ML100539266
| ML100539266 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Turkey Point  |
| Issue date: | 02/19/2010 |
| From: | Reyes L Region 2 Administrator |
| To: | Nazar M Florida Power & Light Co |
| References | |
| CAL 2-2010-002 | |
| Download: ML100539266 (7) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION II SAM NUNN ATLANTA FEDERAL CENTER 61 FORSYTH STREET, SW, SUITE 23T85 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-8931 February 19, 2010 CAL 2-2010-002 Mr. Mano Nazar Executive Vice President, Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer Florida Power and Light Company P.O. Box 14000 Juno Beach, Florida 33408-0420
SUBJECT:
CONFIRMATORY ACTION LETTER - TURKEY POINT UNIT 3 COMMITMENTS TO ADDRESS DEGRADED SPENT FUEL POOL STORAGE RACK NEUTRON ABSORBER
Dear Mr. Nazar:
This letter confirms commitments made by Florida Power & Light (FPL) in your letter dated December 31, 2009, Agencywide Documents Access & Management System (ADAMS)
Accession Number ML100400067 and discussions between Mr. Robert Tomonto, Turkey Point Licensing Manager, of your staff and Mr. Scott Stewart, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Senior Resident Inspector, on February 19, 2010, which addressed your determination that the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant (TP) Unit 3 spent fuel pool (SFP) Region I and II storage racks have degraded Boraflex neutron absorber material and your inability to implement the Boraflex Remedy license amendment request (LAR), approved by the NRC on July 17, 2007.
In-situ testing and analysis of Unit 3 spent fuel pool storage racks, conducted by FPL, identified that the neutron absorbing material, Boraflex, in the spent fuel racks has degraded to levels beyond that stated in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) criticality analysis.
In response, on January 27, 2006, FPL submitted License Amendment Request No. 178 to replace the need for Boraflex with a combination of rod cluster control assemblies (RCCAs),
Metamic rack inserts, and administrative controls that require mixing storage of higher reactivity fuel with lower reactivity fuel. Your amendment request was approved as Amendment No. 234 for Unit 3 on July 17, 2007. However, by letter dated September 1, 2009, FPL informed the NRC staff that due to problems with procuring Metamic inserts, Unit 3 would not be able to fully implement the amendment as approved. This caused Unit 3 to be in noncompliance with the Technical Specifications (TSs) 5.5.1.1.a and 5.5.1.1.b, Design Features - Fuel Storage -
Criticality, and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 50.68 Criticality Accident Requirements.
FP&L 2 In addition, in December 2009 you notified the NRC staff that FPL has determined that TS 3.9.14.b and c, Limiting Conditions for Operation - Spent Fuel Storage, may be non-conservative with respect to minimum soluble boron concentration and administrative or other controls may be needed to assure sub-criticality, in all cases. To address this concern, FPL has already taken action to increase the Unit 3 SFP minimum boron concentration from 1950 parts per million (ppm) to 2100 ppm.
FPL has also committed to implement or maintain the following measures in place until Amendment No. 234 can be fully implemented or until the NRC reviews and approves the license amendment request discussed in item (a) below:
(a) FPL will submit a license amendment request by February 28, 2010, revising the Unit 3 SFP licensing basis to reflect the use of storage configurations which include the use of Metamic inserts, RCCAs, and water holes plus allow additional storage configurations that rely upon Boraflex in Region II of the SFP.
(b) FPL will increase the current megawatt days per metric ton of uranium (MWd/MTU) burn-up requirements for SFP Region II storage by 10% for any storage cells that rely on Boraflex as a neutron absorber and will configure the SFP to comply with these requirements or insert an RCCA in any fuel assembly not in compliance with these requirements. These measures will be completed by February 28, 2010.
(c) FPL will configure Region I of the Unit 3 SFP to comply with Amendment No. 234 by June 19, 2010.
(d) FPL will configure one storage rack in Region II to comply with Amendment No. 234 by June 19, 2010. Additional storage racks will be configured to comply with Amendment No. 234 as Metamic inserts become available.
(e) For the remaining Region II SFP storage racks, FPL will continue to administratively control the use of storage cells that have Boraflex panels whose B-10 areal density have degraded below 0.006 g/cm2. These administrative controls establish alternate storage configurations that utilize RCCAs or available Metamic inserts as substitute neutron poisons, or empty storage cells to compensate for the loss of Boraflex in that storage cell.
(f) FPL will load new and reactor offloaded fuel assemblies into the Unit 3 SFP only into storage cells for which the presence of Boraflex is not relied upon as discussed in Items (c), (d) and (e) above, as well as in the cask area rack which uses Boral as the neutron poison.
(g) FPL will revise the Turkey Point UFSAR to specify measures that compensate for the loss of Boraflex in Unit 3 SFP storage racks.
