ML050390082
| ML050390082 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Oconee  |
| Issue date: | 04/04/2005 |
| From: | Olshan L NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD2 |
| To: | Rosalyn Jones Duke Energy Corp |
| Olshan L N, NRR/DLPM, 415-1419 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML051010304 | List: |
| References | |
| TAC MC4447, TAC MC4448, TAC MC4449 | |
| Download: ML050390082 (14) | |
Text
April 4, 2005 Mr. Ronald A. Jones Vice President, Oconee Site Duke Energy Corporation 7800 Rochester Highway Seneca, SC 29672
SUBJECT:
OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNITS 1, 2 AND 3 - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS ELIMINATING REQUIREMENTS FOR HYDROGEN MONITORS USING THE CONSOLIDATED LINE ITEM IMPROVEMENT PROCESS (TAC NOS. MC4447, MC4448, AND MC4449)
Dear Mr. Jones:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment Nos. 344, 346, and 345 to Renewed Facility Operating Licenses DPR-38, DPR-47, and DPR-55, respectively, for the Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3. The amendments consist of changes to the Technical Specifications (TS) in response to your application dated September 20, 2004 (ADAMS Accession No. ML042790461).
These amendments revise the TSs by eliminating the requirements associated with hydrogen monitors. The changes support the implementation of a revision to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.44, "Combustible gas control for nuclear power reactors." A notice of availability for this TS improvement using the consolidated line item improvement process was published in the Federal Register on September 25, 2003 (68 FR 55416).
A copy of the related Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. A Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's biweekly Federal Register notice.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Leonard N. Olshan, Sr. Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, and 50-287
Enclosures:
- 1. Amendment No. 344 to DPR-38
- 2. Amendment No. 346 to DPR-47
- 3. Amendment No. 345 to DPR-55
- 4. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page
These amendments revise the TSs by eliminating the requirements associated with hydrogen monitors. The changes support the implementation of a revision to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.44, "Combustible gas control for nuclear power reactors." A notice of availability for this TS improvement using the consolidated line item improvement process was published in the Federal Register on September 25, 2003 (68 FR 55416).
A copy of the related Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. A Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's biweekly Federal Register notice.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Leonard N. Olshan, Sr. Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, and 50-287
Enclosures:
- 1. Amendment No. 344 to DPR-38
- 2. Amendment No. 346 to DPR-47
- 3. Amendment No. 345 to DPR-55
- 4. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page DISTRIBUTION: See next page Package Number: ML Tech Spec:
ADAMS Accession No.: ML050390082 NRR-058 OFFICE PDIV-1/PE PDIV-1/PM PDII-1/PM PDII-1/LA PDII-1/SC NAME MThorpe- WReckley LOlshan CHawes JNakoski Kavanaugh DATE 01/10/05 02/04/05 03/07/05 03/08/05 03/24/05
SUBJECT:
OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNITS 1, 2 AND 3 - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS ELIMINATING REQUIREMENTS FOR HYDROGEN MONITORS USING THE CONSOLIDATED LINE ITEM IMPROVEMENT PROCESS (TAC NOS. MC4447, MC4448, AND MC4449)
Date: April 4, 2005 DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC PDII-1 R/F RidsNrrDlpmLpdii (EHackett)
RidsNrrDLpmLpdii1 (JNakoski)
RidsNrrPMLOlshan CHawes (Hard Copy)
RidsOgcRp RidsAcrsAcnwMailCenter GHill (6 Hard Copies)
TBoyce RidsRgn2MailCenter (MErnstes)
RidsNrrDlpmDpr MThorpe-Kavanaugh WReckley LOlshan RMartin
DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION DOCKET NO. 50-269 OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 1 AMENDMENT TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 344 Renewed License No. DPR-38
- 1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:
A. The application for amendment to the Oconee Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (the facility) Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-38 filed by the Duke Energy Corporation (the licensee) dated September 20, 2004, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations as 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 Commission's regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; 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 Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
- 2. Accordingly, the license is hereby amended by page changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment, and Paragraph 3.B of Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-38 is hereby amended to read as follows:
B. Technical Specifications The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 344, 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 after completion of the Spring 2005 refueling outage for Unit 1.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
John A. Nakoski, Chief, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Attachment:
Technical Specification Changes Date of Issuance: April 4, 2005
DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION DOCKET NO. 50-270 OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 2 AMENDMENT TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 346 Renewed License No. DPR-47
- 1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:
A. The application for amendment to the Oconee Nuclear Station, Unit 2 (the facility) Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-47 filed by the Duke Energy Corporation (the licensee) dated September 20, 2004, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations as 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 Commission's regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; 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 Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
- 2. Accordingly, the license is hereby amended by page changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment, and Paragraph 3.B of Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-47 is hereby amended to read as follows:
