ML050880481
| ML050880481 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 03/18/2005 |
| From: | Dworkin M State of VT, Public Service Board |
| To: | Diaz N NRC/Chairman |
| References | |
| CRC NO: 05-0164, G20050217, LTR-05-0164 | |
| Download: ML050880481 (6) | |
Text
EDO Principal Correspondence Control FROM:
DUE: 04/08/05 EDO CONTROL: G20050217 DOC DT: 03/18/05 FINAL REPLY:
Michael H. Dworkin David C. Coen John D. Burke Public Service Board (PSB)
State of Vermont Chairman Diaz FOR SIGNATURE OF :
PRI CRC NO: 05-0164 Chairman DESC:
ROUTING:
Request for a Meeting to Discuss Independent Engineering Assessment of Vermont Yankee Extended Power Uprate Reyes Virgilio Kane Merschoff Silber Dean Burns/Cyr Collins, RI DATE: 03/29/05 ASSIGNED TO:
NRR CONTACT:
Dyer SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS OR REMARKS:
Coordinate with Region I.
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL TICKET Date Printed: Mar 29, 2005 10:19 PAPER NUMBER:
ACTION OFFICE:
LTR-05-0164 EDO LOGGING DATE: 03t28/2005 AUTHOR:
AFFILIATION:
ADDRESSEE:
SUBJECT:
ACTION:
DISTRIBUTION:
LETTER DATE:
ACKNOWLEDGED SPECIAL HANDLING:
Mr. Michael Dworkin VT CHRM Nils Diaz Concerns request for a meeting to discuss independent engineering assessment of Vermont Yankee Tech. Spec. proposed change no. 263, extended power uprate Signature of Chairman RF, SECY to Ack.
03/18/2005 No Commission Correspondence Immediate release via SECY/EDO/DPC NOTES:
FILE LOCATION:
ADAMS DATE DUE:
04/12/2005 DATE SIGNED:
EDO -- G2005021li
112 State Street ITY/TDD (VT): 1-800-734-8390 Drawer 20 Fax: (802) 828-3351 Montpelier, VT 05620-2701 4
E-Mail: clerklpsb.state.vtus Tel.: (802) 828-2358 Internet: http://www.state.vt.us/psb State of Vermont Public Service Board March 18, 2005 Mr. Nils J. Diaz, Chairman United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852 ATTN: Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555
Subject:
Vermont Public Service Board Request for a Meeting to Discuss Independent Engineering Assessment of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station License No. DPR -28 (Docket 50-271)
Technical Specification Proposed Change No. 263 Extended Power Uprate
Dear Chairman Diaz:
We are writing in order to let you know that we found the June 2004, visit by representatives of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC") very helpful, and that we would greatly appreciate your assistance in helping us conduct a similar meeting.
As we indicated in our letter to you dated March 15, 2004, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. ("Entergy"), is seeking approvals from both the NRC and the Vermont Public Service Board ("Board") in regard to a proposed 20 percent power uprate at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station ("Vermont Yankee"). We also noted that in your February 20, 2004, letter to Michael Kansler, President of Entergy, your staff has determined that Vermont Yankee's extended power uprate ("uprate") application is now acceptable for review, and that your review is expected to be completed over the next 12 months.1 As part of its necessary State approvals, Entergy has also submitted a request to the Board for a Certificate of Public Good permitting Vermont Yankee to increase electrical
- 1. Letter to Michael Kansler, President, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (TAC No. MC0761).
generation by up to 20 percent. In determining whether Entergy should receive a Certificate of Public Good, the Board must consider several statutory criteria, including economic impacts upon the people of Vermont.
Because the Board must make a determination regarding the reliability effects of the proposed uprate upon Vermont Yankee's expected output, in our March 15, 2004, letter to you, we asked that the NRC augment its scheduled review of Vermont Yankee, and that the assessment contain the following features:
It would be independent in the same sense as the independent safety assessment of Maine Yankee, i.e., it should be performed by experts "independent of any recent or significant regulatory oversig!:
responsibility" related to Vermont Yankee.2 The assessment would be a vertical slice review of two safety-related systems and two Maintenance Rule, non-safety systems affected by the uprate. The level of effort necessary for this work has been described to us in testimony as requiring about four experts for about four weeks.3 This will provide a valuable check of the reliability of the systems that are reviewed and allow for correction of any problems.
The independent engineering assessment should (as we believe is expected) be reviewed by the ACRS in the context of their evaluation of the power uprate.4 We made this request of the NRC because the record presented in our proceeding strongly suggested that an uprate of the magnitude proposed here had resulted in reliability issues at other plants and that the NRC's assessment of such potential reliability issues at Vermont Yankee would be of extraordinarily high value.
It is our understanding that the NRC has, in large part, completed its review. However, we note from your December 2, 2004, letter to Jay K. Thayer, Site Vice President at Vermont Yankee regarding NRC Inspection Report 05000271/2004008, that some of the NRC's:
specific findings included topics that were within the scope of the NRC's power uprate review, and thus, will require the submittal of additional information to the NRC's technical staff to support that review.
- 2. Id.
- 3. Lochbaum pf. 12/18/03 at 8-9; tr. 1/13/04 at 110-111 (Lochbaum).
- 4. Letter from the Vermont Public Service Board to Chairman Nils J. Diaz, March 15, 2004.
In order to better understand the findings made by the NRC in its review of Vermont Yankee's uprate, and also the status of the NRC's review of that petition, the Board respectfully requests a meeting with the NRC. Our Department of Public Service has taken the same position, and recently suggested that we "ask the NRC to come to Vermont for another conference in this docket similar to the one that occurred on June 28, 2004."5 We thus propose a conference among the parties of Board Docket 6812 and representatives of the NRC similar to that which we held in June of 2004. The purpose of the conference is to allow the NRC representatives to describe further the engineering assessment that the NRC conducted for the proposed power uprate of Vermont Yankee and the significance of, and schedule for resolution of, any currently "open" issues. In addition, we would appreciate hearing the NRC's expected schedule for review by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.
As was the case with the June 2004, meeting between the NRC's representatives and the Parties in the Board's investigation, the conference is intended solely to provide information to the Board and the parties, and would not be part of the evidentiary record in this Docket.
Participants would neither be under oath nor subject to cross-examination.
Thank you very much for your consideration of this matter. We would welcome a response at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely, Vermont Public Service Board NUhe.D fk D-avid C. Coen-J~nD. Burke Cc:
Mr. Ledyard B. Marsh, Director Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop O-8E1A Washington, DC 20555-0001
- 5. Letter from the Vermont Department of Public Service to the Vermont Public Service Board, January 12, 2005, at 7-8.
Cc:
Mr. Richard B. Ennis, Project Manager Licensing Project Directorate I Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop 0-8B-1 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Parties in PSB Docket 6812 Congressman Patrick Leahy Congressman James Jeffords Congressman Bernard Saunders Governor James Douglas