ML063480136

Summary of the License Renewal Telephone Conference Call and Meeting Held Between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute License Renewal Task Force

ML063480136
Person / Time
Site:	Wolf Creek, PROJ0690
Issue date:	12/27/2006
From:	Hoffman S NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/RLRB
To:
Hoffman, S T, NRR, 415-3245
References
Download: ML063480136 (7)

Text

January 12, 2007

• REVISED*

ORGANIZATION: Nuclear Energy Institute

SUMMARY

OF THE LICENSE RENEWAL TELEPHONE CONFERENCE CALL AND MEETING HELD BETWEEN THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF AND THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE LICENSE RENEWAL TASK FORCE The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)

License Renewal Task Force held a public telephone conference call and meeting on November 28, 2006, to discuss generic license renewal topics, lessons learned from the audit process, and license renewal process improvements. Enclosure 1 provides a listing of the conference call participants. Enclosure 2 contains the agenda for the conference call. A summary of the discussions follows:

1.

New issues under development:

No new issues were identified.

2. Wolf Creek Generating Station (Wolf Creek) acceptance review lessons learned:

NEI requested feedback regarding the Wolf Creek license renewal application (LRA) acceptance review (specifically, why NRC staff could not accept the application until supplemental information to the environmental report (ER) was provided). The issue is one that affects plants, such as Wolf Creek, utilizing once-through cooling or cooling pond heat dissipation systems. To satisfy NRC's acceptance criteria for a LRA, the applicant must provide a copy of their current Clean Water Act (CWA) 316(b) determination or equivalent state permits and supporting documentation. Alternatively, the ER must contain an assessment of the impact of the proposed action on fish and shellfish resulting from heat shock, impingement and entrainment as defined by Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 51.53(c)(3)(ii)(B). Wolf Creek's ER did not provide either a copy of a current CWA 316(b) determination or equivalent state permits and supporting documentation; nor did it include an assessment of impacts of continued operation on aquatic species.

Because the State of Kansas had not issued Wolf Creek a CWA 316(b) determination or an equivalent permit, and the applicant had not provided an assessment in its ER, the staff could not accept the application until an assessment was provided in a supplement to the ER. Once the applicant provided a supplement to the ER on November 17, 2006, which contained the assessment of the impacts on the fish, the staff was able to complete its acceptance review and accept the LRA for docketing.

3. Lessons learned from recent safety review audits:

The NRC staff summarized observations from the last aging management program audit it performed. The staff noted that the amount of information in the application was below average but consistent with the last two applications submitted. Because of timing, it is possible that there was insufficient time to incorporate the lessons learned from the last two applications into the submittal. The audit team found that the basis documents used references to other documents rather than incorporating all of the information needed for the staff to perform its review. This approach reduces the efficiency of the audit process.

Although the audit questions were sent to the applicant two weeks before the audit, as per plan, the NRC staff noted that the site personnel were also supporting an outage and not available in all cases to prepare for the audit. It is extremely important for applicants with scheduled outages during the review that they consider the availability of site personnel to support both the outage and prepare for the audit when scheduling the audit. Support for the audit improved significantly later in the audit week with a large number of questions either closed or accepted. However, a review of the question database by the NRC audit branch chief revealed that a number of the questions were incorrectly classified. The NRC staff is in the process of improving its closeout classification criteria which will be consistently applied for all future audits. The staff will also ensure that the applicant has received complete feedback on staff lessons learned before the periodic public conference call wtih NEI.

4. Public participation:

No members of the public chose to participate in the meeting.

/RA/

Stephen T. Hoffman, Senior Project Manager License Renewal Branch B Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Project No. 690

Enclosures:

As stated cc w/encls: See next page

ML063480136 DOCUMENT NAME:C:\\MyFiles\\Copies\\Mtg Summary 11-28-2006.wpd OFFICE LA:DLR PM:RLRB:DLR BC:REBB:DLR BC:RLRC:DLR BC:RLRB:DLR NAME IKing SHoffman RFranovich KChang RAuluck DATE 01/10/07 01/11/07 01/11/07 01/11/07 01/12/07