B. Technical Specifications The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 346, 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 after completion of the Spring 2005 refueling outage for Unit 1.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
John A. Nakoski, Chief, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Attachment:
Technical Specification Changes Date of Issuance: April 4, 2005
DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION DOCKET NO. 50-287 OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 3 AMENDMENT TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 345 Renewed License No. DPR-55
- 1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:
A. The application for amendment to the Oconee Nuclear Station, Unit 3 (the facility) Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-55 filed by the Duke Energy Corporation (the licensee) dated September 20, 2004, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations as 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 Commission's regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; 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 Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
- 2. Accordingly, the license is hereby amended by page changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment, and Paragraph 3.B of Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-55 is hereby amended to read as follows:
B. Technical Specifications The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 345, 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 after completion of the Spring 2005 refueling outage for Unit 1.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
John A. Nakoski, Chief, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Attachment:
Technical Specification Changes Date of Issuance: April 4, 2005
ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 344 RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-38 DOCKET NO. 50-269 AND TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 346 RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-47 DOCKET NO. 50-270 AND TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 345 RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-55 DOCKET NO. 50-287 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 3.3.8-2 3.3.8-2 3.3.8-3 3.3.8-3 3.3.8-4 3.3.8-4 3.3.8-5 3.3.8-5
SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 344 TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE DPR-38 AMENDMENT NO. 346 TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE DPR-47 AND AMENDMENT NO. 345 TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE DPR-55 DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNITS 1, 2, AND 3 DOCKET NOS. 50-269, 50-270, AND 50-287
1.0 INTRODUCTION
By letter dated September 20, 2004 (ADAMS Accession No. ML042790461) Duke Energy Corporation (the licensee) submitted a request for changes to the Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, Technical Specifications (TS). The proposed changes would delete the TS requirements associated with hydrogen monitors.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has revised 10 CFR 50.44, Combustible gas control for nuclear power reactors. The amended standards eliminated the requirements for hydrogen recombiners and relaxed the requirements for hydrogen and oxygen monitoring. In letters dated December 17, 2002, and May 12, 2003, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) proposed to remove requirements for hydrogen recombiners and hydrogen and oxygen monitors from the standard technical specifications (STS) (NUREGs 1430 - 1434) on behalf of the industry to incorporate the amended standards.
This proposed change is designated TSTF-447.
The NRC staff prepared a model Safety Evaluation (SE) for the elimination of requirements regarding containment hydrogen recombiners and the removal of requirements from TSs for containment hydrogen and oxygen monitors and solicited public comment (67 FR 50374, published August 2, 2002) in accordance with the Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process (CLIIP). The use of the CLIIP in this matter is intended to help the NRC to efficiently process amendments that propose to remove the hydrogen recombiner and hydrogen and oxygen monitor requirements from TSs. Licensees of nuclear power reactors to which this model applies were informed (68 FR 55416; September 25, 2003) that they could request amendments conforming to the model, and, in such requests, should confirm the applicability of the SE to their reactors and provide the requested plant-specific verifications and commitments.
2.0 BACKGROUND
Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-06, Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process for Adopting Standard Technical Specification Changes for Power Reactors, was issued on March 20, 2000. The CLIIP is intended to improve the efficiency of NRC licensing processes.
This is accomplished by processing proposed changes to the STS in a manner that supports subsequent license amendment applications. The CLIIP includes an opportunity for the public to comment on proposed changes to the STS following a preliminary assessment by the NRC staff and finding that the change will likely be offered for adoption by licensees. The NRC staff evaluates any comments received for a proposed change to the STS and either reconsiders the change or proceeds with announcing the availability of the change for proposed adoption by licensees. Those licensees opting to apply for the subject change to TSs are responsible for reviewing the NRC staff's evaluation, referencing the applicable technical justifications, and providing any necessary plant-specific information. Each amendment application made in response to the notice of availability would be processed and noticed in accordance with applicable rules and NRC procedures.
The Commissions regulatory requirements related to the content of TSs are set forth in 10 CFR 50.36. This regulation requires that the TSs include items in five specific categories. These categories include 1) safety limits, limiting safety system settings and limiting control settings,
- 2) limiting conditions for operation (LCO), 3) surveillance requirements, 4) design features, and
- 5) administrative controls. However, the regulation does not specify the particular TSs to be included in a plants license.
