ML14310A033

NRC Response to Licensees Notification of Revised Regulatory Commitments Associated with Request for Information Pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 50.54(f) Regarding Recommendation 2.1 of the Near-Term Task Force Revie

ML14310A033
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone, Salem, Byron, Arkansas Nuclear, Susquehanna, Fort Calhoun
Issue date:	12/15/2014
From:	Jennifer Davis Japan Lessons-Learned Division
To:	Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Entergy Operations, Exelon Generation Co, Omaha Public Power District, Susquehanna, Public Service Enterprise Group
Vega F, NRR/JLD, 415-1617
References
TAC MF3707, TAC MF3708, TAC MF3735, TAC MF3822, TAC MF3823, TAC MF3884, TAC MF3885, TAC MF3922, TAC MF3923, TAC MF3968, TAC MF3969
Download: ML14310A033 (7)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 15, 2014 To the Power Reactor Licensees on the Enclosed List

SUBJECT:

NRC RESPONSE TO LICENSEES REGARDING NOTIFICATION OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS CHANGE ASSOCIATED WITH REQUEST FOR INFORMATION PURSUANT TO TITLE 10 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS 50.54(f) REGARDING RECOMMENDATION 2.1 OF THE NEAR-TERM TASK FORCE REVIEW OF INSIGHTS FROM THE FUKUSHIMA DAI-ICHI ACCIDENT The purpose of this letter is to inform licensees, included in Enclosure 2, of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) review of the Expedited Seismic Evaluation Process (ESEP) regulatory commitment change. These licensees have informed the NRC of their intentions to not perform the ESEP as previously committed, stating that the ESEP would not provide a significant increase in safety insight or provide indication of seismic margin for the units beyond what was already gained through the Individual Plant Examination for External Events (IPEEE) programs.

BACKGROUND On March 12, 2012, the NRC issued a request for information pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50 (1 0 CFR), Section 50.54(f). The purpose of that request was to gather information concerning, in part, the seismic hazard at operating reactor sites to enable the NRC staff to determine whether licenses should be modified, suspended, or revoked. The "Required Response" section of Enclosure 1 of the request indicated that licensees should provide a seismic hazard evaluation and screening report within 1.5 years from the date of the letter for central and eastern United States (CEUS) nuclear power plants. For CEUS plants, the date to submit the report was extended to March 31, 20141.

By letters dated March 20142, to the NRC, licensees submitted for NRC review the Seismic Hazard and Screening Report, Pursuant to1 0 CFR 50.54(f), Response for Information Regarding Recommendation 2.1 of the Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident. Licensees, included in Enclosure 2, in their reports included a review of IPEEE adequacy to support the plants "screening-out" of performing seismic risk evaluations in accordance with the guidance in the "Seismic Evaluation Guidance: Screening, Prioritization and Implementation Details (SPID)3. Following an NRC staff screening and prioritization review, the staff agreed with these licensees that their facilities "screened-out" for seismic risk evaluation by demonstrating that the plant met the SPID screening criteria 1 The May 7, 2013, endorsement letter is available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession No. ML13106A331.

2 Enclosure 1 provides reference to licensee March 2014 Seismic Hazard and Screening Reports, NRC letters on the IPEEE adequacy review, licensee commitment change letters, and licensee corrective actions associated with the reevaluated hazard.

3 The SPID guidance document is found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12333A170. The staff endorsement letter for the SPID guidance is found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12319A074.

associated with the capacity spectra from the IPEEE program and that the demonstrated plant capacity exceeds the new ground motion response spectrum (GMRS).

REVIEW OF REGULATORY COMMITMENT CHANGE AND RELIEF FROM INTERIM MEASURES Licensees with a GMRS exceeding the design-basis safe shutdown earthquake, in their March 2014 seismic hazard reevaluation reports had committed to perform the ESEP in accordance with the methodology in the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) [Document No.]

3002000704, "Augmented Approach, Seismic Evaluation Guidance: Augmented Approach for the Resolution of Fukushima Near-Term Task Force Recommendation 2.1: Seismic"4. The ESEP was developed to address the higher seismic hazard and demonstrate seismic margin while more detailed and comprehensive plant seismic risk evaluations are being performed.

Subsequently, the staff has reviewed the seismic hazards reports and has determined that the licensees listed in the enclosure have demonstrated that their plant meets the SPID screening criteria associated with of their IPEEE program review and no seismic risk evaluation would be required.

By letters dated August 29, 2014 through November 4, 20142, these licensees notified NRC that they were revising their ESEP commitments. These licensees stated that their previous IPEEE evaluations demonstrate capacities above the GMRS and therefore, there is no significant safety benefit from performing the ESEP. Because of the reasons stated above, the licensees listed in Enclosure 2, do not intend to perform the ESEP for their specified plants.

The NRC staff has reviewed the information received and concludes that the information provided to justify the reasons for not performing the ESEP is sufficient.

ALIGNMENT WITH MITIGATION STRATEGIES ORDER EA-12-0495 Licensees, included in Enclosure 2, have concluded the IPEEE insights and margins for installed plant equipment including previously existing equipment now used for Phase 1 of the licensee's Mitigation Strategies are seismically robust to the higher hazard. Licensees are encouraged to implement corrective actions consistent with their Mitigation Strategies Overall Integrated Plans to harden newly installed equipment (if applicable and necessary), maintain the robustness of equipment to the higher seismic hazard, and evaluate newly installed equipment mitigation strategies equipment not part of the IPEEE reviews to demonstrate their ability to cope with the higher seismic hazard. Further requirements on the seismic qualification of equipment are being considered in the on-going rulemaking on mitigation of beyond-design-basis events.

