ML19065A003
| ML19065A003 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | PROJ0712, 99901376 |
| Issue date: | 03/15/2019 |
| From: | Dennis Morey NRC/NRR/DLP/PLPB |
| To: | Michelle Catts GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy |
| Golla J, NRR/DLP/PLPB, 415-1002 | |
| References | |
| EPID L-2018-TOP-0007 | |
| Download: ML19065A003 (9) | |
Text
March 15, 2019 Ms. Michelle P. Catts Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC P.O. Box 780 M/C A-10 Wilmington, NC 28401
SUBJECT:
FINAL SAFETY EVALUATION FOR GLOBAL NUCLEAR FUEL -
AMERICAS, LLC, PROPOSED AMENDMENT 46 TO NEDE-24011-P-A-26, GENERAL ELECTRIC STANDARD APPLICATION FOR REACTOR FUEL (GESTARII) TO PROVIDE CLARITY AND FORMALITY TO THE STANDBY LIQUID CONTROL SYSTEM (SLCS) SHUTDOWN MARGIN ANALYSIS (EPID NO. L-2018-TOP-0007)
Dear Ms. Catts:
By letter dated February 9, 2018 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML18040A183), Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas, LLC (GNF) submitted Proposed Amendment 46 to NEDE-24011-P-A-26, General Electric Standard Application for Reactor Fuel (GESTARII) to Provide Clarity and Formality to the Standby Liquid Control System (SLCS) Shutdown Margin Analysis, to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff for review.
By letter dated February 14, 2019, an NRC draft safety evaluation (SE) (ADAMS Accession No. ML19022A307) regarding our approval of Proposed Amendment 46 to NEDE-24011-P-A-26, was provided for your review and comment. By letter dated February 28, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19059A395), GNF provided comments on the draft SE and stated GNF did not identify any proprietary information.
The NRC staff has found that Proposed Amendment 46 to NEDE-24011-P-A-26 is acceptable for referencing in licensing applications for nuclear power plants to the extent specified and under the limitations delineated in the Topical Report (TR) and in the enclosed final SE. The final SE defines the basis for our acceptance of the TR.
Our acceptance applies only to material provided in the subject TR. We do not intend to repeat our review of the acceptable material described in the TR. When the TR appears as a reference in licensing applications, our review will ensure that the material presented applies to the specific plant involved. License amendment requests that deviate from this TR will be subject to a plant-specific review in accordance with applicable review standards.
M. Catts In accordance with the guidance provided on the NRC website, we request that GNF publish the approved Amendment 46 to NEDE-24011-P-A-26, within three months of receipt of this letter.
The approved version shall incorporate this letter and the enclosed final SE after the title page.
The approved versions shall include a "-A" (designating approved) following the TR identification symbol.
If future changes to the NRCs regulatory requirements affect the acceptability of this TR, GNF will be expected to revise the TR appropriately or justify its continued applicability for subsequent referencing. Licensees referencing this TR would be expected to justify its continued applicability or evaluate their plant using the revised TR.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Dennis C. Morey, Chief Licensing Processes Branch Division of Licensing Projects Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 99901376
Enclosure:
Final SE
ML19065A003; *concurrence via e-mail NRR-106 OFFICE NRR/DLP/PLPB/PM NRR/DLP/PLPB/LA* NRR/DSS/SNPB/BC NRR/DLP/PLPB/BC NAME JGolla DHarrison RLukes DMorey DATE 3/13/19 3/12/19 3/14/19 3/15/19 Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas Project No. 712 Docket No. 99901376 cc:
Ms. Michelle P. Catts Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC P.O. Box 780 M/C A-10 Wilmington, NC 28401 Michelle.Catts@ge.com Mr. Kent E. Halac Senior Project Manager, Regulatory Affairs GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC P.O. Box 780, M/C A-70 Wilmington, NC 28401-0780 Kent.Halac@ge.com Dr. Brian R. Moore General Manager, Core & Fuel Engineering Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas, LLC P.O. Box 780, M/C A-75 Wilmington, NC 28401-0780 Brian.Moore@ge.com Ms. Lisa K. Schichlein Senior Project Manager, Regulatory Affairs GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC P.O. Box 780, M/C A-70 Wilmington, NC 28401-0780 Lisa.Schichlein@ge.com
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION SAFETY EVALUATION FOR AMENDMENT 46 TO GLOBAL NUCLEAR FUEL - AMERICAS TOPICAL REPORT NEDE-24011-P-A-26, GENERAL ELECTRIC STANDARD APPLICATION FOR REACTOR FUEL (EPID: L-2018-TOP-0007)
1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
By letter dated February 9, 2018, Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas, LLC (GNF) submitted Amendment 46 (Agencywide Documents and Access Management System No. ML18040A183)
(Ref. 1) to Topical Report (TR) NEDE-24011-P-A-26, General Electric Standard Application for Reactor Fuel (GESTAR II), to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff for review (Ref. 2).
In Amendment 46, GNF requests to amend GESTAR II to provide clarity and formality to the Standby Liquid Control System (SLCS) shutdown margin analysis without changing the methodology for SLCS shutdown margin calculation. Appendix A of GESTAR II, Standard Supplemental Reload Licensing Report and Fuel Bundle Information Report Template, Section 5, Standby Liquid Control System Shutdown Capability is proposed to be revised to use a variable designation for the plant specific analysis temperatures instead of specific values.
