ML14091B118
| ML14091B118 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saint Lucie  |
| Issue date: | 04/01/2014 |
| From: | Annette Vietti-Cook NRC/SECY |
| To: | NRC/OGC, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-389-LA, CLI-14-04, License Amendment, RAS 25764 | |
| Download: ML14091B118 (8) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS:
Allison M. Macfarlane, Chairman Kristine L. Svinicki George Apostolakis William D. Magwood, IV William C. Ostendorff
)
In the Matter of )
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FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY ) Docket No. 50-389
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(St. Lucie Plant, Unit 2) )
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CLI-14-04 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) has filed a hearing request relating to the installation of replacement steam generators at the Florida Power & Light (FPL) St. Lucie Unit 2 nuclear reactor as a de facto license amendment.1 With its hearing request SACE filed a motion to stay requesting that we suspend restart of St. Lucie Unit 2 and seeking expedited consideration.2 The NRC Staff and FPL oppose the motion to stay.3 1
Southern Alliance for Clean Energys Hearing Request Regarding De Facto Amendment of St.
Lucie Unit 2 Operating License (Mar. 10, 2014) (Hearing Request).
2 Southern Alliance for Clean Energys Motion to Stay Restart of St. Lucie Unit 2 Pending Conclusion of Hearing Regarding De Facto Amendment of Operating License and Request for Expedited Consideration (Mar. 10, 2014) (SACE Motion to Stay).
3 See NRC Staffs Answer to Southern Alliance for Clean Energys Motion to Stay Restart of St.
Lucie Unit 2 Pending Conclusion of Hearing Regarding De Facto Amendment of Operating License (continued . . .)
In this order, we address SACEs motion to stay and set a schedule for further briefing with respect to its hearing request.
I. BACKGROUND SACEs hearing request and motion to stay arise from the replacement of two steam generators at St. Lucie Unit 2 in 2007. FPL replaced the steam generators pursuant to the provisions of 10 C.F.R. § 50.59, which allow licensees to make changes to a facility if certain criteria are satisfied.4 FPLs evaluation under that regulation concluded that a license amendment was not required for the steam generator replacement.5 The NRC Staffs review of the steam generator replacement, including the 10 C.F.R. § 50.59 evaluation conducted by FPL, identified no findings of significance.6 In February 2011, FPL requested a license amendment to permit operation of St. Lucie Unit and Request for Expedited Consideration (Mar. 20, 2014) (Staff Answer); Answer of Florida Power
& Light Company Opposing SACE Motion to Stay Restart of St. Lucie Unit 2 (Mar. 20, 2014) (FPL Answer).
4 Section 50.59 sets forth the circumstances under which a licensee may make changes to the facility as described in its Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR), make changes in the procedures described in the UFSAR, and conduct tests or experiments not otherwise described in the UFSAR, without obtaining a license amendment under 10 C.F.R. § 50.90. See 10 C.F.R.
§ 50.59(c)(1).
5 See FPL Answer at 3 & Att. 1, Declaration of Mr. William A. Cross in Support of FPLs Answer Opposing SACE Motion to Stay Restart (Mar. 20, 2014), ¶¶ 4-9; Johnston, Gordon L, Site Vice President, St. Lucie Plant, letter to NRC, L-2008-148 (June 26, 2008), at 8 (ADAMS accession no.
6 See Staff Answer at 2; St. Lucie Nuclear Plant - NRC Integrated Inspection Report 05000335/2007005, 05000389/2007005, § 4OA5.3 Unit 2 Steam Generator Replacement Inspection (IP 50001) (Feb. 1, 2008) at 27-33 (ML080350408); Affidavit of Omar R. López-Santiago Concerning SACEs Claims Regarding Staffs Steam Generator Inservice Inspection (Mar.
20, 2014), ¶¶ 10-12 (Staff Affidavit).
