ML060870274
Text
March 28, 2006 Holders of Licenses for Pressurized-Water Reactors Listed in Enclosure
SUBJECT:
ALTERNATIVE APPROACH FOR RESPONDING TO THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION LETTER RE: GENERIC LETTER 2004-02 (TAC NOS. SEE ENCLOSURE)
As you are aware, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has reviewed pressurized-water reactor (PWR) licensees responses to Generic Letter (GL) 2004-02, Potential Impact of Debris Blockage on Emergency Recirculation during Design Basis Accidents at Pressurized-Water Reactors. As a result of these reviews, the NRC staff identified the need for additional information on several issues related to sump performance. In February of this year, the NRC staff provided a request for additional information (RAI) letter to individual licensees to support the staffs disposition and eventual closure of Generic Safety Issue (GSI)-191, which concerns PWR sump performance. The NRC staff requested in its correspondence that licensees respond and provide the requested information within 60 days.
By letter to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) dated March 3, 2006 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML060650335), the NRC staff agreed to an alternative approach and timetable that licensees may use to address the subject matter of the RAIs. The NRC staff agreed to this alternative approach because it is consistent with the NRCs emphasis on early installation of modifications to address GSI-191. In addition, the NRC staff recognized that much of the information needed to address the RAI letter will not be available until ongoing testing activities are completed in the future.
The agreed alternative to the 60-day response is that for units completing their outage to incorporate strainer modifications in 2006 or earlier, information needed to fully address GL 2004-02 will be provided to the NRC by December 31, 2006. For units installing strainers after 2006, information needed to fully address GL 2004-02 will be provided to the NRC within 90 days of outage completion but not later than December 31, 2007. You may choose to use this alternative approach consistent with your strainer modification schedule, or you may choose to submit a response to the RAI letter as originally requested. The NRC staff encourages you to provide the information needed to fully address the GL at the earliest feasible date in order to provide for early resolution of any issues with the responses.
Licensees who provide information later may find greater difficulty in reconciling any concerns the NRC staff may have with the strainer modification plans, including the potential for additional plant modifications.
Should you choose to provide a supplement to your GL 2004-02 response in lieu of directly responding to the RAI letter, your supplemental response should (1) update the information previously provided to the NRC, (2) describe the evaluation methodology that was used to address GSI-191 concerns, (3) provide evaluation results, and (4) address plant-specific details requested in the RAI letter. The supplemental response should fully address the issues identified in the RAI letter. The NRC staff will review your supplement or RAI responses and determine whether adequate information to support issue closure has been provided. Should that be the case, the NRC staff will consider the RAI letter to have been satisfactorily addressed. If additional information is still needed, the NRC staff will request it at that time.
If you request a license amendment in support of your sump modification(s), you will need to provide sufficient information for the NRC staff to determine the acceptability of the proposed amendment. Also, those licensees chosen for NRC audits of adequacy of the design bases for modifications to address GSI-191 may need to provide additional information to support the audits. Such information may be of the same nature as that requested in the GL 2004-02 RAIs.
The NRCs March 3, 2006, letter to NEI provides a list of current high-level NRC issues in several technical areas related to sump performance. While the NRC staff will be interacting with the industry to address these issues (and others) generically, licensees will need to address them for their plant-specific conditions as discussed in GL 2004-02.
If you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact your Project Manager or Mr. Jon Hopkins at (301) 415-3027.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Catherine Haney, Director Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. See Enclosure cc: Plant Mailing Lists (See ADAMS No. ML060860257)
- ML060810028 (Draft); ML060870274 (Final)
OFFICE PSPB/BC*
LPLI-2/LA DSS:D NRR/DORL:D NAME RGramm CRaynor TMartin CHaney DATE 03/22/06 03/27/06 03/27/06 03/28/06
Enclosure Docket and License Numbers Licensees of Pressurized-Water Reactors Entergy Operations, Inc.
Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-313 & 50-368 License Nos. DPR-51 & NPF-6 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-334 & 50-412 License Nos. DPR-66 & NPF-73 Exelon Generation Company, LLC AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-456 & 50-457 License Nos. NPF-72 & NPF-77 Exelon Generation Company, LLC AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Byron Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-454 & 50-455 License Nos. NPF-37 & NPF-66 Union Electric Company Callaway Plant, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-483 License No. NPF-30 Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc.
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-317 & 50-318 License Nos. DPR-53 & DPR-69 Duke Energy Corporation Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-413 & 50-414 License Nos. NPF-35 & NPF-52 TXU Generation Company, LP Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-445 & 50-446 License Nos. NPF-87 & NPF-89 Florida Power Corporation Crystal River Nuclear Generating Plant, Unit 3 Docket No. 50-302 License No. DPR-72 Indiana Michigan Power Company Nuclear Generation Group Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-315 & 50-316 License Nos. DPR-58 & DPR-74 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Docket No. 50-346 License No. NPF-3 Pacific Gas and Electric Company Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-275 & 50-323 License Nos. DPR-80 & DPR-82 Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-348 & 50-364 License Nos. NPF-2 & NPF-8 Omaha Public Power District Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-285 License No. DPR-40 R. E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC Docket No. 50-244 License No. DPR-18 Carolina Power & Light Company Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-400 License No. NPF-63 Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3 Docket Nos. 50-247 & 50-286 License Nos. DPR-26 & DPR-64 Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc.
Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant Docket No. 50-305 License No. DPR-43 Duke Energy Corporation William B. McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-369 & 50-370 License Nos. NPF-9 & NPF-17 Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.
Millstone Power Station, Units 2 and 3 Docket Nos. 50-336 & 50-423 License Nos. DPR-65 & NPF-49 Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.
Virginia Electric and Power Company North Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-338 & 50-339 License Nos. NPF-4 & NPF-7 Duke Energy Corporation Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3 Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, & 50-287 License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, & DPR-55 Nuclear Management Company, LLC Palisades Nuclear Plant Docket No. 50-255 License No.DPR-20 Arizona Public Service Company Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2 and 3 Docket Nos. 50-528, 50-529 & 50-530 License Nos. NPF-41, NPF-51 & NPF-74 Nuclear Management Company, LLC Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-266 & 50-301 License Nos. DPR-24 & DPR-27 Nuclear Management Company, LLC Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-282 & 50-306 License Nos. DPR-42 & DPR-60 Progress Energy H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2 Docket No. 50-261 License No. DPR-23 Florida Power and Light Company St. Lucie, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-335 & 50-389 License Nos. DPR-67 & NPF-16 PSEG Nuclear LLC-X15 Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-272 & 50-311 License Nos. DPR-70 & DPR-75 Southern California Edison Company San Onofre Nuclear Station, Units 2 and 3 Docket Nos. 50-361 & 50-362 License Nos. NPF-10 & NPF-15 FPL Energy Seabrook Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-443 License No. NPF-86 Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Tennessee Valley Authority Docket Nos. 50-327 and 50-328 License Nos. DPR-77 and DPR-79 South Texas Nuclear Operating Company South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-498 & 50-499 License Nos. NPF-76 & NPF-80 South Carolina Electric and Gas Company Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Docket No. 50-395 License No. NPF-12 Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.
Virginia Electric and Power Company Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-280 & 50-281 License Nos. DPR-32 & DPR-37 Innsbrook Technical Center Exelon Generation Company, LLC AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-289 License No. DPR-50 Florida Power and Light Company Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station, Units 3 and 4 Docket Nos. 50-250 & 50-251 License Nos. DPR-31 & DPR-41 Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-424 & 50-425 License Nos. NPF-68 & NPF-81 Entergy Operations, Inc.
Waterford Steam Electric Generating Station, Unit 3 Docket No. 50-382 License No. NPF-38 Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 1 Tennessee Valley Authority Docket No. 50-390 License No. NPF-90 Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-482 License No. NPF-42