ML073440218

License Amendment, Application to Eliminate License Conditions for Reporting Violations Using the Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process

ML073440218
Person / Time
Site:	Susquehanna
Issue date:	12/18/2007
From:	Richard Guzman NRC/NRR/ADRO/DORL/LPLI-1
To:	Mckinney B Susquehanna
Guzman R
References
TAC MD5895, TAC MD5896
Download: ML073440218 (12)

Text

December 18, 2007 Mr. Britt T. McKinney Sr. Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer PPL Susquehanna, LLC 769 Salem Blvd., NUCSB3 Berwick, PA 18603-0467

SUBJECT:

SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 - ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: APPLICATION TO ELIMINATE LICENSE CONDITIONS FOR REPORTING VIOLATIONS USING THE CONSOLIDATED LINE ITEM IMPROVEMENT PROCESS (TAC NOS. MD5895 AND MD5896)

Dear Mr. McKinney:

The Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 244 to Facility Operating License No.

NPF-14 and Amendment No. 222 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-22 for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 (SSES 1 and 2). These amendments consist of changes to the Technical Specifications (TSs) in response to your application dated June 7, 2007.

These amendments delete Section 2.G of Facility Operating License NFP-14 for SSES 1, which requires reporting of violations of the requirements in Sections 2.C and 2.F of the facility operating license. The amendments also delete Section 2.E of Facility Operating License NPF-22 for SSES 2, which requires reporting of violations of the requirements in Section 2.C of the facility operating license. This change is in accordance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) change traveler TSTF-372, Revision 4.

A copy of our safety evaluation is also enclosed. The Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's next regular Biweekly Federal Register Notice.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Richard V. Guzman, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-387 and 50-388

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 244 to License No. NPF-14

2. Amendment No. 222 to License No. NPF-22

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

ML073440218

• SE inputs provided by memo. No substantive changes made.

OFFICE LPLI-1/PM LPLI-1/LA DIRS/ITSB/BC LPLI-1/BC NAME RGuzman SLittle TKobetz* MKowal DATE 12/10/07 12/12/07 10/18/07 SE DTD 10/18/07 Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 cc:

Cornelius J. Gannon Bryan A. Snapp, Esq Vice President - Nuclear Operations Assoc. General Counsel PPL Susquehanna, LLC PPL Services Corporation 769 Salem Blvd., NUCSB3 Two North Ninth Street, GENTW3 Berwick, PA 18603-0467 Allentown, PA 18101-1179 Robert M. Paley Supervisor - Document Control Services General Manager - Plant Support PPL Susquehanna, LLC PPL Susquehanna, LLC Two North Ninth Street, GENPL4 769 Salem Blvd., NUCSB2 Allentown, PA 18101-1179 Berwick, PA 18603-0467 Richard W. Osborne Rocco R. Sgarro Allegheny Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Manager - Nuclear Regulatory Affairs 212 Locust Street PPL Susquehanna, LLC P.O. Box 1266 Two North Ninth Street, GENPL4 Harrisburg, PA 17108-1266 Allentown, PA 18101-1179 Director, Bureau of Radiation Protection Supervisor - Pennsylvania Department of Nuclear Regulatory Affairs Environmental Protection PPL Susquehanna, LLC Rachel Carson State Office Building 769 Salem Blvd., NUCSA4 P.O. Box 8469 Berwick, PA 18603-0467 Harrisburg, PA 17105-8469 Michael H. Crowthers Senior Resident Inspector Supervising Engineer U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Affairs P.O. Box 35, NUCSA4 PPL Susquehanna, LLC Berwick, PA 18603-0035 Two North Ninth Street, GENPL4 Allentown, PA 18101-1179 Regional Administrator, Region 1 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Ronald E. Smith 475 Allendale Road General Manager - Site Preparedness King of Prussia, PA 19406 and Services PPL Susquehanna, LLC Board of Supervisors 769 Salem Blvd., NUCSA4 Salem Township Berwick, PA 18603-0467 P.O. Box 405 Berwick, PA 18603-0035 Manager - Quality Assurance PPL Susquehanna, LLC Dr. Judith Johnsrud 769 Salem Blvd., NUCSB2 National Energy Committee Berwick, PA 18603-0467 Sierra Club 443 Orlando Avenue Luis A. Ramos State College, PA 16803 Community Relations Manager, Susquehanna PPL Susquehanna, LLC 634 Salem Blvd., SSO Berwick, PA 18603-0467

PPL SUSQUEHANNA, LLC ALLEGHENY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.