Additionally, 10 CFR 50.36(c)(2)(ii) sets forth four criteria to be used in determining whether an LCO is required to be included in the TS. These criteria are as follows:
- 1. Installed instrumentation that is used to detect, and indicate in the control room, a significant abnormal degradation of the reactor coolant pressure boundary.
- 2. A process variable, design feature, or operating restriction that is an initial condition of a design-basis accident or transient analysis that assumes either the failure of or presents a challenge to the integrity of a fission product barrier.
- 3. A structure, system, or component that is part of the primary success path and which functions or actuates to mitigate a design-basis accident or transient that either assumes the failure of or presents a challenge to the integrity of a fission product barrier.
- 4. A structure, system or component which operating experience or probabilistic risk assessment has shown to be significant to public health and safety.
Existing LCOs and related surveillances included as TS requirements that satisfy any of the criteria stated above must be retained in the TSs. Those TS requirements that do not satisfy these criteria may be relocated to other licensee-controlled documents.
As part of the rulemaking that revised 10 CFR 50.44, the Commission retained requirements for ensuring a mixed atmosphere, inerting Mark I and II containments, and providing hydrogen control systems capable of accommodating an amount of hydrogen generated from a metal-water reaction involving 75 percent of the fuel cladding surrounding the active fuel region in Mark III and ice condenser containments. The Commission eliminated the design-basis loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) hydrogen release from 10 CFR 50.44 and consolidated the requirements for hydrogen and oxygen monitoring to 10 CFR 50.44 while relaxing safety classifications and licensee commitments to certain design and qualification criteria. The Commission also relocated without change the hydrogen control requirements in 10 CFR 50.34(f) to 10 CFR 50.44 and the high point vent requirements from 10 CFR 50.44 to 10 CFR 50.46a.
3.0 EVALUATION The ways in which the requirements and recommendations for combustible gas control were incorporated into the licensing bases of commercial nuclear power plants varied as a function of when plants were licensed. Plants that were operating at the time of the Three Mile Island (TMI), Unit 2 accident are likely to have been the subject of confirmatory orders that imposed the combustible gas control functions described in NUREG-0737, Clarification of TMI Action Plan Requirements, as obligations. The issuance of plant-specific amendments to adopt these changes, which would remove hydrogen recombiner and hydrogen and oxygen monitoring controls from TSs, supersede the combustible gas control specific requirements imposed by post-TMI confirmatory orders.
3.1 Hydrogen Monitoring Equipment Section 50.44(b)(1), the STS, and plant-specific TSs currently contain requirements for monitoring hydrogen. Licensees have also made commitments to design and qualification criteria for hydrogen monitors in Item II.F.1, Attachment 6 of NUREG-0737 and Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.97, Instrumentation for Light-Water-Cooled Nuclear Power Plants to Assess Plant and Environs Conditions During and Following an Accident. The hydrogen monitors are required to assess the degree of core damage during a beyond design-basis accident and confirm that random or deliberate ignition has taken place. If an explosive mixture that could threaten containment integrity exists during a beyond design-basis accident, then other severe accident management strategies, such as purging and/or venting, would need to be considered.
The hydrogen monitors are needed to implement these severe accident management strategies.
With the elimination of the design-basis LOCA hydrogen release, hydrogen monitors are no longer required to mitigate design-basis accidents and, therefore, the hydrogen monitors do not meet the definition of a safety-related component as defined in 10 CFR 50.2. RG 1.97 recommends classifying the hydrogen monitors as Category 1. Category 1 in RG 1.97 is intended for key variables that most directly indicate the accomplishment of a safety function for design-basis accident events and, therefore, are items usually addressed within the TSs. As part of the rulemaking to revise 10 CFR 50.44, the Commission found that the hydrogen monitors no longer meet the definition of Category 1 in RG 1.97. The Commission concluded that Category 3, as defined in RG 1.97, is an appropriate categorization for the hydrogen monitors because the monitors are required to diagnose the course of beyond design-basis accidents. Hydrogen monitoring is not the primary means of indicating a significant abnormal
degradation of the reactor coolant pressure boundary. Section 4 of Attachment 2 to SECY-00-0198, Status Report on Study of Risk-Informed Changes to the Technical Requirements of 10 CFR Part 50 (Option 3) and Recommendations on Risk-Informed Changes to 10 CFR 50.44 (Combustible Gas Control), found that the hydrogen monitors were not risk-significant. Therefore, the NRC staff finds that hydrogen monitoring equipment requirements no longer meet any of the four criteria in 10 CFR 50.36(c)(2)(ii) for retention in TSs and, therefore, may be relocated to other licensee-controlled documents. However, because the monitors are required to diagnose the course of beyond design-basis accidents, each licensee should verify that it has, and make a regulatory commitment to maintain, a hydrogen monitoring system capable of diagnosing beyond design-basis accidents.
