ML051590130

Issuance of License Amendments 118 and 118 Regarding Extending the Inspection Interval for Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheels

ML051590130
Person / Time
Site:	Comanche Peak
Issue date:	06/10/2005
From:	Thadani M NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD4
To:	Blevins M TXU Power
Thadani M, NRR/DLPM, 415-1476
Shared Package
ML051640580	List: ML051590130 ML051650170
References
TAC MC4910, TAC MC4911
Download: ML051590130 (11)

Text

June 10, 2005 Mr. M. R. Blevins Senior Vice President

& Chief Nuclear Officer TXU Power ATTN: Regulatory Affairs P. O. Box 1002 Glen Rose, TX 76043

SUBJECT:

COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION (CPSES), UNITS 1 AND 2 -

ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS RE: EXTENDING THE INSPECTION INTERVAL FOR REACTOR COOLANT PUMP FLYWHEELS (TAC NOS. MC4910 AND MC4911)

Dear Mr. Blevins:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 118 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-87 and Amendment No. 118 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-89 for CPSES, Units 1 and 2, respectively. The amendments consist of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated September 30, 2004.

The amendments revise TS 5.5.7, "Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheel Inspection Program," to extend the inspection interval from 10 years to 20 years. A notice of availability for this TS improvement using the Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2003 (68 FR 60422).

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

Sincerely,

/RA/

Mohan C. Thadani, Senior Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-445 and 50-446

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 118 to NPF-87

2. Amendment No. 118 to NPF-89

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

Mr. M. R. Blevins June 10, 2005 Senior Vice President

& Chief Nuclear Officer TXU Power ATTN: Regulatory Affairs P. O. Box 1002 Glen Rose, TX 76043

SUBJECT:

COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION (CPSES), UNITS 1 AND 2 -

ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS RE: EXTENDING THE INSPECTION INTERVAL FOR REACTOR COOLANT PUMP FLYWHEELS (TAC NOS. MC4910 AND MC4911)

Dear Mr. Blevins:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 118 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-87 and Amendment No. 118 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-89 for CPSES, Units 1 and 2, respectively. The amendments consist of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated September 30, 2004.

The amendments revise TS 5.5.7, "Reactor Coolant Pump Flywheel Inspection Program," to extend the inspection interval from 10 years to 20 years. A notice of availability for this TS improvement using the Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2003 (68 FR 60422).

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

Sincerely,

/RA/

Mohan C. Thadani, Senior Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-445 and 50-446

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 118 to NPF-87

2. Amendment No. 118 to NPF-89

3. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC PDIV-1 Reading RidsNrrDlpmLpdiv (HBerkow)

RidsNrrDlpmLpdiv1 (DTerao) RidsNrrPMMThadani RidsNrrLADBaxley RidsOgcRp RidsAcrsAcnwMailCenter GHill(4)

RidsNrrDipmIrob (TBoyce) RidsRgn4MailCenter RidsNrrDlpmDpr Accession No.:ML051590130 (Ltr.)

OFFICE CLIIP LPM PDIV-1/PM PDIV-1/LA PDIV-1/SC NAME WReckley MThadani DBaxley DTerao DATE 5/20/05 6/9/05 6/9/05 6/9/05 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

TXU GENERATION COMPANY LP COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT NO. 1 DOCKET NO. 50-445 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No.118 License No. NPF-87

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

A. The application for amendment by TXU Generation Company LP dated September 30, 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 set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; B. The facility will operate in conformity with the application, as amended, 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; D. The issuance of this license 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 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-87 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. 118, and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B, are hereby incorporated into this license. TXU Generation Company LP shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications and the Environmental Protection Plan.

3. The license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 60 days from the date of issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

David Terao, Chief, Section 1 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: June 10, 2005

TXU GENERATION COMPANY LP COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT NO. 2 DOCKET NO. 50-446 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 118 License No. NPF-89

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

A. The application for amendment by TXU Generation Company LP dated September 30, 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 set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; B. The facility will operate in conformity with the application, as amended, 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; D. The issuance of this license 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 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-89 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. 118, and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B, are hereby incorporated into this license. TXU Generation Company LP shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications and the Environmental Protection Plan.

3. This license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 60 days from the date of issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

David Terao, Chief, Section 1 Project Directorate IV Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: June 10, 2005

ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 118 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-87 AND AMENDMENT NO. 118 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-89 DOCKET NOS. 50-445 AND 50-446 Replace the following page of the Appendix A Technical Specifications with the attached revised page. The revised page is identified by amendment number and contains marginal lines indicating the areas of change.

Remove Insert 5.0-11 5.0-11

SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 118 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-87 AND AMENDMENT NO. 118 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-89 TXU GENERATION COMPANY LP COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 DOCKET NOS. 50-445 AND 50-446

1.0 INTRODUCTION

By application dated September 30, 2004 (Agencywide Documents and Access Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML042820152), TXU Generation Company LP (the licensee),

requested changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) for Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station (CPSES), Units 1 and 2 .

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 TS Task Force (TSTF) change traveler TSTF-421 (Revision 0) that has been approved generically for the Westinghouse Standard Technical Specifications (STS), NUREG-1431. 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 are included in General Design Criterion 4, "Environmental and Dynamic Effects Design Bases," of Appendix A, "General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants," to 10 CFR Part 50, "Domestic 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 a 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 licensee's 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 defined by the volume of the disassembled flywheel. The allowable interval for these inspections was extended in the previous amendment to "approximately 10 year intervals 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 from current 10 year interval to "20 year intervals."

The justification for the proposed change was provided in TR 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 staff's review, documented in the SE 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 Commission's regulations, the Texas 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 (70 FR 9998; March 1, 2005). 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 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: June 10, 2005

Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station cc:

Senior Resident Inspector Mr. Brian Almon U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Utility Commission P. O. Box 2159 William B. Travis Building Glen Rose, TX 76403-2159 P. O. Box 13326 1701 North Congress Avenue Regional Administrator, Region IV Austin, TX 78701-3326 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Ms. Susan M. Jablonski Arlington, TX 76011 Office of Permitting, Remediation and Registration Mr. Fred W. Madden, Director Texas Commission on Environmental Regulatory Affairs Quality TXU Generation Company LP MC-122 P. O. Box 1002 P. O. Box 13087 Glen Rose, TX 76043 Austin, TX 78711-3087 George L. Edgar, Esq. Terry Parks, Chief Inspector Morgan Lewis Texas Department of Licensing 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW and Regulation Washington, DC 20004 Boiler Program P. O. Box 12157 County Judge Austin, TX 78711 P. O. Box 851 Glen Rose, TX 76043 Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Director Office of the Governor P. O. Box 12428 Austin, TX 78711-3189 Mr. Richard A. Ratliff, Chief Bureau of Radiation Control Texas Department of Health 1100 West 49th Street Austin, TX 78756-3189 December 2004