Based on the discussion above, the NRC concludes that the revised regulatory commitments are acceptable.

4 EPRI 3002000704 can be found under ADAMS Accession No. ML14204A619.

5 Order EA-12-049, Issuance of Order to Modify Licenses with regard to requirements for Mitigation Strategies for Beyond-Design-Basis External Events, can be found under ADAMS Accession No. ML12054A735 If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Nicholas DiFrancesco at 301-415-1115 or via e-mail at Nicholas.Difrancesco@nrc.gov.

Enclosures:

1. Correspondence Associated with Commitment Change Requests

2. List of Addressees cc w/encls: Distribution via Listserv Jack R. Davis, Director Japan Lessons-Learned Division Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Correspondence Associated with Seismic Screening. IPEEE Seismic Adequacy, Expedited Seismic Evaluation Process Commitments Change Letters. and Overall Integrated Plan Corrective Action for Central and Eastern United States Reactor Sites March 2014 - Licensee NRC final screening ESEP Licensee Re-evaluated Seismic determination and IPEEE Commitment EA-12-049 Hazard and Screening Seismic Adequacy Change Letter Overall Integrated Plan Report Acceptance Letter Reference to Corrective Action Date of letter Date of letter Date of letter Date of letter Plant Name (ADAMS Nos.)

(ADAMS Nos.)

(ADAMS Nos.)

(ADAMS Nos.)

Arkansas Nuclear One, March 28, 2014 November 21, 2014 November 4, 2014 February 28, 2013 Units 1 and 2 (ML14092A021)

(ML14246A428)

(ML14308A212)

Enclosure Page 4 of 51 (ML13063A151)

Byron Station, March 31, 2014 May 9, 2014 August29, 2014 August 28, 2014 Units 1 and 2 (ML14091A010)

(ML14111A147)

(ML14241A563)

Page 3 of 67 (ML14248A229)

Fort Calhoun Station, March 31, 2014 September 22, 2014 October 22, 2014 February 28, 2013 Unit 1 (ML14097A087)

(ML14224A526)

(ML14297A332)

Enclosure Page 4 of 47 Cover letter (ML13064A298)

Enclosure (ML13092A270, non-public)

March 2014 - Licensee NRC final screening ESEP Licensee Re-evaluated Seismic determination and IPEEE Commitment EA-12-049 Hazard and Screening Seismic Adequacy Change Letter Overall Integrated Plan Report Acceptance Letter Reference to Corrective Action Date of letter Date of letter Date of letter Date of letter Plant Name (ADAMS Nos.)

(ADAMS Nos.)

(ADAMS Nos.)

(ADAMS Nos.)

Millstone Power Station, March 31, 2014 Unit 2:

July 21, 2014 February 28, 2013 Units 2 and 3 (ML14092A417)

November 21, 2014 (ML14204A619)

(ML14246A428)

Page 5 of 109 (ML13064A265)

Unit 3:

May 9, 2014 (ML14111A147)

I Salem Nuclear March 31, 2014 October 3, 2014 October 20, 2014 February 28, 2013 Generating Station, (ML14090A043)

(ML14258A043)

(ML14303A027)

Units 1 and 2 Page 4 of 56 (ML130590378)

Susquehanna Steam March 26, 2014 May 9, 2014 August28, 2014 February 28, 2013 Electric Station, (ML14086A163)

(ML14111A147)

(ML14241A307)

Units 1 and 2 Page 6 of 63 Cover letter (ML13060A357)

(ML16060A358 non-public)

Arkansas Nuclear One Entergy Operations, Inc.

Docket Nos. 50-313 and 50-368 License No. DPR-51 and NPF-6 Vice President, Operations Arkansas Nuclear One Entergy Operations, Inc.

1448 S.R. 333 Russellville, AR 72802 Byron Station Exelon Generation Company, LLC Docket Nos. 50-454 and 50-455 License Nos. NPF-37 and NPF-66 Mr. Michael J. Pacilio President and Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Fort Calhoun Station Omaha Public Power District Docket No. 50-285 License No. DPR-40 Mr. Louis Cortopassi Site Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Omaha Public Power District Fort Calhoun Station Mail Stop FC-2-4 961 0 Power Lane Blair, NE 68008 List of Addressees Millstone Power Station Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.

Docket No. 50-336 and 50-423 License No. DPR-65 and NPF-49 Mr. David A. Heacock President and Chief Nuclear Officer Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.

lnnsbrook Technical Center 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060 Salem Nuclear Generating Station PSEG Nuclear LLC Docket Nos. 50-272 and 50-311 License No. DPR-70 and DPR-75 Mr. Thomas Joyce President and Chief Nuclear Officer PSEG Nuclear LLC-N09 P. 0. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Susquehanna Steam Electric Station PPL Susquehanna, LLC Docket Nos. 50-387 and 50-388 License No. NPF-14 and NPF22 Mr. Timothy S. Rausch Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer PPL Susquehanna, LLC 769 Salem Boulevard NUCSB3 Berwick, PA 18603-0467

ML14310A033 OFFICE NRR/JLD/JHMB/PM NRR/JLD/JHMB/LA NAME FVega SLent DATE 12/08/14 11/18/14 OFFICE NRO/DSENRGS1

• OGC (NLO)

NAME DJackson BHarris DATE 12/03/14 11/24/14 OFFICE NRR/JLD/JOMB/BC NRR/JLD/JCBB/BC NAME CRoque-Cruz SBailey DATE 12/08/14 12/03/14