ML17158C082
| ML17158C082 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Susquehanna  |
| Issue date: | 04/21/1997 |
| From: | Poslusny C NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned) |
| To: | Byram R PENNSYLVANIA POWER & LIGHT CO. |
| References | |
| TAC-M98402, NUDOCS 9704230240 | |
| Download: ML17158C082 (10) | |
Text
April 21, 7
Mr. Robert G.
Byram
'Senior Vice President-Nuclear Pennsylvania Power and Light Company
- 2. North Ninth Street Allentown, PA 18101
SUBJECT:
PUBLIC NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR AMENDMENT TO OPERATING LICENSE FOR SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 2 (TAC NO. M98402)
Dear Mr. Byram:
The enclosed announcement has been forwarded to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader and the Berwick Press Enterprise for publication.
This announcement relates to your application dated April 16, 1997, for an amendment to Facility Operating License No.
DPR-22, to authorize the use of ATRIUM-10 fuel in Conditions 3 and 4.
A separate notice will be published later in the Federal Receister concerning the revision to the Design Features Section 5.3 of the Technical Specifications.
Sincerely,
/s/
Docket No. 50-388
Enclosure:
Announcement Chester
- Poslusny, Senior Project Manager Project Directorate I-2 Division of Reactor Projects
- I/II Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation lelJ'Ftl(K CENrm COlI V cc w/enclosure:
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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON> D.C. 20555-0001 April 21, 1997 Hr. Robert G.
Byram Senior Vice President-Nuclear Pennsylvania Power and Light Company 2 North Ninth Street Allentown.
PA 18101
SUBJECT:
PUBLIC NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR AMENDMENT TO OPERATING LICENSE FOR SUSQUEHANNA STEAN ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 2 (TAC NO. M98402)
Dear Hr. Byram:
The enclosed announcement has been forwarded to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader and the Berwick Press Enterprise for publication.
This announcement relates to your application dated April 16, 1997, for an amendment to Facility Operating License No. DPR-22. to authorize the use of ATRIUM-10 fuel in Conditions 3 and 4.
A separate notice will be published later in the Federai Receister concerning the revision to the Design Features Section 5.3 of the Technical Speci ficati ons.
Sincerely.
Docket No. 50-388
Enclosure:
Announcement cc w/enclosure:
See next page Chester Poslusny.
Senior Project Manager Project Directorate I-2 Division of Reactor Projects -,I/II Office of Nuclear Reactor Regul'ation
~ 'r. Robert G.
Byram Pennsylvania Power
& Light Company Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1
& 2 CC:
Jay Silberg, Esq.
- Shaw, Pittman, Potts
& Trowbridge 2300 N Street N.W.
'ashington.
D.C.
20037 Bryan A. Snapp, Esq.
Assistant Corporate Counsel Pennsylvania Power
& Light Company 2 North Ninth Street Allentown, Pennsylvania 18101 Mr. J.
M. Kenny Licensing Group Supervisor Pennsylvania Power
& Light Company 2 North Ninth Street Allentown, Pennsylvania l8101 Mr. K. Jenison Senior Resident Inspector U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.O.
Box 35 Berwick, Pennsylvania 18603-0035 Mr. William P. Dornsife, Director Bureau of Radiation Protection Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources P. 0.
Box 8469 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105-8469 r
Mr. Jesse C. Tilton, III Allegheny Elec. Cooperative, Inc.
212 Locust Street P.O.
Box 1266 Har risburg, Pennsyl vania 17108-1266 Regional Administrator, Region I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406 Mr. George Kuczynski Plant Manager Susquehanna Steam Electric Station Pennsylvania Power and Light Company Box 467 Berwick, Pennsylvania 18603 Mr. Herbert D. Woodeshick Special Office of the President Pennsylvania Power and Light Company Rural Route 1.
Box 1797 Berwick, Pennsylvania 18603 George T. Jones Vice President-Nuclear Operations Pennsylvania Power and Light Company 2 North Ninth Street Allentown, Pennsylvania 18101 Dr. Judith Johnsrud National Energy Committee Sierra Club 433 Orlando Avenue State College.
PA 16803 Chairman Board of Supervisors 738 East Third Street
- Berwick, PA 18603
PUBLIC NOTICE NRC STAFF PROPOSES TO AMEND OPERATING LICENSES AT THE SUS(UEHANNA STEN ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 2 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has received an application dated April 16,
- 1997, from the Pennsylvania Power 8 Light Company (PPEL), for an emergency amendment to the operating license for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES),
Unit 2, located, in Luzerne County, PA.
