ML18233A182

License Renewal Application Review Updated Budget Estimate and Status Letter (CAC Nos. MF9747 and MF9778)

ML18233A182
Person / Time
Site:	River Bend
Issue date:	08/23/2018
From:	Eric Oesterle NRC/NRR/DMLR/MRPB
To:	Maguire W Entergy Operations
Emmanuel Sayoc, NRR/DMLR/MRPB, 415-1924
References
CAC MF9747, CAC MF9748
Download: ML18233A182 (4)

Text

August 23, 2018 Mr. William F. Maguire Site Vice President River Bend Station, Unit 1 Entergy Operations, Inc.

5485 U.S. Highway 61 N St. Francisville, LA 70775

SUBJECT:

RIVER BEND STATION, UNIT 1 LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION REVIEW UPDATED BUDGET ESTIMATE AND STATUS LETTER (CAC NOS. MF9747 AND MF9778)

Dear Mr. Maguire:

By letter dated May 25, 2017 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML17153A282), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the staff) received the Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy) application for renewal of Operating License NPF-47 for River Bend Station, Unit 1 (RBS). The application was supplemented by letter dated August 1, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17213A064, Non-Public). On August 7, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17187A035), the application was accepted for review. The purpose of this letter is to provide the status of the license renewal application review for RBS.

In our acceptance letter dated August 7, 2017 (ML17187A035), the staff projected the project would take 18 months to complete with an estimated budget of $4,100,000. Overall the RBS license renewal application review has progressed smoothly with no remaining open or confirmatory items, and is on schedule for a Commission decision in February 2019, if not sooner. This is in part due to the effective coordination and responsiveness of Entergy staff with our review efforts. However, with respect to the budget, we are nearing 125% in hours charged to the project versus what was originally estimated. The total estimated hours for the project was approximately 14,600 and the current number of hours charged is about 17,700 (i.e.,

approximately 121% of the estimate). There are a number of reasons that are limited to the safety review that contributed to the license renewal review exceeding the estimate, including:

• the staff utilized a new review model that front-end loads the safety review to complete the staffs review and issue the SER with no open items earlier than previous license renewal projects, requiring more extensive coordination and project management

• extra hours charged for review, analysis, and technical support to the Office of General Counsel on petitions associated with this licensing action,

• late developing technical issues such as the applicant-identified Fluence modeling error which resulted in additional coordination and review,

• increased hours charged to the review and resolution of complex technical issues in areas such as PT-limit curves used for time-limited aging analyses, Appendix J testing and containment pressure boundary components, high voltage insulators, Boraflex and neutron absorbing materials, reactor vessel internals, and generic filtration, and

W. Maguire

• a significant amount of follow up items requiring second round RAIs, multiple public meetings, and technical review support, including additional project management support to facilitate these actions in a timely manner.

The staff estimates that it will take approximately 1120 hours46.667 days <br />6.667 weeks <br />1.534 months <br /> in addition to the 17,700 hours29.167 days <br />4.167 weeks <br />0.959 months <br /> already charged to complete the schedule activities associated with this licensing action For the safety review, the Safety Evaluation Report (Accession No. ML18212A151) issued on August 16, 2018 is currently under review by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS). The next milestone is the ACRS Sub-Committee Meeting on September 20, 2018.

For the environmental review, the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) was issued on May 25, 2018, and the Draft SEIS comment period ended July 23, 2018. NRC staff is currently responding to comments received on the DSEIS and developing the FSEIS in accordance with the project schedule. At this time the overall River Bend License Renewal Application review is on schedule.

If you have any questions on this matter, please contact Mr. Emmanuel Sayoc, Project Manager for the review of the River Bend Station license renewal application, by telephone at 301-415-4084 or via e-mail at Emmanuel.Sayoc@nrc.gov.

If you have any questions on the schedule related to the environmental review, please contact Mr. David Drucker, Project Manager, by telephone at 301-415-6223 or via e-mail at David.Drucker@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Eric R. Oesterle, Chief License Renewal Projects Branch Division of Materials and License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-458

Enclosure:

As stated cc w/encl.: Distribution via Listserv

RIVER BEND STATION, UNIT 1 LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION REVIEW SCHEDULE Milestone Scheduled Actual Receive license renewal application (LRA) 5/31/2017 5/31/2017 Publish Federal Register Notice (FRN) - LRA availability 6/20/2017 6/20/2017 Publish FRN - acceptance/rejection and opportunity for hearing 8/2017 8/14/2017 Public Meeting - License Renewal Overview and Environmental Scoping 9/2017 9/19/2017 meeting Environmental scoping period ends 9/2017 10/23/2017 Deadline for filing hearing requests and petitions for intervention 10/2017 10/13/2017 Issue draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) 4/2018 5/25/18 End of draft SEIS comment period 6/2018 7/23/2018 Issue final safety evaluation report 7/2018 8/15/2018 Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee meeting 9/2018 Issue final SEIS 11/2018 ACRS full committee meeting 11/2018 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FRN Published - availability of final 12/2018 SEIS Decision - Director, NRR 2/2019 Enclosure

ML18233A182 OFFICE PM:MRPB:DMLR LA:MRPB:DMLR BC:MENB:DMLR BC:MRPB:DMLR PM:MRPB:DMLR NAME ESayoc* SLent BBeasley (JRikhoff for) EOesterle ESayoc*

DATE 8/23/2018 8/21/2018 8/23/2018 8/23/2018 8/23/2018