DOCKET NO. 50-387 SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 1 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 244 License No. NPF-14

1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission or the NRC) having found that:

A. The application for the amendment filed by PPL Susquehanna, LLC, dated June 7, 2007, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's 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 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 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 Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.

2. Accordingly, the Facility Operating License is amended as indicated in the attachment to this amendment.

3. This license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 30 days.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

Mark G. Kowal, Chief Plant Licensing Branch I-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Facility Operating License No. NPF-14 Date of Issuance: December 18, 2007

ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 244 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-14 DOCKET NO. 50-387 Replace the following pages of the Facility Operating License 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 3 14 14

PPL SUSQUEHANNA, LLC ALLEGHENY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.

DOCKET NO. 50-388 SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 2 AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 222 License No. NPF-22

1. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission or the NRC) having found that:

A. The application for the amendment filed by PPL Susquehanna, LLC, dated June 7, 2007, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's 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 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 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 Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.

2. Accordingly, the Facility Operating License is amended as indicated in the attachment to this amendment.

3. This license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 30 days.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Mark G. Kowal, Chief Plant Licensing Branch I-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Facility Operating License No. NPF-22 Date of Issuance:

ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 222 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-22 DOCKET NO. 50-388 Replace the following pages of the Facility Operating License 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 3 9 9

SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 244 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-14 AND AMENDMENT NO. 222 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-22 PPL SUSQUEHANNA, LLC ALLEGHENY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.

SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 DOCKET NOS. 50-387 AND 388

1.0 INTRODUCTION

By letter dated June 7, 2007, Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML071710437, PPL Susquehanna, LLC (PPL, the licensee), requested changes to the Operating Licenses for Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 (SSES 1 and 2). The proposed changes would delete Section 2.G of Facility Operating License (FOL) NFP-14 for SSES 1, which requires reporting of violations of the requirements in Sections 2.C and 2.F of the FOL. The proposed changes would also delete Section 2.E of FOL NPF-22 for SSES 2, which requires reporting of violations of the requirements in Section 2.C of the FOL. A notice announcing the availability of this proposed change using the consolidated line item improvement process was published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2005 (70 FR 67202). This change is in accordance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-

approved Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) change traveler TSTF-372, Revision 4.

2.0 REGULATORY EVALUATION

A section or condition was included in the facility operating licenses issued to some nuclear power plants requiring the licensee to make reports to the NRC regarding violations of other sections of the operating license (typically Section 2.C). In the case of Susquehanna Unit 1, Section 2.G of the FOL reads as follows:

G. PPL Susquehanna, LLC shall report any violations of the requirements contained in Section 2, Items C(1), C(3) through C(32), and F of this license within twenty-four (24) hours. Initial notification shall be made in accordance with the provisions of 10 CFR 50.72 with written follow-up in accordance with the procedures described in 10 CFR 50.73(b), (c), and (e).

(b) PPL Susquehanna, LLC shall notify the Commission, as soon as possible but not later than one hour, of any accident at this facility which could result in an unplanned release of quantities of fission products in excess of allowable limits for normal operation established by the Commission.

Enclosure

In the case of Susquehanna Unit 2, Section 2.E of the FOL reads as follows:

2.E Reporting to the Commission PPL Susquehanna, LLC shall report any violations of the requirements contained in Section 2, Items C(1), C(3) through C(16) of this license within twenty-four (24) hours. Initial notification shall be made in accordance with the provisions of 10 CFR 50.72 with written followup in accordance with the procedures described in 10 CFR 50.73 (b), (c), and (e).