(h) FPL will maintain the Unit 3 SFP boron concentration at or above 2100 ppm.
FP&L 3 Based on the information you provided and effective implementation of the commitments identified in your letter dated December 31, 2009, and discussions between Mr. Robert Tomonto of your staff and Scott Stewart, NRC Region II Senior Resident Inspector on February 19, 2010, the NRC concludes there is reasonable assurance that the fuel assemblies within the SFP will remain in a subcritical condition while actions are taken by FPL to restore compliance.
To better facilitate the NRC amendment review process, the license amendment application must contain sufficient technical information, both in scope and depth, to permit the NRC staff to conduct an independent assessment with regard to applicable regulatory requirements and the protection of public health, safety, and security. A public meeting was held on January 21, 2010, in the USNRC Rockville, Maryland office to discuss your plans, in this regard.
Pursuant to Section 182 of the Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. 2232, you are required to:
- 1. Notify me immediately if your understanding differs from that set forth above;
- 2. Notify me in writing, if you intend to change, deviate from, or not complete any of the actions documented in your commitment letter as discussed in this Confirmatory Action Letter prior to the change or deviation;
- 3. Notify me if, for any reason you cannot complete the actions and commitments within the specified schedule and advise me in writing of your modified schedule in advance of the change; and,
- 4. Notify me in writing when you have completed the actions and commitments addressed in this Confirmatory Action Letter.
Issuance of this Confirmatory Action Letter does not preclude issuance of an Order formalizing the above commitments or requiring other actions on the part of the licensee; nor does it preclude the NRC from taking enforcement action for violations of NRC requirements that may have prompted the issuance of this letter. In addition, failure to take the actions addressed in this Confirmatory Action Letter may result in enforcement action.
This Confirmatory Action Letter will remain in effect until the NRC has concluded that you have reestablished compliance with your license requirements for the spent fuel pool storage racks.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter and your response will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the NRCs ADAMS, accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To the extent possible, any response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the public without redaction. If personal privacy or proprietary information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, then please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of your response that deletes such information. If you request withholding of such material, you must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and provide in
FP&L 4 detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of information will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information required by 10 CFR 2.390(b) to support a request for withholding confidential commercial or financial information). If safeguards information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Luis A. Reyes Regional Administrator Docket No.: 50-250 License No.: DPR-31 cc: (See page 5)
_ML003829266_____ X SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE OFFICE RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:RA RII:EICS NRR SIGNATURE SMS by email MDS LXW1 SES by email EJL by email NAME SNinh SStewart MSykes LWert VMcCree SSparks ELeeds DATE 02/ /2010 02/18/2010 02/11/2010 02/15/2010 02/ /2010 02/19/2010 02/8/2010 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO OFFICE NRR: OE SIGNATURE GTB1 NAME GBowman DATE 02/19/2010 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO
FP&L 5 cc: Marjan Mashhadi Alison Brown Senior Attorney Nuclear Licensing Florida Power & Light Company Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution William A. Passetti McHenry Cornell Chief Director Florida Bureau of Radiation Control Licensing and Performance Improvement Department of Health Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution Ruben D. Almaguer Michael Kiley Director Site Vice President Division of Emergency Preparedness Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Department of Community Affairs Florida Power and Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution Mano Nazar Niel Batista Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Emergency Management Coordinator Officer Department of Emergency Management Florida Power & Light Company and Homeland Security P. O. Box 14000 Electronic Mail Distribution Juno Beach, FL 33408 Paul Rubin (Vacant)
(Acting) Plant General Manager Vice President Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Nuclear Plant Support Florida Power and Light Company Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution Electronic Mail Distribution Abdy Khanpour Attorney General Vice President Department of Legal Affairs Engineering Support The Capitol PL-01 Florida Power and Light Company Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050 P.O. Box 14000 Juno Beach, FL 33408-0420 Mike A. Shehadeh, P.E.
City Manager Mark E. Warner City of Homestead Vice President, Nuclear Operations Electronic Mail Distribution South Region Florida Power & Light Company Gene St. Pierre Electronic Mail Distribution Vice President - Fleet Organizational Support Mitch S. Ross Florida Power & Light Company Vice President and Associate General Electronic Mail Distribution Counsel Florida Power & Light Company Electronic Mail Distribution County Manager of Miami-Dade County 111 NW 1st Street, 29th Floor Miami, FL 33128
FP&L 6 Letter to Mano Nazar from Luis Reyes dated February 19, 2010
SUBJECT:
CONFIRMATORY ACTION LETTER - TURKEY POINT UNIT 3 COMMITMENTS TO ADDRESS DEGRADED SPENT FUEL POOL STORAGE RACK NEUTRON ABSORBER Distribution w/encl:
C. Evans, RII L. Slack, RII OE Mail RIDSNRRDIRS PUBLIC RidsNrrPMTurkeyPoint Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl2-2 Resource