ML091600158

Withdrawal of an Amendment Request

ML091600158
Person / Time
Site:	Waterford
Issue date:	06/12/2009
From:	Kalyanam N Plant Licensing Branch IV
To:	Entergy Operations
Kalyanam N, NRR/DORL/LPL4, 415-1480
Shared Package
ML091600132	List: ML091600158
References
TAC MD9669
Download: ML091600158 (5)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 June 12, 2009 Vice President, Operations Entergy Operations, Inc.

Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3 17265 River Road Killona, LA 70057-3093 SUB-JECT: WATERFORD STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 3 - WITHDRAWAL OF AN AMENDMENT REQUEST (TAC NO. MD9669)

Dear Sir/Madam:

By letter dated September 17, 2008 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML082660037), Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy, the licensee),

applied for an amendment (NPF-38-280) to the Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3 (Waterford 3), Facility Operating License (FOL) No. NPF-38. The proposed change would have modified the FOL to add a license condition to support implementation of extended inservice inspection (lSI) interval.

By letter dated September 18, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML082660040), Entergy submitted an alternative to the requirements of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (Code),Section XI, paragraph IWB-2412, Inspection Program B, for Waterford 3. The request for alternative was submitted as a result of an ongoing initiative with the Pressurized Water Reactor Owners Group for extending the lSI requirements. By letter dated May 8,2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML081060045), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (I\lRC) staff approved WCAP-16168-NP-A, Revision 2, "Risk-Informed Extension of the Reactor Vessel In-Service Inspection Interval," which provides for an extension of the lSI interval for reactor vessel welds (Examination Category B-A) and the nozzle-to-vessel welds and inner radius sections (Examination Category B-D) from 10 to 20 years.

In the safety evaluation (SE) for topical report WCAP-16168-NP-A, Revision 2, the NRC staff required licensees to amend their FOLs to provide the NRC with the information and analyses requested in Section (e) of the final rule for paragraph 50.61 a of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) or the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on October 3, 2007 (72 FR 56275) within 1 year following completion of each ASME Code,Section XI, Category B-A and B-D weld inspection.

Based on the current guidance, the NRC staff will grant lSI interval extensions for the subject components on an Interval-by-interval basis for a period of up to 20 years. Accordingly, licensees will have to submit subsequent requested alternatives, for NRC review and approval, to extend each following lSI interval from 10 years to 20 years, as needed. Therefore, the NRC staff has determined that, the requirement in the staff's SE on WCAP-16168-NP for a license condition to address the evaluation of future lSI data is no longer necessary and that the license amendment requested by Entergy for Waterford, Unit 3, by letter dated September 17, 2008, will not be issued in conjunction with this requested alternative.

-2 Entergy representatives were informed of the NRC position regarding this matter on May 5, 2009. By letter dated June 3, 2009 (ADAMS Accession No. ML091560028), Entergy withdrew license amendment request NPF-38-280.

The Commission has filed the enclosed Notice of Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License with the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely,

~~

N. Kalyanam, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-382

Enclosure:

Notice of Withdrawal cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv

7590-01-P UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ENTERGY OPERATIONS INC.

DOCKET NO. 50-382 NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF APPLICATION FOR AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Entergy Operations Inc. (Entergy, the licensee), to withdraw its September 17,2008, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License (FOL) No. NPF-38 for the Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3, located in St, Charles Parish, Louisiana.

The proposed amendment would have revised FOL to add a license condition on the extension of the reactor vessel inservice inspection (lSI) interval. This proposed license condition is the result of a condition in the NRC safety evaluation (SE), issued by letter dated May 8,2008, on Westinghouse Owners Group (WOG), topical report WCAP-16168-NP, Revision 2, "Risk-Informed Extension of the Reactor Vessel In-Service Inspection Interval." The Pressurized Water Reactor Owners Group, formerly known as WOG, issued WCAP-16168-NP A (Approved), Revision 2, on June 13, 2008, incorporating the NRC SE dated May 8,2008.

The lSI interval extension part of a relief request is being separately evaluated by NRC and independent of this amendment request.

The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on November 4, 2008 (73 FR 65696).

However, by letter dated June 3, 2009, the licensee withdrew the proposed change.

For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated September 17, 2008, and the licensee's letter dated June 3, 2009, which withdrew the

-2 application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1i h day of June 2009.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Nageswaran Kalyanam, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

ML091560028), Entergy withdrew license amendment request NPF-38-280.

The Commission has filed the enclosed Notice of Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License with the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely, IRAJ N. Kalyanam, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-382

Enclosure:

Notice of Withdrawal cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC LPLIV R/F RidsAcrsAcnw_MailCTR Resource RidsNrrDciCvib Resource RidsNrrDorlDpr Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl4 Resource RidsNrrPMWaterford Resource RidsNrrLAJBurkhardt Resource RidsOgcRp Resource RidsRgn4MailCenter Resource ADAMS Accession No PKG ML091600132, Letter' ML091600158 FR Notice' ML091600166 OFFICE DORULPL4/PM DORULPL4/LA DORLlLPL4/BC DORLlLPL4/PM NAME NKalyanam JBurkhardt MMarkley NKalyanam DATE 6/12/09 6/9109 6/12/09 6/12/09