16, 2004 amendment request. Specifically, in our safety evaluation (SE) related to Amendment No. 166 on March 17, 2003, for implementing alternate source term (AST), the NRC staff stated:
The NRC staff is currently working toward a resolution of generic issues related to control room habitability, with particular focus on the validity of the control room unfiltered air in leakage rates that are commonly assumed in licensees analyses of control room habitability. The NRC staffs acceptance of the 200 cfm unfiltered air in leakage assumption in this license amendment does not preclude any future generic regulatory actions that may become applicable to KNPP.
T. Coutu This assessment may be used in subsequent amendments; however, any use of this assessment that involves a relaxation in requirements will require verification (in accordance with the aforementioned resolution of the generic issues related to control room habitability) that the unfiltered in leakage rate is within limits assumed in the AST assessment.
Thus, your plan to complete the ASTM E741 test is not consistent with your requested target date of August 27, 2004, for issuing the license amendment relating to Equipment Hatch and Control Room Post Accident Recirculation System.
It is also important to note in your January 16, 2004, application, you stated four precedents allowing the equipment hatch to be open during refueling operations and/or during movement of irradiated fuel assemblies within containment. These precedents were issued before GL 2003-01.
We hope this information will help you with your planning.
If you have any questions, you can contact me at (301) 415-1446.
Sincerely,
/RA/
John G. Lamb, Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate III Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-305 cc: See next page
T. Coutu This assessment may be used in subsequent amendments; however, any use of this assessment that involves a relaxation in requirements will require verification (in accordance with the aforementioned resolution of the generic issues related to control room habitability) that the unfiltered in leakage rate is within limits assumed in the AST assessment.
Thus, your plan to complete the ASTM E741 test is not consistent with your requested target date of August 27, 2004, for issuing the license amendment relating to Equipment Hatch and Control Room Post Accident Recirculation System.
It is also important to note in your January 16, 2004, application, you stated four precedents allowing the equipment hatch to be open during refueling operations and/or during movement of irradiated fuel assemblies within containment. These precedents were issued before GL 2003-01.
We hope this information will help you with your planning.
If you have any questions, you can contact me at (301) 415-1446.
Sincerely,
/RA/
John G. Lamb, Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate III Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-305 cc: See next page DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC PDIII-1 Reading THarris OGC ACRS LRaghavan JLamb GGrant, RIII PLouden RDennig MBlumberg HWalker ADAMS ACCESSION NO: ML040570239 OFFICE PDIII-1/PM PDIII-1/LA PDIII-1/SC NAME JLamb PCoates for THarris LRaghavan DATE 03/04/04 03/03/04 03/04/04 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant cc:
John Paul Cowan Executive Vice President &
Chief Nuclear Officer Nuclear Management Company, LLC 700 First Street Hudson, MI 54016 James McCarthy Plant Manager Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant N490 Highway 42 Kewaunee, WI 54216-9511 Gerry Riste Manager, Regulatory Affairs Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant N490 Highway 42 Kewaunee, WI 54216-9511 David Molzahn Nuclear Asset Manager Wisconsin Public Service Corporation 600 N. Adams Street Green Bay, WI 54307-9002 Thomas Webb Nuclear Asset Manager Wisconsin Public Service Corporation 600 N. Adams Street Green Bay, WI 54307-9002 Resident Inspectors Office U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission N490 Hwy 42 Kewaunee, WI 54216-9510 Regional Administrator Region III U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 801 Warrenville Road Lisle, IL 60532-4351 Jonathan Rogoff Vice President, Counsel & Secretary Nuclear Management Company, LLC 700 First Street Hudson, WI 54016 Larry L. Weyers Chairman, President and CEO Wisconsin Public Service Corporation 600 North Adams Street Greey Bay, WI 54307-9002 David Zellner Chairman - Town of Carlton N2164 County B Kewaunee, WI 54216 Mr. Jeffery Kitsembel Electric Division Public Service Commission of Wisconsin PO Box 7854 Madison, WI 53707-7854