The proposed amendment which was requested to be processed on an emergency basis, would change the footnote in the Design Features Section 5.3.1 of the Technical Specifications (TS) to allow the use of ATRIUN-10 fuel in Operational Conditions 3 and 4, hot shutdown and cold shutdown respectively.
PPKL had previously submitted a request on December 18,
- 1996, for an amendment that would permit the use of ATRIUN-10 fuel in all operational conditions, but for reasons noted below, that amendment is still under staff review.
In the April 16, 1997, submittal, the licensee stated that the emergency request was precipitated by the unanticipated delay in the review and approval of the December 18, 1996, submittal.
The delay in the approval threatens the licensee's ability to complete the Unit 2 8th refueling and inspection outage as planned and a return of Unit 2 to full operation.
The current schedule would have had the plant entering Condition 4 on April 19, 1997.
PPRL noted that the need for the emergency TS change has arisen in part as a result of the NRC's conclusion that approval of.the December 18 amendment request necessitated an inspection at Siemens. Power Corporation (SPC).
Issues relating to the analytical basis for the use of ATRIUM-10 fuel related to the ANFB correlation were identified during a February inspection at (SPC) and have caused an unanticipated delay in the completion of the NRC's review of
the amendment request.
- Further, based on the number of outstanding staff questions during March, the licensee chose'not to request any changes to the current TS for Conditions 3, or 4 prior to this current submittal.
In addition, the licensee noted that new additional information was requested by the staff and was provided in two additional submittals related to the Safety Limits for Unit 2 Cycle 9 operation, on March 27 and April 9, 1997, that this has added to the dur ation of the staff review.
The NRC has found that the licensee has provided 'adequate justification for the staff to process this amendment in an exigent manner as provided in 10 CFR 50.91(a)(6).
The staff finds that the licensee could not have anticipated that the NRC would have had the specific types of problems with the new fuel design and concerns with the proposed SPC analytical'disposition of staff issues related to flow power correlation concerns.
Recent requests for information have required that the licensee perform additional supporting analyses and has required an additional change to a
TS limit.
The staff understands that PPEL has completed all planned refueling and maintenance activities for the.outage and awaits the staff approval of the Oecember 18, 1996 amendment request.
The staff review currently is near completion and there remains no significant concerns which would preclude approval at this point in time.
Nevertheless, the time needed to process the amendment for use of the fuel in all operational conditions will delay plant schedule restart and entry'nto conditions other than 5, refueling.
Therefore, the situation, as detailed
- above, could not have been reasonably avoided and PPEL and the Commission must act quickly.
The time remaining between now and the time that the unit would be placed in Condition 4 to
permit the initiation of the planned testing, April 19,
- 1997, does not permit the Commission to publish a federal
~e ister notice allowing 30 days for prior public comment.
The licensee and the NRC staff have evaluated this proposed change with regard to the determination of whether or not a significant hazards consideration is involved.
P Operation of SSES Unit 2, in accordance with the proposed amendments will not involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated.
"Due to the limitation of this proposed change to Operational Conditions 3 and 4, only a subset of the accident events analyzed in the FSAR
[Final Safety Analysis Report]
needed to be addressed.
All other events were considered and the addition of ATRIUM'-10fuel to the reactor core for operation in Operational Conditions 3 and 4 does not increase the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated.
Note that the use of ATRIUM'-10fuel in Operational Condition 5 (Refuel) has been previously approved by the NRC.
The use of ATRIUM'-10fuel in Operational Conditions 3 (Hot Shutdown) and 4 (Cold Shutdown) only increases the allowable temperatures and pressures of the coolant.
The reactor core will be restricted to subcritical operation.
Fuel vault and spent fuel pool criticality and the fuel handling evaluations performed to support NRC approval of ATRIUM'-10fuel in Operational Condition 5 are not affected by the proposed change.
The events considered are described below.
Because the shutdown margin is calculated for a coolant temperature of 68 F as defined in the Technical Specifications, the same shutdown margin analysis previously performed to support operation of ATRIUM "-10 in Condition 5 is applicable to operation in Operational Conditions 3
'nd 4.
As discussed in the previously approved submittal (PLA-4587),
core shutdown margin calculations were performed using NRC approved methodology for the beginning of cycle core configuration.
Validation of the shutdown margin methodology as it applies to ATRIUM'"-10 was done through comparisons to Siemens'ower Corporation
[SPC] analyses and higher-order Monte Carlo calculations.
Calculated core shutdown margin for the beginning of cycle core loading is greater than 1.00K [delta]k/k which far exceeds the Technical Specification value of 0.38X[delta]k/k.
