ML080650728

Request for Additional Information Regarding the Spent Fuel Pool Criticality Analysis License Amendment Request

ML080650728
Person / Time
Site:	Beaver Valley
Issue date:	03/06/2008
From:	Nadiyah Morgan NRC/NRR/ADRO/DORL/LPLI-1
To:	Sena P FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co
Morgan N, NRR/DORL, 415-1016
References
TAC MD2378
Download: ML080650728 (7)

Text

March 6, 2008 Mr. Peter P. Sena III Site Vice President FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Beaver Valley Power Station Mail Stop A-BV-SEB1 P.O. Box 4, Route 168 Shippingport, PA 15077

SUBJECT:

BEAVER VALLEY POWER STATION, UNIT NO. 2 - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE SPENT FUEL POOL CRITICALITY ANALYSIS LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST (TAC NO.

MD2378)

Dear Mr. Sena:

By letter dated June 14, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated July 20, July 26, and December 21, 2007, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC, licensee) requested an amendment to the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (BVPS-1 and 2) Technical Specifications (TSs). The proposed changes to the TSs would incorporate the results of topical report, Westinghouse Commercial Atomic Power (WCAP)-16518, Beaver Valley Unit 2 Spent Fuel Pool Criticality Analysis, Revision 1, May 2006. The new criticality analysis will permit utilization of vacant storage locations dictated by the existing TS storage configurations in the BVPS-2 spent fuel storage pool. By letter dated December 21, 2007, the licensee withdrew their license amendment request (LAR) for BVPS-1. On January 10, 2007, an audit was held between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), representatives of Westinghouse Electric Company (vendor), and representatives of FENOC to discuss and evaluate documents that addressed the NRC staffs position/concerns, as they pertained to the review of the LAR.

The NRC staff is reviewing the submittal and has determined that additional information is needed to complete its review. The specific questions are found in the enclosed request for additional information (RAI). The licensee indicated that a response to the RAI will be provided by March 14, 2008.

P. Sena Please contact me at (301) 415-1016, if you have any questions regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Nadiyah S. Morgan, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-412

Enclosure:

RAI cc w/encl: See next page

P. Sena Please contact me at (301) 415-1016, if you have any questions regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Nadiyah S. Morgan, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-412

Enclosure:

RAI cc w/encl: See next page DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC LPLI-1 R/F RidsNrrDorlLplI-1 KWood NMorgan SLittle RidsNrrDssSrxb DWerkheiser, RI RidsNrrDorlDpr RidsOGCMailCenter RidsRgn1MailCenter RidsAcrsAcnw&mMailCenter ADAMS ACCESSION NO. ML080650728 OFFICE LPLI-1/PM LPLI-1/LA SRXB/BC LPLI-1/BC NAME NMorgan SLittle GCranston MKowal DATE 3/6/08 3/6/08 3/6/08 3/6/08 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 cc:

Joseph J. Hagan Ohio EPA-DERR President and Chief Nuclear Officer ATTN: Zack A. Clayton FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 1049 Mail Stop A-GO-19 Columbus, OH 43266-0149 76 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308 Peter P. Sena III Site Vice President James H. Lash FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Senior Vice President of Operations Beaver Valley Power Station and Chief Operating Officer Mail Stop A-BV-SEB1 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 4, Route 168 Mail Stop A-GO-14 Shippingport, PA 15077 76 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308 Director, Fleet Regulatory Affairs FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Danny L. Pace Mail Stop A-GO-2 Senior Vice President, Fleet Engineering 76 South Main Street FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Akron, Ohio 44308 Mail Stop A-GO-14 76 South Main Street Manager, Site Regulatory Compliance Akron, OH 44308 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Beaver Valley Power Station Jeannie M. Rinckel Mail Stop A-BV-A Vice President, Fleet Oversight P.O. Box 4, Route 168 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Shippingport, PA 15077 Mail Stop A-GO-14 76 South Main Street Commissioner James R. Lewis Akron, OH 44308 West Virginia Division of Labor 749-B, Building No. 6 David W. Jenkins, Attorney Capitol Complex FirstEnergy Corporation Charleston, WV 25305 Mail Stop A-GO-15 76 South Main Street Director, Utilities Department Akron, OH 44308 Public Utilities Commission 180 East Broad Street Manager, Fleet Licensing Columbus, OH 43266-0573 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Mail Stop A-GO-2 Director, Pennsylvania Emergency 76 South Main Street Management Agency Akron, OH 44308 2605 Interstate Dr.

