ML041960602

Amendment, Extending the Inspection Interval for Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheels

ML041960602
Person / Time
Site:	Callaway
Issue date:	07/12/2004
From:	Donohew J NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD4
To:	Randolph G Union Electric Co
Donohew J N, NRR/DLPM,415-1307
Shared Package
ML041970095	List: ML041960602 ML041970580
References
TAC MC2697
Download: ML041960602 (11)

Text

July 12, 2004 Mr. Garry L. Randolph Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Union Electric Company Post Office Box 620 Fulton, MO 65251

SUBJECT:

CALLAWAY PLANT, UNIT 1 - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: EXTENDING THE INSPECTION INTERVAL FOR REACTOR COOLANT PUMP FLYWHEELS (TAC NO. MC2697)

Dear Mr. Randolph:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 163 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-30 for the Callaway Plant, Unit 1. The amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated April 8, 2004 (ULNRC-04975).

The amendment revises TS 5.5.7, "Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheel Inspection Program," to increase the inspection interval from 10 years to 20 years.

A copy of the related Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. The Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commissions next biweekly Federal Register notice.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Jack Donohew, Senior Project Manager, Section 2 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-483

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 163 to NPF-30

2. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page

July 12, 2004 Mr. Garry L. Randolph Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Union Electric Company Post Office Box 620 Fulton, MO 65251

SUBJECT:

CALLAWAY PLANT, UNIT 1 - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: EXTENDING THE INSPECTION INTERVAL FOR REACTOR COOLANT PUMP FLYWHEELS (TAC NO. MC2697)

Dear Mr. Randolph:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 163 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-30 for the Callaway Plant, Unit 1. The amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated April 8, 2004 (ULNRC-04975).

The amendment revises TS 5.5.7, "Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheel Inspection Program," to increase the inspection interval from 10 years to 20 years.

A copy of the related Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. The Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commissions next biweekly Federal Register notice.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Jack Donohew, Senior Project Manager, Section 2 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-483 DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC GHill (2)

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 163 to NPF-30 PDIV-2 Reading TBoyce

2. Safety Evaluation RidsNrrDlpmPdiv (HBerkow)

RidsNrrPMJDonohew cc w/encls: See next page RidsNrrLaEPeyton RidsOgcRp RidsACRSACNWMailCenter RidsRegion4MailCenter (D. Graves)

TS: ML041970580 NRR-100 PKG: ML041970095 ACCESSION NO.: ML041960602 NRR--058 OFFICE CLIIP LPM PDIV-2/PM PDIV-2/LA OGC PDIV-2/SC NAME WReckley JDonohew EPeyton RHoefling SDembek DATE 5/21/04 6/8/04 6/8/04 6/24/04 6/28/04 DOCUMENT NAME: C:\ORPCheckout\FileNET\ML041960602.wpd OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

Callaway Plant, Unit 1 cc:

Professional Nuclear Consulting, Inc. Mr. Rick A. Muench 19041 Raines Drive President and Chief Executive Officer Derwood, MD 20855 Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation P.O. Box 411 John ONeill, Esq. Burlington, KA 66839 Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge 2300 N. Street, N.W. Mr. Dan I. Bolef, President Washington, D.C. 20037 Kay Drey, Representative Board of Directors Coalition for the Mr. Mark A. Reidmeyer, Regional Environment Regulatory Affairs Supervisor 6267 Delmar Boulevard Regulatory Affairs University City, MO 63130 AmerenUE P.O. Box 620 Mr. Lee Fritz, Presiding Commissioner Fulton, MO 65251 Callaway County Court House 10 East Fifth Street U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Fulton, MO 65151 Resident Inspector Office 8201 NRC Road Mr. David E. Shafer Steedman, MO 65077-1302 Superintendent, Licensing Regulatory Affairs Mr. Chris Younie AmerenUE Manager, Quality Assurance P.O. Box 66149, MC 470 AmerenUE St. Louis, MO 63166-6149 P.O. Box 620 Fulton, MO 65251 Mr. Keith D. Young Manager, Regulatory Affairs Manager - Electric Department AmerenUE Missouri Public Service Commission P.O. Box 620 301 W. High Fulton, MO 65251 P.O. Box 360 Jefferson City, MO 65102 Mr. Scott Clardy, Director Section for Environmental Public Health Regional Administrator, Region IV P.O. Box 570 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Jefferson City, MO 65102-0570 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011-4005 Certrec Corporation 4200 South Hulen, Suite 630 Mr. Ronald A. Kucera Fort Worth, TX 76109 Deputy Director for Public Policy Department of Natural Resources P.O. Box 176 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102

UNION ELECTRIC COMPANY CALLAWAY PLANT, UNIT 1 DOCKET NO. 50-483 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 163 License No. NPF-30

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

A. The application for amendment by Union Electric Company (UE, the licensee) dated April 8, 2004, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act) and the Commissions 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. NPF-30 is hereby amended to read as follows:

(2) Technical Specifications and Environmental Protection Plan The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 163 and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B, are hereby incorporated in the license. The licensee shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications and the Environmental Protection Plan.

3. This amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 90 days of the date of issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

Stephen Dembek, Chief, Section 2 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: July 12, 2004

ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 163 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-30 DOCKET NO. 50-483 Replace the following page of the Appendix A Technical Specifications with the attached page.

The revised page is identified by amendment number and contains marginal lines indicating the areas of change.

