ML062830333
| ML062830333 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Hope Creek  |
| Issue date: | 10/31/2006 |
| From: | Stewart Bailey NRC/NRR/ADRO/DORL/LPLI-2 |
| To: | Levis W Public Service Enterprise Group |
| Bailey S N,NRR/DLPM,415-1321 | |
| References | |
| TAC MD8624 | |
| Download: ML062830333 (10) | |
Text
October 31, 2006 Mr. William Levis Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer PSEG Nuclear LLC - N09 Post Office Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038
SUBJECT:
HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: CLARIFICATION OF REQUIREMENTS DURING HANDLING OF IRRADIATED FUEL, CORE ALTERATIONS, AND OPERATIONS WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR DRAINING THE REACTOR VESSEL (TAC NO. MC8624)
Dear Mr. Levis:
The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 170 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-57 for the Hope Creek Generating Station. This amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated October 7, 2005, as supplemented by letter dated September 8, 2006. The amendment revises the TSs to clarify certain requirements during fuel movement, core alterations, and operations with the potential for draining the reactor vessel. The amendment makes the TSs better aligned with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved Revision 2 to Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF)
Traveler TSTF-51, Revise Containment Requirements During Handling Irradiated Fuel and Core Alterations, and NUREG-1433, Standard Technical Specifications General Electric Plants, BWR [boiling water reactor]/4.
A copy of our Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commissions biweekly Federal Register notice.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Stewart N. Bailey, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-354
Enclosures:
- 1. Amendment No. 170 to License No. NPF-57
- 2. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page
October 31, 2006 Mr. William Levis Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer PSEG Nuclear LLC - N09 Post Office Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038
SUBJECT:
HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: CLARIFICATION OF REQUIREMENTS DURING HANDLING OF IRRADIATED FUEL, CORE ALTERATIONS, AND OPERATIONS WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR DRAINING THE REACTOR VESSEL (TAC NO. MC8624)
Dear Mr. Levis:
The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 170 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-57 for the Hope Creek Generating Station. This amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated October 7, 2005, as supplemented by letter dated September 8, 2006. The amendment revises the TSs to clarify certain requirements during fuel movement, core alterations, and operations with the potential for draining the reactor vessel. The amendment makes the TSs better aligned with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved Revision 2 to Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF)
Traveler TSTF-51, Revise Containment Requirements During Handling Irradiated Fuel and Core Alterations, and NUREG-1433, Standard Technical Specifications General Electric Plants, BWR [boiling water reactor]/4.
A copy of our Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commissions biweekly Federal Register notice.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Stewart N. Bailey, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-354
Enclosures:
- 1. Amendment No. 170 to License No. NPF-57
- 2. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page DISTRIBUTION:
RidsNrrDorlLplb RidsOgcRp RidsRgn1MailCenter PUBLIC RidsNrrPMSBailey RidsAcrsAcnwMailCenter RidsNrrDirsItsb GHill (2)
TClark LPL1-2 R/F RidsNrrLACRaynor Accession Nos.:
Amendment - ML062830333 Package - ML062830336 Tech Spec Pgs. - ML063070482 OFFICE LPL1-2/PM LPL1-2/LA OGC LPL1-2/BC NAME SBailey CRaynor SHammrick HChernoff DATE 10/30/06 10/31/06 10/27/06 10/31/06 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Hope Creek Generating Station cc:
Mr. Michael P. Gallagher Vice President - Eng/Tech Support PSEG Nuclear P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. Dennis Winchester Vice President - Nuclear Assessments PSEG Nuclear P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. George P. Barnes Site Vice President - Hope Creek PSEG Nuclear P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. George H. Gellrich Plant Support Manager PSEG Nuclear P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. Michael J. Massaro Plant Manager - Hope Creek PSEG Nuclear P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. Darin Benyak Director - Regulatory Assurance PSEG Nuclear - N21 P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Jeffrie J. Keenan, Esquire PSEG Nuclear - N21 P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Ms. R. A. Kankus Joint Owner Affairs Exelon Generation Company, LLC Nuclear Group Headquarters KSA1-E 200 Exelon Way Kennett Square, PA 19348 Lower Alloways Creek Township c/o Ms. Mary O. Henderson, Clerk Municipal Building, P.O. Box 157 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Dr. Jill Lipoti, Asst. Director Radiation Protection Programs NJ Department of Environmental Protection and Energy CN 415 Trenton, NJ 08625-0415 Mr. Brian Beam Board of Public Utilities 2 Gateway Center, Tenth Floor Newark, NJ 07102 Regional Administrator, Region I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406 Senior Resident Inspector Hope Creek Generating Station U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Drawer 0509 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038
PSEG NUCLEAR LLC DOCKET NO. 50-354 HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No.170 License No. NPF-57 1.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:
A.