The elimination of Post-Accident Sampling System requirements from some plant-specific TSs (and associated CLIIP notices) indicated that during the early phases of an accident, safety-grade hydrogen monitors provide an adequate capability for monitoring containment hydrogen concentration. The NRC staff has subsequently concluded that Category 3 hydrogen monitors also provide an adequate capability for monitoring containment hydrogen concentration during the early phases of an accident.
4.0 VERIFICATIONS AND COMMITMENTS As requested by the NRC staff in the notice of availability for this TS improvement, the licensee has addressed the following plant-specific verifications and commitments.
4.1 Each licensee should verify that it has, and make a regulatory commitment to maintain, a hydrogen monitoring system capable of diagnosing beyond design-basis accidents.
The licensee has verified that it has a hydrogen monitoring system capable of diagnosing beyond design-basis accidents. The licensee has committed to maintain the hydrogen monitors within its Selected Licensee Commitments Manual. The licensee will implement this commitment within 60 days after completion of the Spring 2005 refueling outage for Unit 1.
The NRC staff finds that reasonable controls for the implementation and for subsequent evaluation of proposed changes pertaining to the above regulatory commitments are provided by the licensees administrative processes, including its commitment management program.
Should the licensee choose to incorporate a regulatory commitment into the emergency plan, final safety analysis report, or other document with established regulatory controls, the associated regulations would define the appropriate change-control and reporting requirements.
The NRC staff has determined that the commitments do not warrant the creation of regulatory requirements that would require prior NRC approval of subsequent changes. The NRC staff has agreed that NEI 99-04, Revision 0, Guidelines for Managing NRC Commitment Changes, provides reasonable guidance for the control of regulatory commitments made to the NRC staff.
(See Regulatory Issue Summary 2000-17, "Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Power Reactor Licensees to the NRC Staff," dated September 21, 2000.) The commitments should be controlled in accordance with the industry guidance or comparable criteria employed by a specific licensee. The NRC staff may choose to verify the implementation and maintenance of these commitments in a future inspection or audit.
5.0 STATE CONSULTATION
In accordance with the Commission's regulations, the South Carolina State official was notified of the proposed issuance of the amendments. The State official had no comments.
6.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION
The amendments change requirements with respect to installation or use of a facility component located within the restricted area as defined in 10 CFR Part 20 and change surveillance requirements. 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 (70 FR 5239). 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.
7.0 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 Commission's 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.
Principal Contributor: W. Reckley Date: April 4, 2005
Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3 cc:
Ms. Lisa F. Vaughn Ms. Karen E. Long Duke Energy Corporation Assistant Attorney General Mail Code - PB05E NC Department of Justice 422 S. Church St. P.O. Box 629 P.O. Box 1244 Raleigh, NC 27602 Charlotte, NC 28201-1244 Mr. R. L. Gill, Jr.
Ms. Anne W. Cottingham, Esq. Manager - Nuclear Regulatory Winston and Strawn Issues and Industry Affairs 1400 L St, NW Duke Energy Corporation Washington, DC 20005 526 S. Church St.
Mail Stop EC05P Manager, LIS Charlotte, NC 28202 NUS Corporation 2650 McCormick Dr., 3rd Floor Mr. Richard M. Fry, Director Clearwater, FL 34619-1035 Division of Radiation Protection NC Dept of Environment, Health, & Natural Senior Resident Inspector Resources U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 3825 Barrett Dr.
7812B Rochester Highway Raleigh, NC 27609-7721 Seneca, SC 29672 Mr. Peter R. Harden, IV Mr. Henry Porter, Director VP-Customer Relations and Sales Division of Radioactive Waste Management Westinghouse Electric Company Bureau of Land and Waste Management 6000 Fairview Road Dept. of Health and Env. Control 12th Floor 2600 Bull St. Charlotte, NC 28210 Columbia, SC 29201-1708 Mr. Henry Barron Mr. Michael A. Schoppman Group Vice President, Nuclear Generation Framatome ANP and Chief Nuclear Officer 1911 North Ft. Myer Dr. P.O. Box 1006-EC07H Suite 705 Charlotte, NC 28201-1006 Rosslyn, VA 22209 Mr. B. G. Davenport Regulatory Compliance Manager Oconee Nuclear Site Duke Energy Corporation ON03RC 7800 Rochester Highway Seneca, SC 29672