REMOVE INSERT 5.0-9 5.0-9

SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 163 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-30 UNION ELECTRIC COMPANY CALLAWAY PLANT, UNIT 1 DOCKET NO. 50-483

1.0 INTRODUCTION

By application dated April 8, 2004, Union Electric Company (the licensee) requested changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs, Appendix A to Facility Operating License No. NPF-30) for the Callaway Plant, Unit 1 (Callaway).

The proposed changes would extend the reactor coolant pump (RCP) motor flywheel examination frequency from the currently approved 10-year inspection interval to an interval not to exceed 20 years. These changes are based on Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) change traveler TSTF-421 (Revision 0) that has been approved generically for the Westinghouse Standard Technical Specifications (STS), NUREG-1431. Plant TSs based on the STS in NUREG-1431 were issued to Callaway in Amendment No. 133 dated May 28, 1999.

The licensee also stated in its application that the TS changes in TSTF-421 (Revision 0) applied to Callaway.

A notice announcing the availability of this proposed TS change using the consolidated line item improvement process (CLIIP) was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2003 (68 FR 60422).

2.0 REGULATORY EVALUATION

The function of the RCP in the reactor coolant system (RCS) of a pressurized water reactor plant is to maintain an adequate cooling flow rate by circulating a large volume of primary coolant water at high temperature and pressure through the RCS. Following an assumed loss of power to the RCP motor, the flywheel, in conjunction with the impeller and motor assembly, provides sufficient rotational inertia to assure adequate primary coolant flow during RCP coastdown, thus resulting in adequate core cooling. A concern regarding the overspeed of the RCP and its potential for failure led to the issuance of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.14, "Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheel Integrity," Revision 1, dated August 1975. RG 1.14 describes a method acceptable to the NRC staff of addressing concerns related to RCP vibration and the possible effects of missiles that might result from the failure of the RCP flywheel. The need to protect components important to safety from such missiles is in General Design Criterion 4, "Environmental and Dynamic Effects Design Basis," of Appendix A, "General Design Criteria for

Nuclear Power Plants," to 10 CFR Part 50, "Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,"

which is applicable to plants that obtained their construction permits after May 21, 1971.

Specific requirements to have an RCP flywheel inspection program consistent with RG 1.14 or previously issued relaxations from the RG are included in the Administrative Controls Section of the TSs. The purpose of the testing and inspection programs defined in the TSs is to ensure that the probability of a flywheel failure is sufficiently small such that additional safety features are not needed to protect against a flywheel failure. The RG provides criteria in terms of critical speeds that could result in the failure of an RCP flywheel during normal or accident conditions.

In addition to the guidance in RG 1.14, the NRC has more recently issued RG 1.174, "An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis," which provides guidance and criteria for evaluating proposed changes that use risk-informed justifications.

A proposed justification for extending the RCP flywheel inspections from a 10-year inspection interval to an interval not to exceed 20 years was provided by the Westinghouse Owners Group (WOG) in Topical Report (TR) WCAP-15666, "Extension of Reactor Coolant Pump Motor Flywheel Examination," transmitted by letter dated August 24, 2001. The TR addressed the proposed extension for all domestic WOG plants. The NRC accepted the TR for referencing in license applications in a letter and safety evaluation dated May 5, 2003 (ADAMS Accession No. ML031250595).

3.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION

TS 5.5.7, "Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheel Inspection Program," reflects the licensees previous adoption of a TS change that defined the allowable alternative to the inspections described in RG 1.14. The inspections are defined as in-place ultrasonic examination over the volume from the inner bore of the flywheel to the circle of one-half the outer radius or an alternative surface examination (magnetic particle testing [MT] and/or liquid penetrant testing

[PT]) of exposed surfaces of the removed flywheel. The allowable interval for these inspections was extended in the previous amendment to "once every ten years coinciding with the inservice inspection schedule as required by ASME [American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code,] Section XI." The change proposed in this amendment application would revise the allowable inspection interval to "20 year intervals."

The justification for the proposed change was provided in WCAP-15666, which the staff accepted for referencing in license applications by a letter and safety evaluation dated May 5, 2003. The TR addresses the three critical speeds defined in RG 1.14: (a) the critical speed for ductile failure, (b) the critical speed for non-ductile failure, and (c) the critical speed for excessive deformation of the flywheel. The staff found that the TR adequately addressed these issues and demonstrated that acceptance criteria, for normal and accident conditions defined in RG 1.14, would continue to be met for all domestic WOG plants following an extension of the inspection interval. The TR also provided a risk assessment for extending the RCP flywheel inspection interval. The staffs review, documented in the safety evaluation for the TR, determined that the analysis methods and risk estimates are acceptable when compared to the guidance in RG 1.174.

In conclusion, the staff finds that the regulatory positions in RG 1.14 concerning the three critical speeds are satisfied, and that the evaluation indicating that critical crack sizes are not expected to be attained during a 20-year inspection interval is reasonable and acceptable. The potential for failure of the RCP flywheel is, and will continue to be, negligible during normal and accident conditions. The change is therefore acceptable.

4.0 STATE CONSULTATION

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

5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION

The amendment changes a requirement with respect to the installation or use of a facility component located within the restricted area as defined in 10 CFR Part 20 and changes surveillance requirements. The NRC staff has determined that the amendment involves 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 amendment involves no significant hazards consideration and there has been no public comment on such finding (69 FR 26193; May 11, 2004). Accordingly, the amendment meets 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 amendment.

6.0 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 amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.

Principal Contributor: W. Reckley Date: July 12, 2004.