ML18022A412
| ML18022A412 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Harris  |
| Issue date: | 09/12/1986 |
| From: | Buckley B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Bowman K AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8609190019 | |
| Download: ML18022A412 (10) | |
Text
September 12, 1986 DISTRIBUTION YT 869395
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w/incomingp NRC PDR w/incoming HDenton/RYpllmer L PDR w/incoming DMi 1 1 er H/iKCrR4~
Ms. Kathryn J.
- Bowman, RN MSN TNovak AJohnson (2)
Route 4, Box 558 DMossburg Pittsboro, North Carolina 27312 PPAS LRubenstein Dear Ms.
Bowman:
BBuckley I am pleased to respond to your letter dated June 3, 1986, addressed to Mr. Denton, which was referred to me for reply, in which you expressed certain concerns regarding the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant.
Specifically, you stated that "Carolina Power and Light has not conducted a full participation test of the present emergency plan."
You also stated that you "would appreciate receiving information on the nuclear regulatory process."
In response to your statement that Carolina Power and Light (CPImL) has not conducted a full participation test of the present emergency plan, there was a full participation exercise conducted May 17-18, 1985, in which the State of North Carolina, and Wake,
- Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties participated.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that, based on a review of the exercise, the state and local emergency plans are adequate and capable of being implemented, and the exercise demonstrated that offsite preparedness is adequate to provide reasonable assurance that appropriate measures can be taken to protect the health and safety of the public living in the vicinity of the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant in the event of a radiological emergency.
Regarding your request to receive information on the nuclear regulatory process, enclosed is general information that may be helpful to you.
I hope that this letter has been responsive to your concerns.
Sincerely,
Enclosure:
As stated Bart C. Buckley, Senior Project Manager PWR Project Directorate No.
2 Division of PWR Licensing-A Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation DM er 9/ P/86 PM:PAD¹2 JGuillen 9/~."+86 PM:
BBuckley 9/ t'86 PD:P
¹2 LRubenstein 9/~q/86 860915'0019 860912 PDR ADOCK 05000400 H
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THE REACTOR LICENSING PROCESS The Nuclear Regulatory Conmission (NRC) is responsible for, among other things, the licensing and regulation of nuclear power plants.
Before a nuclear power plant can be built at a particular site, the applicant must obtain a construction permit from the NRC.
As a major part of the application for a construction permit, an applicant must file a Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR).
This document presents the design criteria and preliminary design information for the proposed reactor and comprehensive data on the proposed site.
The report also discusses various hypothetical accident situations and the safety features which will be provided to prevent accidents or, if they should occur, to mitigate their effects on both the public and the facility's employees.
In addition, the applicant must submit a comprehensive Environmental Report providing a basis for the evaluation of the environmental impact of the proposed plant.
Further, information must be submitted by the applicant for use by the Attorney General and the NRC staff in their reviews of the antitrust aspects of the proposed plant.
An applicant for a construction permit for a nuclear power plant may tender the required information in three parts.
One part is accompanied by the Environmental Report (ER) and site suitability information and another part by the PSAR.
Tendering of the first part may precede the tendering of the other by no longer than six (6) months.
Whichever of the above parts is tendered first must also include the fee and other general and financial information.
The third part, consisting of antitrust information, is tendered 9-36 months prior to the other information in order for the Attorney General and the NRC staff to begin the antitrust review.
Some time during the period that the applicant is preparing its application for a construction permit, usually about 6-12 months prior to tendering, the NRC staff holds a general introductory meeting in the area of the proposed site in order to familiarize the public with the safety and environmental aspects of the proposed application, including the planned location and type of plant, the regulatory process, and the provisions for public participation in the licensing process.
Additional public meetings of this kind, that is, those which are conducted specifically for the convenience of public observation and participation, are held during the course of the reactor licensing process.
When an application is submitted, it is first subjected to an acceptance review by the NRC staff to determine whether it contains sufficient infor-mation to satisfy the Commission requirements for a detailed review.
If the application is not sufficiently complete, the staff makes specific
requests for additional information.
The application is formally accepted by NRC only if it meets certain minimum acceptance criteria.
In addition, when the PSAR is submitted, a substantive review and inspection of the applicant's quality assurance
- program, covering design and procurement, is conducted.
Guides for the preparation of the documents have been developed by the NRC Staff to aid applicants in preparing acceptable applications.
As soon as an application for a construction permit is received by NRC, copies are placed in the NRC Public Document Room.
As soon as the ER or PSAR or early site information is received, copies are also placed in Public Document Rooms local to the proposed site.
Copies of all future correspondence and documents relating to the application are placed in these locations and are available to every member of the public.
- Also, a
press release announcing receipt of the application is issued by the NRC.
Upon docketing (acceptance) of the applicant's application for a con-struction permit, copies are sent to Federal,
- State, and local officials and a notice of its receipt is published in the Federal R~e ister The application is reviewed to determine that the plant design is consistent with NRC requirements.