In addition to the information provided to support licensing decisions, the NRC obtains information about plant operation, licensee programs, and other matters using a combination of inspections and reporting requirements. Routine or scheduled reports that are required to be submitted to the NRC are defined in the related regulations, specific license condition, technical specification, or an NRC-approved program document. The reporting of emergencies, unplanned events or conditions, and other special cases may also be addressed within such documents by the inclusion of reporting thresholds and are also the focus of the reporting requirements in 10 CFR 50.72, Immediate notification requirements for operating nuclear power reactors, and 10 CFR 50.73, Licensee event report system. Changes to the reporting regulations in 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73 became effective in January 2001 (see Federal Register notice on October 25, 2000 (65 FR 63769) and included extending the allowable reporting times for licensee event reports (LERs) from 30 days to 60 days.

3.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION

Section 2.G of FOL NFP-14 for Unit 1 requires the licensee to report any violations of the requirements in Sections 2.C and 2.F of the FOL and defines the method and allowable time periods for such reports. Likewise, Section 2.E of FOL NPF-22 for Unit 2 requires reporting of violations of the requirements in Section 2.C of the FOL and defines the method and allowable time periods for such reports. The reporting threshold (i.e., a violation) for the conditions included in Sections 2.C and 2.F for Unit 1 and Section 2.C for Unit 2 of the FOLs, duplicate those defined in 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73. However, the requirements in the FOLs have different deadlines than those defined in the regulations following a rule change in 2001.

This difference in reporting requirements has led to variations in reporting since many facility operating licenses do not contain the subject condition. For those licensees with a 30-day reporting requirement in the FOL, the condition has decreased the benefits of the rulemaking.

For those cases where the current FOL requirement to report violations is also reportable in accordance with the regulations defined in 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73, the NRC staff finds that the regulations adequately address this issue and the elimination of the duplicative requirement in the FOL is acceptable.

Some of the conditions addressed in Sections 2.C and 2.F of the FOL for Unit 1 and Section 2.C of the FOL for Unit 2, may address the maintenance of particular programs, administrative requirements, or other matters where a violation of the requirement would not result in a report to the NRC in accordance with 10 CFR 10.72 or 10 CFR 50.73. In most cases, there are requirements for reports to the NRC related to these conditions in other regulations, the specific license condition or technical specification, or an NRC-approved program document. In other cases, there are reports to other agencies or news releases that would prompt a report to the NRC (in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(xi)). The NRC staff also assessed violations of administrative requirements that could be reportable under the current License Condition but that may not have a duplicative requirement in a regulation or other regulatory requirement.

The NRC staff finds that the requirements to report such problems within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> with written reports to follow using the LER process is not needed. The NRC staff is confident that the information related to such violations that is actually important to the NRCs regulatory functions would come to light in a time frame comparable to the 60-day LER requirements. The information would become available to the appropriate NRC staff through the inspection program, updates to program documents, resultant licensing actions, public announcements, or some other reliable mechanism.

The NRC staff finds that the elimination of Section 2.G for Unit 1 and Section 2.E for Unit 2 of the FOLs, NPF-14 and NPF-22, respectively, will not result in a loss of information to the NRC that would adversely affect either its goal to protect public health and safety or its ability to carry out its various other regulatory responsibilities. Therefore, the elimination of Section 2.G for Unit 1 and Section 2.E for Unit 2 of the FOLs is acceptable.

4.0 STATE CONSULTATION

In accordance with the Commissions regulations, the Pennsylvania State official was notified of the proposed issuance of the amendment. The State official had no comments.

5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION

The amendment changes recordkeeping, reporting, or administrative procedures or requirements. Accordingly, the amendment meets the eligibility criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(10). The NRC staff has determined that the amendments involve 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 amendments involve no significant hazards consideration, and there has been no public comment on such finding (72 FR 54478). Accordingly, the amendments meet 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: A.J. Lising Date: December 18, 2007