List of Participants for the Telephone Conference Call and Meeting Held Between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute November 28, 2006 PARTICIPANTS AFFILIATIONS Pao-Tsin (P. T.) Kuo U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Rajender Auluck NRC Louise Lund NRC Kenneth Chang NRC Stephen Hoffman NRC Eric Benner NRC Rani Franovich NRC Michael Masnik NRC Noel Dudley NRC Chris Jacobs NRC Harriet Nash NRC Robert Schaaf NRC Jessie Muir NRC Samuel Hernandez NRC James Ross Entergy Nuclear Inc. (Entergy)

Steve Dort Beaver Valley John Thomas Beaver Valley Garry Young Entergy Alan Cox Entergy Eric Blocher Strategic Teaming and Resource Sharing Chalmer Myer Southern Nuclear Company Fred Polaski Exelon Al Fulvio Exelon Gene Eckholt Prairie Island Ken Albright Prairie Island Rich Gallagher Dominion Paul Aiken Dominion Bob Vincent Palisades Mike Detamore PPL Susquehanna Mike Heath Progress Energy Chris Mallner Progress Energy Mike Fletcher Progress Energy Lori Bell Wolf Creek Generating Station Mike Fallin Constellation Bob Sanderson Constellation Ken Brune TVA Ed Krantz Scientech John Cudworth Tetra Tech/NUS Richard Pinney New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Deann Raleigh Scientech Nancy chapman Bechtel ENCLOSURE 1

Teleconference Agenda Between the U.S. NRC Staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute November 28, 2006 Topic Lead 1.

New issues NRC/NEI 2.

Wolf Creek acceptance review lessons learned NRC 3.

Lessons learned from recent safety review audits NRC/NEI 4.

Public participation All ENCLOSURE 2

NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE Project No. 690 cc:

Ms. Christine S. Salembier, Commissioner State Liaison Officer Department of Public Service 112 State St., Drawer 20 Montipelier, VT 05620-2601 Mr. James Ross Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I St., NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006-3708 Mr. Frederick W. Polaski Manager License Renewal Exelon Corporation 200 Exelon Way Kennett Square, PA 19348 Mr. Clifford I. Custer Project Manager, License Renewal FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 4 Route 168 (Mail Stop SIM-2)

Shippingport, PA 15077 Mr. David Lochbaum Union of Concerned Scientists 1707 H St., NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 2006-3919 Mr. Paul Gunter, Director Reactor Watchdog Project Nuclear Information & Resource Service 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340 Takoma Park, MD 20912 Mr. Hugh Jackson Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy &

Environment Program 215 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003 Mary Olson Nuclear Information & Resource Service Southeast Office P.O. Box 7586 Asheville, NC 28802 Mr. Garry G. Young Manager, License Renewal Services 1448 SR 333, N-GSB-45 Russellville, AR 72802 Robert A. Vincent Licensing Lead - License Renewal Project Palisades Nuclear Plant 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway Covert, MI 49043 Lorrie Bell, Project Manager Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation P.O. Box 411 Burlington, KS 66839 Roger Stewart Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.

3581 West Entrance Road RNP A9 Hartsville, SC 29550 Michael H. Crowthers, Supervisor Nuclear Regulatory Affairs PPL Susquehanna, LLC Two North Ninth Street (GENPL4)

Allentown, PA 18101-1179

Note to Nuclear Energy Institute, from Stephen Hoffman, dated January 12, 2007

SUMMARY

OF THE LICENSE RENEWAL TELEPHONE CONFERENCE CALL AND MEETING HELD BETWEEN THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF AND THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE LICENSE RENEWAL TASK FORCE DISTRIBUTION:

HARD COPY DLR R/F E-MAIL:

RWeisman GGalletti DShum SSmith (srs3)

SDuraiswamy RidsNrrDlr RidsNrrDlrRlra RidsNrrDlrRlrb RidsNrrDlrRlrc RidsNrrDlrReba RidsNrrDlrRebb RidsNrrDci RidsNrrDra RidsNrrDe RidsNrrDeEemb RidsNrrDeEeeb RidsNrrDeEqvb RidsNrrDss RidsOgcMailCenter RidsNrrAdes CJulian MModes LKozak