Design methods and procedures of calculations are examined to establish their validity.
Checks of actual calculations and other procedures of design and analysis are made by the staff to establish the validity of the applicant's design and to determine that the applicant has conducted his analysis and evaluation in sufficient depth and breadth to support required findings with respect to safety.
During the staff 's review, the applicant is required to provide such additional information as is needed to complete the evaluation.
The principal features of the staff's review can be sumarized as follows:
l.
A review is made of the population density and use characteristics of the site environs, and the physical characteristics of the
- site, including seismology, meteorology, geology and hydrology, to determine that these characteristics have been evaluated adequately and have been given appropriate consideration in the plant design, and that the site characteristics are in accordance with the siting criteria (10 CFR Part 100), taking into consideration the design of the facility including the engineered safety features provided.
2.
A review is performed of the preliminary facility design, and of proposed programs for fabrication, construction and testing of the plant structures,
- systems, and components important to safety to determine that they are in accord with NRC requirements and that any departures from these requirements have been identified and justified.
3, Evaluations are made of the anticipated response of the reactor to various postualted operating transients and to a broad spectrum of hypothetical accidents.
The potential consequences of these hypothetical accidents are then evaluated conservatively to determine that the calculated potential offsite doses that might result, in the very unlikely event of their occurrence, would not exceed the NRC guidelines, for site acceptability.
4.
A review is made of the applicant's proposed plans for the conduct of plant operations including the organizational structure, the technical qualifications of operating and technical support personnel, the measures taken for industrial security, and the planning for emergency actions to be taken in the unlikely event of an accident that might affect the general public.
An important aspect of this review includes an assessment of the applicant's proposed programs for quality assurance and quality control to assure compliance with the Conmission's requirements.
These reviews form the basis for determining whether the applicant is technically qualified to operate the plant and whether it has established effective organizations and plans for safe operation of the plant.
5.
Evaluations are made of the design of the proposed systems provided for control of the radiological effluents from the plant to determine that these systems can control the release of radioactive wastes from the plant within the limits specified by NRC requirements and that the applicant will operate the plant in such a manner as to reduce radioactive releases to levels that are as low as is reasonably achievable.
This review is conducted by members of the NRC staff and its consultants over a period of about one to two years.
The staff and applicant interact frequently during the course of the review in working type meetings.
At these meetings information is exchanged, problems are discussed and resolved and staff positions are clarified.
Intervenors and other interested members of the public are generally invited to staff-applicant meetings as observers.
The review process 'includes the consideration of programs proposed by an applicant for a construction permit to verify plant design features and to confirm design margins.
The review process includes considerat on of basic research and development programs necessary to assure the resolution of safety questions associated with safety features or components.
The applicant must identify any research and development work that will be conducted to confirm the adequacy or to resolve any safety questions associated with the design of a particular facility, along with a schedule for completion of that research and development work.
All such safety questions must be resolved prior to operation of the facility. After completion of consturction, nuclear power plants are subject to operating license procedures and requirements.
Data obtained from research and development programs on particular facilities and from the Comnission's safety research program are factored into these licensing reviews.
When the review and evaluation of the application progresses to the point that the staff concludes that acceptable criteria, preliminary design information and financial information are documented adequately in the application, a Safety Evaluation Report is prepared.
This report represents a summary of the review and evaluation of the application by the staff relative to the anticipated effect of the proposed facility on the public health and safety.
The Advisory Coamittee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS),
an independent statutory comnittee established to provide advice to the NRC on reactor
- safety, reviews each application for a construction permit for a nuclear power plant.
The ACRS is composed of a maximum of fifteen members who, though not NRC employees, are appointed by the NRC for terms of four years each.
The members are experienced, technically trained individuals selected from various technical disciplines, having applicable experience in industry, research activities, and in the academic area.
The ACRS also makes use of consultants in specialized technical disciplines.
As soon as an application for a construction permit is docketed, copies of the PSAR are provided to the ACRS.
Each application is assigned to an ACRS subcoamittee, usually made up of four to five ACRS members.
During the course of the review by the staff, the ACRS is kept informed of the staff 's requests for additional information from the applicant and of meetings
- held, so that the subcomnittee is aware of any developments that may warrant a change in the plant.
In those cases where the plant is a "standard design" and the site appears generally acceptable, the subcomnittee review does not begin until the staff has nearly completed its detailed review of all the safety-related features of the plant.
Where new or modified concepts or special site considerations are involved, the ACRS subcomnittee begins its formal review earlier in the process, selecting appropriate stages in the staff review to begin a series of meetings with the applicant and staff.
Normally, before the full Coneittee considers a project, the staff provides its Safety Evaluation Report (SER) for the Committee's informa.ion.
This staff report and the report of the ACRS subcommittee form the basis for Committee consideration of a project.
Special attention is given to those items which are of particular safety significance for the reactor involved and any new or advanced features proposed by the applicant.
The full Comnittee meets at least once with the staff and with the applicant to discuss the application.