Therefore, the ATRIUM "-10 fuel can be used in U2C9 [Unit 2 Cycle 9] in Operational Conditions 3 and 4 with assurance that the core will remain subcritical with the strongest worth rod withdrawn.
A positive core shutdown margin assures protection against the control rod removal error
during refueling (FSAR Section 15.4. 1. 1) because subcriticality is maintained.
Since in Operational Conditions 3 and 4 the reactor can be at higher temperatures and pressures than the previously approved Operational Condition 5, the impact of an unplanned blowdown was considered.
In case of an unplanned blowdown, the reactor will remain subcritical and no adverse safety consequences would result.
Also, since the ATRIUH'-
10 fuel will remain subcritical in Operational Conditions 3 and 4, there will be no accumulation of fission products in the fuel.
The NRC approved methodology for ensuring fuel bundle integrity is discussed (via reference) in the current Technical Specification Section 6.9.3.2 (Topical Report 022 [21]).
[Siemens Power Corporation]
mechanical design calculations, performed using NRC approved methodology, demonstrate that ATRIUH'-10 complies with the NRC approved criteria in all Operational Conditions.
The NRC has approved of the use of the criteria document for ATRIUH'-'10fuel.
Thus the ATRIUH'-10fuel will maintain its structural integrity during operation in Operational Conditions 3 and 4.
Based on the foregoing, the proposed action does not involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated."
The proposed amendments will not create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any previously analyzed.
"The use of ATRIUM'"-10 fuel in Operational Condition 5 IRefuel) has been previously approved by the NRC.
The use of ATRIUH'-10 fuel in Operational Conditions 3 (Hot Shutdown) and 4 (Cold Shutdown) only increases the allowable temperatures and pressures of the coolant.
The reactor core will be restricted to subcritical operation.
Fuel vault and spent fuel pool criticality and the fuel handling evaluations performed to support NRC approval of ATRIUH'-10fuel in Operational Condition 5 are not affected by the proposed change.
Shutdown margin is calculated using NRC approved methods and is shown to be well above the Technical Specification Limit of 0.38X and the mechanical design meets the NRC approved criteria in Technical Specification Section 6.9.3.2 (Topical Report 822 [21]).
Because these analyses have been previously approved by the NRC to support operation of the ATRIUH'"-10 fuel in Operational Condition 5, the proposed change does not create the possibility of a new or different kind of. accident from any accident previously evaluated."
The proposed amendment will not involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety.
"The use of ATRIUR'-10fuel in Operational Condition 5 fRefuel) has been previously approved by the NRC.
The use of ATRIUM'10 fuel in Operational Conditions 3 (Hot Shutdown) and 4 (Cold Shutdown) only increases the allowable temperatures and pressures of the coolant.
The reactor core will be restricted to 'subcritical operation.
In the event of an unplanned blowdown, the fuel will remain subcritical.
Fuel vault and spent fuel pool criticality and the fuel handling evaluations performed to support NRC approval of ATRIUM'-10
'uel in Operational Condition 5 are not affected by the proposed change.
Shutdown margin is calculated using NRC approved methods and is shown to be well above the Technical Specification Limit of 0.38X and the mechanical design meets the NRC approved criteria in Technical Specification Section 6.9.3.2 (Topical Report 0'22 [21]).
Because these analyses have been previously approved by the NRC to support operation of the ATRIUM'"-10 fuel in Operational Condition 5, the proposed change does not involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety."
Following an initial review of this application, the requested amendment has been evaluated against the standards in 10 CFR 50.92 and the NRC staff has made a proposed (preliminary) determination that the requested amendment involves no significant hazards considerations.
The changes do not significantly increase the probability or,consequences of any accident previously considered, nor create the possibility of an accident of a different kind, nor significantly decrease any margin of safety.
If the proposed determination that the requested license amendment involves no significant hazards consideration becomes final, the staff will issue the amendment without first offering an opportunity for a public hearing.
An opportunity for a hearing will be published in the ~ederal
~Re ister at a later date and any hearing request will not delay the effective date of the amendment.
If the staff decides in its final determination that the amendment does involve a significant hazards consideration, a notice of opportunity for a prior hearing will be published in the Federal
~Re ister and, if a hearing is
granted, it will be held before the amendment is issued.
Comments on the proposed determination of no significant hazards consideration may be telephoned to John Stolz; Director, Project Directorate I-2, by collect call to 301-415-1430.
All comments received by close of business on April 24, 1997, will be considered in reaching a final determi'nation.
A copy of the application may be examined at the NRC's Local Public Document Room located at the Osterhout Free Library, Reference Department, 71 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 and at the Commission's Public Document
- Room, 2010 L Street, Gelman Building, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.
20555.