Harrisburg, PA 17110-9364

Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (continued) cc:

Dr. Judith Johnsrud Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power Sierra Club 433 Orlando Avenue State College, PA 16803 Director Bureau of Radiation Protection Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Rachel Carson State Office Building P.O. Box 8469 Harrisburg, PA 17105-8469 Mayor of the Borough of Shippingport P.O. Box 3 Shippingport, PA 15077 Regional Administrator, Region I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406 Resident Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.O. Box 298 Shippingport, PA 15077 Ms. Carol OClaire Chief, Radiological Branch Ohio Emergency Management Agency 2855 West Dublin-Granville Road Columbus, OH 43235-2206 Mr. Dan Hill Chief, Radiological Health Program West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Capitol & Washington Streets 1 Davis Square Suite 200 Charleston, WV 25305-0360

REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (RAI)

REGARDING THE SPENT FUEL POOL (SFP) CRITICALITY ANALYSIS LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST FIRSTENERGY NUCLEAR OPERATING COMPANY BEAVER VALLEY POWER STATION, UNIT NO. 2 By letter dated June 14, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated July 20, July 26, and December 21, 2007, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC, licensee) requested an amendment to the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (BVPS-1 and 2) Technical Specifications (TSs). The proposed changes to the TSs would incorporate the results of topical report, (WCAP)-16518, which will permit utilization of vacant storage locations dictated by the existing TS storage configurations in the BVPS-2 spent fuel storage pool. By letter dated December 21, 2007, the licensee withdrew their license amendment request (LAR) for BVPS-1.

Based on previous RAI questions (References 1 and 2) and information obtained from the audit, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff request further information on the following items:

1. On January 25, January 28, February 1, February 4, February 11, and February 12, 2008, the NRC staff conducted an audit of Westinghouse calculations associated with the BVPS-2 spent fuel pool criticality analysis. Those calculations were documented as calculations notes, CN-CRIT-224 and CN-CRIT-244. Please provide Section 7 of CN-CRIT-244 to support the NRC staffs safety evaluation (SE) for the BVPS-2 SFP criticality LAR. Also, identify any portions that are replaced due to response to questions listed below.

2. After considering the information in CN-CRIT-244 and NUREG/CR-6801 (Reference 5),

it appears the axial burnup profile used in WCAP-16518 under predicts keff for any case run at 15 gigawatt day per metric ton uranium (GWD/MTU) or 25 GWD/MTU. Provide a site-specific analysis that demonstrates that BVPS-2 retains reactivity margin with the burnup profile used in the WCAP-16518 analysis.

3. WCAP-16518 calculates the burnup uncertainty in a method different than that specified in the NRC staff guidance, Reference 3. The NRC staff has reviewed the justification for the new method and determined it is inadequate to justify the method. Calculate the burnup uncertainty in accordance with the NRC staff guidance in Reference 3.

4. WCAP-16518 calculates a typical temperature bias for each storage configuration. The staff has reviewed the justification for method calculating the temperature bias and determined it is inadequate for the staff to reach a reasonable assurance conclusion that the limiting temperature bias has been determined for each storage configuration.

Provide a site-specific analysis that demonstrates that the limiting temperature bias has been determined for each storage configuration.

Enclosure

5. During the depletion phase of the analysis, core operating parameters should be selected to maximize 241Pu production and increase the reactivity of the spent fuel.

WCAP-16518 did not use core operating parameters which would maximize 241Pu production. NUREG/CR-6665, Reference 4, provides some indication of the impact of the core operating parameters. The information in CN-CRIT-244 indicated that the axial burnup profile used in WCAP-16518 provides sufficient margin to accommodate this issue above, but not below 30 GWD/MTU. Provide a site-specific analysis that demonstrates that BVPS-2 retains reactivity margin with the burnup profile used in the WCAP-16518 analysis.

References

1. FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company letter L-07-084, Peter P. Sena III, Site Vice President, Beaver Valley Power Station, to USNRC document control desk re: A Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, BV-1 Docket No. 50-334, License No. DPR-66, BV-2 Docket No. 50-412, License No. NPF-73, Responses to a Request for Additional Information (RAI dated May 21, 2007) in Support of License Amendment Request Nos.

333 and 204 (TAC Nos. MD2377 and MD2378),@ July 20, 2007. (ADAMS ML072050213)

2. FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company letter L-07-103, Edward H. Hubley, Acting Director, Maintenance, Beaver Valley Power Station, to USNRC document control desk, re: A Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, BV-1 Docket No. 50-334, License No. DPR-66, BV-2 Docket No. 50-412, License No. NPF-73, Supplemental Information for License Amendments Request Nos. 333 and 204 (Revision 2 of WCAP-16518) (TAC Nos. MD2377 and MD2378)@ July 26, 2007. (ADAMS ML073320036)

3. NRC Memorandum from L. Kopp to T. Collins, Guidance on the Regulatory Requirements for Criticality Analysis of Fuel Storage at Light-Water Reactor Power Plants, August 19, 1998. (ADAMS ML003728001)

4. NUREG/CR-6665, AReview and Prioritization of Technical Issues Related to Burnup Credit for LWR Fuel,@ (ADAMS ML003688150)

5. NUREG/CR-6801, ARecommendations for Addressing Axial Burnup in PWR Burnup Credit Analysis,@ (ADAMS ML03110292)