The application for amendment filed by PSEG Nuclear LLC dated October 7, 2005, as supplemented by letter dated September 8, 2006, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commissions rules and 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 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 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-57 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. 170, and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B, are hereby incorporated into the license. PSEG Nuclear LLC 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.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
Harold K. Chernoff, Chief Plant Licensing Branch I-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Attachment:
Changes to the Facility Operating License and Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: October 31, 2006
ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 170 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-57 DOCKET NO. 50-354 Replace the following page of the Facility Operating License No. NPF-57 with the attached revised page as indicated. The revised page is identified by amendment number and contains marginal lines indicating the areas of change.
Remove Insert 3
3 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 3/4 6-51 3/4 6-51 3/4 6-52a 3/4 6-52a 3/4 7-4 3/4 7-4 3/4 8-11 3/4 8-11 3/4 8-17 3/4 8-17 3/4 8-23 3/4 8-23
SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 170 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-57 PSEG NUCLEAR LLC HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION DOCKET NO. 50-354
1.0 INTRODUCTION
By letter dated October 7, 2005, as supplemented by letter dated September 8, 2006, PSEG Nuclear LLC (PSEG, or the licensee) requested changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) for the Hope Creek Generating Station (Hope Creek). The proposed changes would clarify certain requirements during core alterations, fuel movement, and operations with the potential for draining the reactor vessel in order to make the Hope Creek TSs better aligned with Revision 2 to Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) Traveler TSTF-51, Revise Containment Requirements During Handling Irradiated Fuel and Core Alterations, and NUREG-1433, Standard Technical Specifications General Electric Plants, BWR [boiling water reactor]/4. Specifically, the licensee proposed the following changes:
(a) revise ACTION requirement b. of TS 3.6.5.3.1 and 3.6.5.3.2 to change or to and between the words containment and operations; (b) revise footnote
- to TS 3.7.1.2 to add recently between the words handling and irradiated; (c) revise ACTION requirement a. of TSs 3.8.1.2, 3.8.2.2, and 3.8.3.2 to add CORE ALTERATIONS between the words suspend and handling; and (d) revise ACTION requirement b. of TS 3.8.3.2 to add recently between the words of and irradiated.
The licensees September 8, 2006, supplement provided clarifying information that did not change the scope of the proposed amendment as described in the original notice of proposed action published in the Federal Register, and did not change the initial proposed no significant hazards consideration determination.
2.0 REGULATORY EVALUATION
In Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.36, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) established its regulatory requirements related to the content of TSs.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.36, TSs are required to include items in the following five specific categories: (1) safety limits, limiting safety system settings, and limiting control settings; (2) limiting conditions for operation; (3) surveillance requirements (SRs); (4) design features; and (5) administrative controls. The regulation does not specify the particular requirements to be included in a plants TSs.
In its Safety Evaluation (SE) for Amendment No. 146 to the Hope Creek facility operating license, the NRC staff approved, in part, 1) Hope Creeks use of an alternate source term (AST) in the re-analysis of the fuel handling accident (FHA), and 2) Hope Creeks adoption of TSTF-51. However, for Amendment No. 146, the licensee did not request complete implementation of the guidance contained in TSTF-51 and the standard technical specifications (STSs) related to certain TS requirements for FHA radiological consequence mitigation systems. Some of the inconsistencies were addressed by Amendment No. 156. The licensee proposed to correct the remaining inconsistencies with the present application.
3.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION
The NRC staff has previously accepted the licensees analyses of the radiological consequences for the design-basis FHA and the design-basis loss of coolant accident (LOCA) for Hope Creek, which were based on use of an AST, as documented in Amendment No. 146.
The changes proposed in the present application rely on the NRC staffs previous conclusion that these analyses are acceptable. The NRC staffs SE supporting Amendment No. 146 is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System under Accession No. ML030760293. In addition, the proposed changes are based on the guidance of TSTF-51 and the STSs.
3.1 Recently Irradiated Fuel The licensee proposed changes to TS 3.7.1.2, Service Water, and TS 3.8.3.2, Distribution -
Shutdown, to add recently before the phrase irradiated fuel. TSTF-51 made a generic change to the STSs to refer to irradiated fuel that has not sufficiently decayed to allow relaxation of system operability requirements as recently irradiated fuel.
