ML12262A448

Withdrawal of Concrete Containment Inservice Inspection Program Exempt Tendon Inspection Relief Request No. 7

ML12262A448
Person / Time
Site:	Turkey Point
Issue date:	09/24/2012
From:	Farideh Saba Plant Licensing Branch II
To:	Nazar M Florida Power & Light Co
Saba, F E
References
TAC ME8835
Download: ML12262A448 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 September 24, 2012 Mr. Mano Nazar Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Florida Power and Light Company P.O. Box 14000 Juno Beach, Florida 33408-0420

SUBJECT:

TURKEY POINT NUCLEAR GENERATING UNIT NO.4-WITHDRAWAL OF CONCRETE CONTAINMENT INSERVICE INSPECTION PROGRAM EXEMPT TENDON INSPECTION RELIEF REQUEST NO.7 (TAC NO. ME8835)

Dear Mr. Nazar:

By letter dated June 5,2012, Florida Power & Light (the licensee, FPL) submitted Relief Request (RR) NO.7 for Turkey Point Nuclear Generating (TPN), Unit NO.4. The licensee requested RR NO.7 in accordance with Title 10 of Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), paragraph 50.55a(a)(3)(i) from the requirements of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code Section XI, Paragraph IWL-2521.1 (c), which requires that each exempted tendon shall be examined in accordance with IWL-2524 and IWL-2525 to the extent that the end anchorages of the exempt tendon are accessible either during operation or at an outage. The licensee requested approval by September 2012 to perform substitute tendon examinations for inaccessible end of the designated exempt tendons for TPN Unit NO.4 during summer of 2012.

The licensee stated that FPL proposes to perform alternative examinations to those in IWL-2521.1(c), which will provide an acceptable level of quality and safety. By letter dated August 17, 2012, the licensee responded to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff request of additional information (RAI).

The NRC staff noticed that the licensee in its August 17, 2012 response to RAI Question 1 stated that "The preliminary inspection results of 40th year for Turkey Point Unit 4 tendons have no conditions with corrosion greater than or equal to Level 3 corrosion." During a telephone call on August 28, 2012, between the NRC plant project manager and the FPL licensing manager of Turkey Point, the FPL licensing manager confirmed that the tendon inspections for TPN Unit 4 were completed using the proposed alternatives in the June 5,2012, RR. The NRC project manager pointed out that this is not consistent with the requirement in 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3),

which states that "Any proposed alternatives must be submitted and authorized prior to implementation." Therefore, the NRC staff concluded that based on this regulatory requirement the NRC did not have regulatory authority to authorize alternatives that were already implemented by the licensee.

M. Nazar -2 Subsequently, by letter dated September 14,2012, the licensee withdrew its submittals for RR No.7, "because the NRC cannot support approval of the RR." The purpose of this letter is to advise that RR No.7 is being treated as withdrawn and TAC No. ME8835 will be closed. The NRC Region" staff has been informed of withdrawal of this relief request.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 301-415-1447 or via e-mail at Farideh.Saba@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Farideh E. Saba, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 11-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-251 cc w/encl: Distribution via Listserv

ML12262A448 IOFFICE DORULPL2-2/PM DORULPL2-21LA DE/EMCB/BC DORULPL2-2/BC(A) DORULPL2-2/PM '

NAME FSaba BClayton YLi for MMurphy JQuichocho FSaba DATE §19/12 09118/12 09/19/12 09124112 09/24/12