ML17226A320
| ML17226A320 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  (DPR-020) |
| Issue date: | 08/21/2017 |
| From: | Scott Wall Plant Licensing Branch III |
| To: | Entergy Nuclear Operations |
| Wall S | |
| References | |
| CAC MG0021 | |
| Download: ML17226A320 (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 August 21, 2017
SUBJECT:
PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT-ACCEPTANCE OF REQUESTED LICENSING ACTION, PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS SECTION OF THE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR PERMANENTLY DEFUELED CONDITION (CAC NO. MG0021)
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 (10 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, Entergy intends to have certified fuel handlers facilitate activities associated with decommissioning and irradiated fuel handling and management.
By letter dated July 27, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17208A428}, Entergy submitted its license amendment request for changes to the Palisades Technical Specification Sections 1.0, "Use and Application," and 5.0, "Administrative Controls," to reflect the permanently defueled condition. 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.
Consistent with 1 O CFR 50.90, an amendment to the license (including the technical specifications) must fully describe the changes requested, and following as far as applicable, the form prescribed for original applications. The regulations under 1 O CFR 50.34 address 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 NRC staff to complete its detailed technical review and make an independent assessment regarding the acceptability of the proposed amendment 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. If additional information is needed, you will be advised by separate correspondence.
Based on the information provided in your submittal, the NRC staff has estimated that this licensing request will take approximately 200 hours0.00231 days <br />0.0556 hours <br />3.306878e-4 weeks <br />7.61e-5 months <br /> to complete. The NRC staff expects to complete this review in August 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.
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) 415-2855 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
ML17226A320 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LSPB/PM NAME SWall DATE 08/16/2017 OFFICE N RR/DORL/LS PB/BC NAME DBroaddus DATE 08/21/2017
- via email NRR/DORL/LSPB/LAiT*
I Betts 08/16/2017 NRR/DORL/LSPB/PM SWall 08/21/2017