ML072840058
| ML072840058 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07200009, Fort Saint Vrain  |
| Issue date: | 10/09/2007 |
| From: | Hall J NRC/NMSS/SFST/LID/LB |
| To: | Nader Mamish NRC/NMSS/SFST/LID |
| Shared Package | |
| ML072840040 | List: |
| References | |
| TAC L24124 | |
| Download: ML072840058 (6) | |
Text
October 9, 2007
MEMORANDUM TO: Nader Mamish, Deputy Director Licensing and Inspection Directorate Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
FROM: James R. Hall, Senior Project Manager /RA/ Licensing Branch Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE SEPTEMBER 27, 2007, MEETING WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - IDAHO OPERATIONS OFFICE TO DISCUSS FORT ST. VRAIN ISFSI LICENSE RENEWAL
On September 27, 2007, staff from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
=s (NRC) Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation (SFST) met with representatives from the Department of Energy - Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) to discuss the licensee
=s plans to submit a license renewal application for the Fort St. Vrain (FSV) independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). DOE-ID also discussed plans to submit a license amendment request related to requirements for periodic evaluations of natural gas pipeline construction in the vicinity of the ISFSI.
Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) was the licensee and operator of the FSV High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR), which operated from 1974 until 1989, when it was permanently shut down. In order to proceed with reactor decommissioning, in November 1991, PSCo obtained a 10 CFR Part 72 site-specific license from the NRC for the FSV ISFSI. PSCo constructed the ISFSI, transferred 1464 HTGR uranium-thorium graphite fuel elements to the facility, completed reactor dec ommissioning, and termi nated the reactor licens
- e. In June 1999, the FSV ISFSI license was officially transferred from PSCo to DOE-ID.
The FSV ISFSI uses the Modular Vault Dry Store system developed by Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation. Currently, there are a total of 244 Fuel Storage Containers, each holding six fuel elements. Since some fuel elements, reflector elements, and neutron sources were shipped off-site in the early 1990s, the facility has some unused capacity; however the lic ense restricts storage to only FSV fuel elements and associated radioactive materials related to the receipt, storage, and transfer of FSV fuel elements, so no additional material is expected to be stored there.
The FSV ISFSI license will expire in November 2011, and DOE-ID plans to apply for renewal of the license, as there are no feasible alternatives for storage of the FSV spent fuel in the near future. DOE-ID noted that they were familiar with the previous NRC licensing actions and related guidance regarding the license renewals for the Surry and H.B. Robinson ISFSIs. They will also seek an exemption to request a renewal term longer than the 20-year term specified in 10 CFR 72.42, based on an existing agreement between DOE and the State of Colorado that calls for DOE to ship all FSV spent fuel out of the state by 2035. DOE-ID intends to submit the renewal request by the 3 rd quarter of 2009.
N. Mamish
The NRC staff recommended that DOE-ID continue to follow the staff's actions on potential rule changes affecting 10 CFR Part 72 license terms, the development of further review guidance for ISFSI license renewals, and any near-term ISFSI renewal requests. The staff also suggested that DOE-ID should be cognizant of recent additions to staff review guidance for ISFSIs; specifically, the Interim Staff Guidance documents used by the Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, which are publicly available on the NRC website.
DOE-ID staff then discussed their planned license amendment request to revise the existing FSV ISFSI Technical Specification (TS) 5.5.3, "Natural Gas and Oil Monitoring Program." Fort St. Vrain has been modified to a gas-fired plant with the addition of 3 gas turbines. The ISFSI TS requirement was adopted to ensure that any potential hazards introduced with additions to or rerouting of the gas pipeline infrastructure would be properly evaluated for any possible impacts on the safe storage of spent fuel in the ISFSI. DOE-ID is proposing to use a new methodology for performing these evaluations, which they believe is an improvement over the existing method developed many years ago by PSCo. According to DOE-ID, the new method would be easier to use, would better reflect the as-built configuration of the current infrastructure, and would incorporate more representative modeling assumptions. DOE-ID expects to submit the license amendment request by mid-2008.
