ML17073A065

Acceptance of Requested Licensing Action - License Amendment Request Regarding Measurement Uncertainty Recapture Power Uprate

ML17073A065
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom
Issue date:	03/20/2017
From:	Richard Ennis Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:	Bryan Hanson Exelon Nuclear
Ennis R, NRR/DORL/LPL1, 415-1420
References
CAC MF9289, CAC MF9290
Download: ML17073A065 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 March 20, 2017 Mr. Bryan C. Hanson President and Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Nuclear 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555

SUBJECT:

PEACH BOTTOM ATOMIC POWER STATION, UNITS 2 AND 3-ACCEPTANCE OF REQUESTED LICENSING ACTION-LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST REGARDING MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTY RECAPTURE POWER UPRATE (CAC NOS. MF9289 AND MF9290)

Dear Mr. Hanson:

By letter dated February 17, 2017 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML17048A444), Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Exelon) submitted a license amendment request for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station (PBAPS), Units 2 and 3.

The amendments would revise the Renewed Facility Operating Licenses and Technical Specifications (TSs) to implement a measurement uncertainty recapture (MUR) power uprate.

Specifically, the amendments would authorize an increase in the maximum licensed thermal power level from 3,951 megawatts thermal (MWt) to 4,016 MWt, which is an increase of approximately 1.66 percent.

The purpose of this letter is to provide the results of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff's acceptance review of this amendment request. The acceptance review was performed to determine if there is sufficient technical information in scope and depth to allow the NRC staff to complete its detailed technical review. The acceptance review is also intended to identify whether the application has any readily apparent information insufficiencies in its characterization of the regulatory requirements or the licensing basis of the plant.

Consistent with Section 50.90 of Title 1O of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), an amendment to the license (including the TSs) must fully describe the changes requested, and following, as far as applicable, the form prescribed for original applications. Section 50.34 of 10 CFR addresses the content of technical information required. This section stipulates that the submittal address the design and operating characteristics, unusual or novel design features, and principal safety considerations.

The NRC staff has reviewed your application and concluded that it does provide technical information in sufficient detail to enable the staff to proceed with its detailed technical review and make an independent assessment regarding the acceptability of the proposed amendment request in terms of regulatory requirements and the protection of public health and safety and the environment. Given the lesser scope and depth of the acceptance review, as compared to the detailed technical review, there may be instances in which issues that impact the NRC staff's ability to complete the detailed technical review are identified, despite completion of an adequate acceptance review. You will be advised of any further information needed to support the NRC staff's detailed technical review by separate correspondence.

B. Hanson As discussed in SECY-13-0070, "Status Report on Power Uprates," dated June 25, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13098A298), the NRC's timeliness goal for MUR power uprate reviews is to complete its review within 9 months after the application is accepted for review.

However, as discussed in Section 1.0 of Attachment 1 to your application, the generic applicability of the NRG-approved General Electric (GE) licensing topical report (LTR) for MU Rs, which supports the license amendment request, is limited to a maximum rated thermal power level of 120 percent of the original licensed thermal power (OLTP) level. The LTR states that plants seeking an MUR uprate that would result in the licensed thermal power level in excess of 120 percent of OLTP must provide plant-specific evaluations for those evaluations not performed at 102 percent of the current licensed thermal power (CLTP) level. Based on previous power uprates, the PBAPS, Units 2 and 3, CLTP level of 3,951 MWt is 120 percent of the OLTP level of 3,293 MWt. The proposed MUR power uprate power level of 4,016 MWt is approximately 122 percent of the OLTP level. As such, consistent with the requirements in the GE LTR, Exelon has provided additional plant-specific evaluations to support the amendment request. During the pre-application meeting on April 26, 2016 (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML16119A372), the NRC staff indicated that due to this additional scope of review from a typical MUR, the review may exceed the NRC's goal of 9 months after acceptance. Consistent with the discussions during the pre-application meeting, Exelon requested in its application that the NRC staff complete its review within 12 months.

Based on the information provided in your submittal, the NRC staff has estimated that this request will take approximately 2, 145 hours6.042 days <br />0.863 weeks <br />0.199 months <br /> to complete. Although the staff is currently forecasting completion of the review within 9 months from the date of this letter, if there are emergent complexities or challenges in our review that would cause changes to the initial forecasted completion date or significant changes in the forecasted hours (e.g., issues involving review of the plant-specific information discussed above), the reasons for the changes, along with the new estimates, will be communicated during our routine interactions.

These estimates are based on the NRC staff's initial review of the application, and they could change due to several factors, including requests for additional information, unanticipated addition of scope to the review, and review by NRC advisory committees or hearing-related activities.

If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-1420 or Rick.Ennis@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, Richard B. Ennis, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 1-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-277 and 50-278

ML17073A065 OFFICE DORL/LPL 1/PM DORL/LPL 1/LA DORL/LPL 1/BC DORL/LPL 1/PM NAME REnnis LRonewicz JDanna REnnis DATE 03/17/2017 03/17/2017 03/17/2017 03/20/17