2 at an extended power uprate with the replacement steam generators.7 FPLs amendment request evaluated steam generator performance relative to the proposed uprate.8 The Commission published a notice of the license amendment request and an opportunity to request a hearing.9 No hearing requests or petitions to intervene were submitted.10 The Staffs approval of the amendment in September 2012 incorporated requirements into FPLs license on the use, inspection, and reporting of inspection results for the steam generators at the higher power.11 FPL shut down St. Lucie Unit 2 for a scheduled refueling outage on March 3, 2014. Existing license requirements require FPL to inspect and verify steam generator tube integrity in accordance with its Steam Generator Program during the outage and to submit the inspection results to the NRC.12 The Staff was scheduled to conduct a baseline inspection, a portion of which covers the steam generators, during the outage.13 7
Anderson, R.L., Site Vice President, St. Lucie Plant, letter L-2011-021 to NRC (Feb.25, 2011), at 1 (ML110730116). The complete license amendment request is available in ADAMS Package ML110730268. Some portions are proprietary and thus not publicly available.
8 Attachment 5 to Letter L-2011-021, St. Lucie Unit 2 EPU Licensing Report, § 2.2.2.5 "Steam Generators and Supports," at 2.2.2-57 to 2.2.2-108 (ML110730299).
9 Florida Power & Light Company, St. Lucie Plant, Unit 2 License Amendment Request; Opportunity To Request a Hearing and To Petition for Leave To Intervene, and Commission Order Imposing Procedures for Document Access, 76 Fed. Reg. 54,503 (Sept. 1, 2011).
10 Staff Answer at 3.
11 See Biweekly Notice: Applications and Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses and Combined Licenses Involving No Significant Hazards Considerations, 77 Fed. Reg. 63,343, 63,354-55 (Oct. 16, 2012).
12 Staff Answer at 4; Docket No. 50-389, St. Lucie Plant, Unit No. 2, Renewed Facility Operating License No. NPF-16 with Technical Specifications (TS); TS 6.8.4.I.1.a, at 6-15e; TS 6.9.1.2, at 6-20f (ML052800077). FPL informed the NRC that the current refueling outage (RFO21) inspection includes, among other steam generator inspections, a 100% bobbin probe examination. Katzman, Eric S., FPL, letter to NRC Document Control Desk (Nov. 26, 2013), Att. at 4 (response to request for additional information regarding steam generator tube inspection) (ML13338A582).
13 López-Santiago, O.R., NRC, letter to M. Nazar, Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear (continued . . .)
SACE seeks a hearing on the ground that the NRC should have required a license amendment to permit the 2007 steam generator replacement and, in not doing so, has implicitly and improperly granted a de facto license amendment.14 SACE seeks a stay of the restart of St.
Lucie Unit 2 until after: (1) a 100% inspection of the steam generator tubes by FPL and publication of the results; (2) publication of the results of the inservice inspection the Staff is conducting during the outage; and (3) completion of the adjudicatory proceeding SACE requests.15 II. DISCUSSION We first address the procedural posture of SACEs motion to stay. SACE filed its motion to stay pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 2.342. This regulation, however, applies only to decisions or actions of a presiding officer or licensing board in a proceeding to which the movant is a party pending the filing and resolution of a petition for review.16 Here, SACE has neither been admitted as a party to an adjudication relating to St. Lucie nor identified any adjudicatory decision or action that it seeks to have us stay. For that reason alone, we find SACEs motion is procedurally improper.
Even were we to exercise discretion to stay an agency action while the hearing request is pending, SACE has failed to identify any agency action or decision relating to the restart of St.
Lucie Unit 2 that it would have us suspend. To the contrary, the thrust of SACEs complaint is that Officer, FPL, St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, Unit 2 - Notification of Inspection and Request for Information (Feb. 24, 2014), at 1 (ML14056A110); Staff Answer at 4; Staff Affidavit ¶ 13. Inspections such as this are conducted pursuant to NRC Inspection Procedure 71111.08. Staff Affidavit ¶ 13. See generally NRC Inspection Procedure 71111.08, Inservice Inspection Activities (Jan. 1, 2012)
(ML11262A023). The inspection findings will be documented in an inspection report, consistent with the Staffs usual process. And as stated by Mr. López-Santiago, any violations associated with inspection findings are addressed in accordance with the NRCs Enforcement Policy and Enforcement Manual and the NRCs Significance Determination Process. Staff Affidavit ¶ 14.