For Hope Creek, recently irradiated fuel is defined as fuel that has decayed less than 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />.
When using 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> for the decay time in the design-basis FHA analysis, projected radiological consequences remain within the acceptance criteria of 10 CFR 50.67. This proposed change is consistent with TSTF-51 and the STSs and should have been included in the licensees previous proposal, approved in Amendment No. 146, to modify these TS applicability and action statements. The change is supported by the design-basis analyses and is, therefore, acceptable.
3.2 Suspension of Fuel Handling and Operations with a Potential for Draining the Reactor Vessel (OPDRVs)
The licensee proposed changes to filtration, recirculation, and ventilation system (FRVS)
TS 3.6.5.3.1, FRVS Ventilation Subsystem, to clarify in requirement b. that both OPDRVs and handling of recently irradiated fuel in the secondary containment must be suspended when both FRVS ventilation units are inoperable in Operational Condition *, and TS 3.6.5.3.2, FRVS Recirculation Subsystem, to clarify in requirement b. that both OPDRVs and handling of recently irradiated fuel in the secondary containment must be suspended when three or more required recirculation units are inoperable.
The FRVS is designed to clean contaminated air recirculated through the reactor building and process containment air before it is released to the environment. In Operational Conditions 1, 2, and 3, a LOCA could lead to a fission product release to primary containment that leaks to secondary containment. Hence, TSs require FRVS operability in these operational conditions.
In Operational Conditions 4 and 5, however, the probability and consequences of a LOCA are reduced because of TS limitations on reactor coolant system pressure and temperature, and because the reactor is shut down. Therefore, FRVS operability is not required in Operational Conditions 4 and 5 except during specific activities (defined as Operational Condition *) for which significant releases of radioactive material can be postulated, namely OPDRVs and movement of recently irradiated fuel assemblies in secondary containment. Requiring FRVS system operability during these conditions will ensure that radiological exposures in excess of regulatory limits are not received in the event of an FHA or vessel draindown event.
The proposed revision clarifies that both activities must be suspended, not one or the other, when the FRVS subsystems are inoperable. The revision would make requirement b. of both TSs consistent with requirement a.2 of the same TSs, as well as with TSTF-51 and the STSs.
Therefore, the change is acceptable.
3.3 Suspension of CORE ALTERATIONS Additionally, the licensee proposed to add a requirement to electrical power distribution system TS 3.8.1.2, A.C. Sources - Shutdown, TS 3.8.2.2, D.C. Sources - Shutdown, and TS 3.8.3.2, Distribution - Shutdown, to suspend CORE ALTERATIONS when fewer than the required number of channels of the required AC power sources, DC power sources, or electrical distribution system are available. This change is consistent with TSTF-51 and the STSs.
Specifically, STS 3.8.2, AC Sources - Shutdown; 3.8.5, DC Sources - Shutdown; and 3.8.10, Distribution Systems - Shutdown, all require suspension of core alterations, handling of recently irradiated fuel, and OPDRVs when the required number of channels are not available.
The proposed change is more restrictive than the current TS action requirements and is acceptable.
3.4 Relationship to TSTF-51 and STS When implementing TSTF-51, licensees commit to following the guidelines in Revision 3 of NUMARC 93-01, Section 11, Assessment of Risk Resulting from Performance of Maintenance Activities. This guidance states, in part, that when licensees are conducting maintenance that involves the need for an open containment, they should evaluate the ability to close the containment in time to mitigate potential fission product releases. The guidance goes on to state that licensees should develop a method to close containment penetrations promptly in order to enable ventilation systems to draw any release from an FHA in such a way that it can be treated and monitored.
In its letter dated January 18, 2003 (supporting Amendment No. 146), PSEG stated that it would follow the guidelines in Section 11 of NUMARC 93-01, Revision 3, at Hope Creek during refueling inside containment. Based on the licensees commitment to NUMARC 93-01, the consistency of the proposed changes with TSTF-51, and the reasons described above, the NRC staff finds that the proposed TS changes are not adverse to operational safety at Hope Creek, in all operational conditions including during movement of recently irradiated fuel assemblies in secondary containment and during OPDRVs.
4.0 STATE CONSULTATION
In accordance with the Commissions regulations, the New Jersey State Official was notified of the proposed issuance of the amendment. As stated in a letter dated January 6, 2006, the State official had no comments.
5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION
The amendment changes a requirement with respect to installation or use of a facility component located within the restricted area as defined in 10 CFR Part 20. 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 (71 FR 27002). 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 Contributors: T. Clark Date: October 31, 2006