These meetings are open to the public.
When the Cormittee has completed its review, its report is submitted to the NRC in the form of a letter to the Chairman, which is made public.
The staff prepares one or more supplements to the Safety Evaluation Report to address the safety issues raised by the ACRS in its report and to include any other information made available since issuance of the original Safety Evaluation Report.
Either concurrently with or separately from the radiological safety
- review, an environmental review is performed by the staff and its consultants to evaluate the potential environmental impact of the proposed plant, as well as to provide comparisons between the benefits to be derived and the possible risk to the environment.
After completion of this review, a Draft Environmental Statement (DES), containing conclusions on environmental
- matters, is issued.
The DES is circulated for review and comnents by the appropriate
- Federal, State and local'gencies as well as by private individuals and organizations.
After receipt of all comments and resolution of any outstanding
- issues, a Final Environmental Statement (FES) is issued and also is made public.
The SER and its supplements and the FES constitute the staff 's primary evidence at the subsequent public hearings.
The law requires that a public hearing be held before a construction permit may be issued for a nuclear power plant.
Soon. after an application is docketed the NRC issues a notice of the hearing which will be held after completion of the NRC staff safety and environmental reviews.
In addition, the hearing is noticed in several newspapers in the vicinity of the proposed plant and a public announcement is issued by the NRC.
Opportunity is afforded for members of the public to participate in the hearing.
Members of the public may submit written statements to the licensing board to be entered into the hearing record, they may appear to give direct statements at the hearing, or they may petition for leave to intervene as full parties in the hearing.
At an early stage in the review process, potential intervenors are invited to meet informally and discuss with the staff their concerns with respect to the proposed facility.
The public hearing is conducted by a three-member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board appointed from the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel.
The board is composed of'ne lawyer, who acts as chair-
- person, and two technically qualified persons.
The hearing may be a combined safety and environmental hearing or, in the case of a split application, separate hearings.
The board considers all the evidence which has been presented, together with findings of fact and conclusions of law filed by the parties and issues an initial decision.
If the initial decision regarding NEPA and safety matters is favorable, a con-struction permit is issued to the applicant by the Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
The board's initial decision is subject to review by an Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board and the Coomission.
NRC regulations provide that the Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation may authorize limited construction work to be carried out prior to the issuance of the construction permit.
This authorization is known as a Limited Work Authorization (LWA). ~ The regulations provide for the authorization of two types of work.
One type may authorize site preparation work, installation of temporary construction support facilities, excavation, construction of service facilities and certain other construction not subject to the quality assurance requirements.
The second type of LWA may authorize the installation of structural foundations.
An LWA may be granted only after the licensing board has made all of the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) findings required by the Comnission's regulations for the issuance of a construction permit and has determined that there is reasonable assurance that the proposed site is a suitable location for a nuclear power reactor of the general size and type proposed from a radio'.ogical health and safety standpoint.
'The second type may be granted if, in addition to the findings described
- above, the hearing board determines that there are no unresolved safety issues relating to the work to be authorized.
The law requires that antitrust aspects of a nuclear power plant license application must be considered in the licensing process.
The antitrust information submitted by the applicant is sent to the Attorney General for advice on whether activities under the proposed license would create or maintain a situation inconsistent with the antitrust laws.
Upon receipt, the Attorney General's advice is promptly published and opportunity is provided for members of the public to raise antitrust issues.
An antitrust hearing may be held based on the recomnendation of the Attorney General or on the petition of an interested party.
In any event, the NRC must make a finding on antitrust matters.
Antitrust hearings are held separately from hearings on environmental and safety matters.
When the construction of the nuclear plant has progressed to the point where final design information and plans for operation are ready, the applicant submits the Final Safety Analysis Report in support of an application for an operating license.
The FSAR sets forth the pertinent details on the final design of the facility, including final containment
- design, design of the nuclear core, and waste handling system.
The FSAR also provides plans for operation and procedures for coping with emergencies.
Again the staff makes a detailed review of the information.
Amendments to the application and reports may be submitted from time to time.
The staff again prepares a Safety Evaluation Report (re the operating license)
- and, as during the construction permit stage, the ACRS makes an independent evaluation and presents its advice to the Coomission.
A public hearing is not mandatory with respect to an operating license
- application.
- However, soon after acceptance for review of the operating license application, the Comnission publishes notice that it is considering issuance of the license.
The notice provides that any person whose interest might be affected by the proceeding may petition the NRC for a hearing.
If a public hearing is held, the same decision process described for the construction permit hearing is applicable.
Each license for operation of a nuclear reactor contains Technical Specifications, which set forth the particular safety and environmental protection measures to be imposed upon the plant, and the conditions of its operation that are to be met in order to assure protection of the health and safety of the public and of the surrounding environment.
Through its inspection and enforcement program, the NRC maintains surveillance over construction and operation of a plant throughout its lifetime to assure compliance with Commission regulations for the protection of public health and safety and the environment.
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