14 SACE Motion to Stay at 4- 5.
15 Id. at 1- 2.
16 See 10 C.F.R. § 2.342(a); Union Electric Co. d/b/a Ameren Missouri (Callaway Plant, Unit 2),
CLI-11-5, 74 NRC 141, 158 (2011).
the NRC has not taken sufficient regulatory actions to ensure that St. Lucie is operated safely with the replacement steam generators.17 Although we need not, and do not, reach the traditional considerations for granting or denying a stay, we consider as a discretionary matter the question of irreparable injury and observe that SACE has not demonstrated that it will be irreparably harmed unless its motion is granted. As observed by the Staff and FPL, SACEs concerns are connected to the 2007 replacement of the plants steam generators; the plant, however, has been in operation since that time.18 SACE asserts that denying the stay motion will allow a dangerous nuclear reactor to operate absent the basic safety analysis that is necessary to ensure it will not pose an undue risk to public health and safety.19 But SACE has not shown that plant restart will, in and of itself, result in irreparable harm.
As we have previously held, Merely raising the specter of a nuclear accident does not demonstrate irreparable harm.20 We therefore deny the motion to stay restart. Our denial of SACEs motion does not address the question whether SACE is entitled to seek a hearing in this matter. FPL and the Staff therefore may file answers to SACEs hearing request by April 28, 2014. SACE may file a reply within 7 days of service of the answers.
17 SACE Motion to Stay at 6 (SACEs Contention 2 asserts that changes made by FPL to steam generator design for Unit 2 fail to comply with NRC safety regulations or the NRCs reasonable assurance standard for protecting public health and safety . . .).
18 See Staff Answer at 9; FPL Answer at 8-9.
19 SACE Motion to Stay at 7.
20 Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, L.L.C. and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station), CLI-06-8, 63 NRC 235, 237 (2008).
III. CONCLUSION For the reasons discussed above, we deny SACEs stay motion.
For the Commission
[NRC Seal]
/RA/
Annette L. Vietti-Cook Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of April, 2014.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of )
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FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT CO. ) Docket No. 50-389 (St. Lucie Plant, Unit 2) )
)
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing COMMISSION MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (CLI-14-04), have been served upon the following persons by the Electronic Information Exchange.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop: O-16C1 Mail Stop: O-15D21 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Catherine Kanatas, Esq.
OCAA Mail Center David Roth, Esq.
E-mail: ocaamail@nrc.gov Jeremy Wachutka, Esq.
David Cylkowski, Esq.
Edward Williamson, Esq.
John Tibbetts, Paralegal U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission E-mail:
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel catherine.kanatas@nrc.gov Mail Stop: T-3F23 david.roth@nrc.gov Washington, DC 20555-0001 jeremy.wachutka@nrc.gov david.cylkowski@nrc.gov E. Roy Hawkens, Chief edward.williamson@nrc.gov Administrative Judge john.tibbetts@nrc.gov E-mail: roy.hawkens@nrc.gov OGC Mail Center E-mail: OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Secretary of the Commission Mail Stop: O-16C1 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Hearing Docket E-mail: hearingdocket@nrc.gov
2 Docket No. 50-389 COMMISSION MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (CLI-14-04)
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP Southern Alliance for Clean Energy 2300 N. Street., N.W. Harmon, Curran, Spielberg, & Eisenberg, Washington, DC 20037-1122 L.L.P.
John H. ONeill, Esq. 1726 Washington, DC 20036 Michael G. Lepre, Esq. Diane Curran, Esq.
Stephen Markus, Esq. E-mail:
Email: dcurran@harmoncurran.com john.oneill@pillsburylaw.com michael.lepre@pillsburylaw.com stephen.markus@pillsburylaw.com Florida Power & Light Company 700 Universe Blvd.
JB/LAW Juno Beach, FL 33408 William S. Blair, Esq.
E-mail:
william.blair@fpl.com
[Original signed by R. Giitter]
Office of the Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 1st day of April, 2014