ML17100A784
| ML17100A784 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 04/11/2017 |
| From: | Scott Wall Special Projects and Process Branch |
| To: | Entergy Nuclear Operations |
| Wall S, NRR/DORL/LSPB, 415-2855 | |
| References | |
| CAC MF9500 | |
| Download: ML17100A784 (3) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 Vice President, Operations Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
Palisades Nuclear Plant 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway Covert, Ml 49043-9530 April 11, 2017
SUBJECT:
PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT - ACCEPTANCE OF REQUESTED LICENSING ACTION REGARDING CERTIFIED FUEL HANDLER TRAINING AND RETRAINING PROGRAM (CAC NO. MF9500)
Dear Sir or Madam:
By letter dated January 4, 2017 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML17004A062), the licensee submitted Notification of Permanent Cessation of Power Operations for the Palisades Nuclear Plant (Palisades). In this letter, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the licensee), provided notification to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its intent to permanently cease power operations no later than October 1, 2018. After certifications of permanent cessation of power operations and permanent removal of fuel from the reactor vessel for Palisades are submitted in accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (1 O CFR), Section 50.82(a)(1 )(i) and (ii), the 1 O CFR Part 50 license will no longer authorize reactor operation or placement or retention of fuel in the reactor vessel. As a result, licensed reactor operators will no longer be required to support plant operating activities. Instead, approval of a Certified Fuel Handler (CFH) Training and Retraining Program is needed to facilitate activities associated with decommissioning and irradiated fuel handling and management.
By letter dated March 28, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17087A016), Entergy submitted the Palisades CFH Training and Retraining Program to the NRC for approval. The purpose of this letter is to provide the results of the NRC staff's acceptance review of this licensing action 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.
The licensee requested NRC approval of the Palisades CFH Training and Retraining Program to ensure that the monitoring, handling, storage, and cooling of irradiated fuel is performed in a safe manner. As defined in 1 O CFR Section 50.2, the CFH is a non-licensed operator who is qualified in accordance with a fuel handler training program approved by the NRC.
Non-licensed personnel are trained in accordance with 1 O CFR Section 50.120.
The NRC staff has reviewed your application and concluded that it does provide technical information in sufficient detail to enable the NRC staff to complete its detailed technical review and make an independent assessment regarding the acceptability of the proposed licensing action 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.
Based on the information provided in your submittal, the NRC staff has estimated that this licensing request will take approximately 120 hours0.00139 days <br />0.0333 hours <br />1.984127e-4 weeks <br />4.566e-5 months <br /> to complete. The NRC staff expects to complete this review in approximately 12 months, which is April 12, 2018. 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, the reasons for the changes, along with the new estimates, will be communicated during the routine interactions with the assigned project manager.
If you have any questions, please contact me at (301) 415-2855 or Scott.Wall@nrc.gov.
Docket No. 50-255 cc: Listserv Sincerely, Scott P. Wall, Senior Project Manager Special Projects and Process Branch Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
ML17100A784 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LSPB/PM NRR/DORL/LSPB/LA NRR/DORL/LSPB/BC NAME SWall JBurkhardt DBroaddus (Jlamb for)
DATE 4/11/17 04/11/17 4/11/17