No regulatory decisions were requested nor made at the meeting. A list of meeting attendees is provided as Enclosure 1. The slides presented by DOE-ID, addressing license renewal and the proposed license amendment, are provided as Enclosures 2 and 3, respectively.
Docket No. 72-09 TAC No. L24124
Enclosures:
- 1. Meeting Attendees 2. DOE-ID Slides on license renewal
- 3. DOE-ID Slides on proposed amendment N. Mamish
The NRC staff recommended that DOE-ID continue to follow the staff's actions on potential rule changes affecting 10 CFR Part 72 license terms, the development of further review guidance for ISFSI license renewals, and any near-term ISFSI renewal requests. The staff also suggested that DOE-ID should be cognizant of recent additions to staff review guidance for ISFSIs; specifically, the Interim Staff Guidance documents used by the Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, which are publicly available on the NRC website.
DOE-ID staff then discussed their planned license amendment request to revise the existing FSV ISFSI Technical Specification (TS) 5.5.3, "Natural Gas and Oil Monitoring Program." Fort St. Vrain has been modified to a gas-fired plant with the addition of 3 gas turbines. The ISFSI TS requirement was adopted to ensure that any potential hazards introduced with additions to or rerouting of the gas pipeline infrastructure would be properly evaluated for any possible impacts on the safe storage of spent fuel in the ISFSI. DOE-ID is proposing to use a new methodology for performing these evaluations, which they believe is an improvement over the existing method developed many years ago by PSCo. According to DOE-ID, the new method would be easier to use, would better reflect the as-built configuration of the current infrastructure, and would incorporate more representative modeling assumptions. DOE-ID expects to submit the license amendment request by mid-2008.
No regulatory decisions were requested nor made at the meeting. A list of meeting attendees is provided as Enclosure 1. The slides presented by DOE-ID, addressing license renewal and the proposed license amendment, are provided as Enclosures 2 and 3, respectively.
Docket No. 72-09 TAC No. L24124
Enclosures:
- 1. Meeting Attendees 2. DOE-ID Slides on license renewal
- 3. DOE-ID Slides on proposed amendment
DISTRIBUTION: NMSS r/f SFST r/f DMcIntyre, OPA BWhite APessin, OGC NRC attendees/without attachments G:\SFPO\FSV\license renewal\9272007mtgsum.doc OFC SFST E SFST SFST SFST SFST NAME JRHall WWheatley CRegan LCampbell RNelson DATE 10/3/2007 10/4/2007 10/9/2007 10/4/2007 10/9/2007 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Meeting Between NRC and DOE - Idaho Operations Office on Fort St. Vrain ISFSI September 27, 2007
List of Attendees
NAME ORGANIZATION Nader Mamish NRC/SFST Doug Coe NRC/SFST Larry Campbell NRC/SFST James R. Hall NRC/SFST Geoff Hornseth NRC/SFST Robert Nelson NRC/SFST Mathew Panicker NRC/SFST Joann Ireland NRC/SFST Drew Barto NRC/SFST Robert Einziger NRC/SFST Peter Lien NRC/SFST Michel Call NRC/SFST Wanda Wheatley NRC/SFST Jan Hagers DOE-ID Barbara Beller DOE-ID Ted Borst CWI-INL Randy Elwood CWI-INL Greg Hall CWI James Stalnaker CWI James Kaylor CWI Maureen Conley Platts/McGraw-Hill Maria Katsva SpentFUEL weekly Meeting Between NRC and DOE - Idaho Operations Office on Fort St. Vrain ISFSI September 27, 2007
License Renewal Presentation Slides Meeting Between NRC and DOE - Idaho Operations Office on Fort St. Vrain ISFSI September 27, 2007
License Amendment Presentation Slides