ML091550750

G20090309/LTR-09-0234/EDATS: SECY-2009-0259 - Theodore Robinson Ltr Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, Safety Evaluation Report

ML091550750
Person / Time
Site:	Beaver Valley
Issue date:	06/17/2009
From:	Leeds E Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Robinson T Citizen Power
Green Kimberly NRR/DLR/RPB2 415-1627
Shared Package
ML091550735	List: ML091550750
References
EDATS: SECY-2009-0259, G20090309, LTR-09-0234, TAC ME1368
Download: ML091550750 (2)

Text

June 17, 2009 Mr. Theodore Robinson, Esq.

Citizen Power 2121 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Dear Mr. Robinson:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your petition to the Commission dated May 26, 2009, regarding the safety evaluation report (SER) for Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2. Specifically, you requested that the NRC supplement the SER to address a recent event notification report concerning the discovery of a degraded area in the Unit 1 containment steel liner plate.

On January 9, 2009, the NRC issued the SER with open item related to the license renewal of the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2. (According to the NRC license renewal process, the staff issues the SER several months later after resolving any open items.) During an April 2009 Unit 1 refueling outage, the licensee identified a containment liner plate deficiency while performing inspections under the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code,Section XI, Subsection IWE. In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.72(b)(3)(ii)(A), the NRC received notification of this issue on April 23, 2009. Region I staff performed detailed inspections of the issue, which included reviews of the root cause and corrective actions. Additionally, license renewal staff issued a request for additional information on May 7, 2009 (publicly available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at Accession No. ML091260025).

Specifically, the staff asked the applicant to explain how it will incorporate the recent plant-specific operating experience (i.e., the degradation that was identified during this refueling outage inspection) into its ASME Section XI, Subsection IWE aging management program, which encompasses the containment steel liner plate.

By letter dated June 1, 2009, the applicant responded to the staffs request (ADAMS Accession No. ML091540012). In the letter, the applicant identified the corrective actions it has taken relative to the degradation identified, and committed to additional actions it will take before entering the period of extended operation. Specifically, the applicant made a new commitment to perform ultrasonic testing of the repaired location during the next refueling outage for Unit 1.

Additionally, the applicant committed to perform supplemental volumetric examinations of sample locations for both units prior to entering the period of extended operation. Section 3.0.3.2.2 of the SER related to the license renewal of the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, dated June 8, 2009 (ADAMS Accession No. ML091600216), contains the staffs evaluation of the applicants aging management program addressing the recent operating experience of Unit 1 containment degradation.

T. Robinson Thank you for your comments. If you should have additional questions regarding the recently issued SER, please contact Allen L. Hiser, Senior Technical Advisor for License Renewal Aging Management, at 301-415-5650 or by e-mail at Allen.Hiser@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Eric J. Leeds, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

ML091550735 (Package) ML091490491 (Incoming) ML091550750 (Response)

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