The draft safety evaluation (SE) for the Amendment 46 follows.
2.0 REGULATORY EVALUATION
Not Applicable in this case
3.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION
3.1 Introduction Amendment 46 to GESTAR II consists of modification and clarification of Section 3.2.4.3 of NEDE-24011-P-A-26, SLCS shutdown margin analysis. The SLCS provides an alternative means of reactor shutdown by injecting soluble boron into the reactor core moderator. SLCS is designed to provide the capability of bringing the reactor, at any time in a cycle, to a subcritical condition with the reactor in the most reactive xenon-free state with all of the control rods in the full-out condition. The requirements of the SLCS are dependent primarily on the reactor power level and on the reactivity effects of voids and temperature between full power and cold, xenon-free condition. Amendment 46 provides detailed clarification and formality to the SLCS shutdown margin analysis.
ENCLOSURE
3.2 Amendment 46 to GESTAR II The SLCS shutdown margin, which is the difference between the cold critical eigenvalue and the eigenvalue predicted for the borated conditions using the boiling water reactor simulator code, is calculated based on the limiting reactivity carryover from the expected previous cycle shutdown.
The SLCS analysis is performed for the specific cycle and fuel type using borated fuel libraries at a temperature corresponding to the most reactive condition for the cycle. The most reactive condition is when the shutdown cooling mode of the residual heat removal (RHR) system is initiated, which results in a substantial dilution of the boron concentration (BC) due to the inclusion of the RHR system volume. The SLCS shutdown margin is at a minimum value at the state when the RHR startup occurs since the borated water has a positive moderator temperature coefficient. The evaluated BC is the technical specifications BC which is adjusted for changes in water density between its reference temperature and the analysis temperature.
The minimum SLCS shutdown margin requirement includes biases and uncertainties associated with the calculation that includes: (1) bias and uncertainty associated with the calculation of a cold, un-borated core determined from benchmarks of the BWR core simulator code against cold critical plant startup data, and (2) bias and uncertainty associated with the calculation of the worth of boron as determined from benchmarks of the lattice physics code against higher order computational methods benchmarked against critical experiments.
For analysis temperatures less than the most reactive condition, in order to account for the temperature effect, an additional reactivity bias is included. The uncertainties are one-sided 95/95 tolerance level multipliers combined with biases to establish the SLCS shutdown margin requirement needed to assure subcriticality.
The SLCS shutdown margin requirement depends on the fuel type. The most conservative requirement is applied when a core consists of multiple fuel design types.
The shutdown capability of the SLCS is given in the final safety analysis report or in the supplemental reload licensing report (SRLR). The SRLR template as modified is revised to use a variable designation for plant specific analysis temperatures instead of specific values.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The staff reviewed the documents related to the GESTAR II Amendment 46 regarding the SLCS shutdown margin analysis and found Amendment 46 acceptable. The request for Amendment 46 to GESTAR II is hereby approved for use by the licensees.
5.0 REFERENCES
- 1. Letter, M180032 from Brian Moore (GNF- A) to US NRC, Proposed Amendment 46 to NEDE-24011-P-A-26, General Electric Standard Application for Reactor Fuel (GESTAR II) to Provide Clarity and Formality to the Standby Liquid Control System (SLCS) Shutdown Margin Analysis, Global Nuclear Fuel, February 9, 2018.
- 2. NEDE-24011-P-A-26, General Electric Standard Application for Reactor Fuel (GESTAR II), Global Nuclear Fuel, January 2018.
Attachment:
Resolution of Comments Principal Contributor: Mathew M. Panicker Date: March 15, 2019
Comment Summary for Draft Safety Evaluation for Proposed Amendment 46 to NEDE-24011-P-A-26, General Electric Standard Application for Reactor Fuel (GESTAR II)
Location Comment Comment Resolution Section 1.0 Page 3: Staff accepts the change.
Introduction Correct the title of Section 5. Change incorporated.
and GEH suggests the following change Background (Line 18):
Section 5, Standby Liquid Control System Shutdown Capability Suggested change shown in the markup.
Section 3.1 Page 3: Staff accepts the change.
Introduction Correct the GESTAR II document Change incorporated.
designator.
GEH suggests the following change (Line 32):
NEDONEDE-24011-P-A-26, Suggested change shown in the markup.
ATTACHMENT
Section 3.2 Page 4: Staff accepts the change.
Amendment For clarity of meaning, revise the sentence Change incorporated.
46 to to focus on when the SLCS shutdown GESTAR II margin would be a minimum value.
GEH suggests the following change (Lines 12-13):
The RHR startup occurs at a state when the SLCS shutdown margin is at a minimum value at the state when the RHR startup occurs since the borated water has a positive moderator temperature coefficient.
Suggested change shown in the markup.
Section 3.2 Page 4: Staff accepts the change.
Amendment Correct the following typographical Change incorporated.
46 to errors:
GESTAR II GEH suggests the following changes Line 20: determined form from benchmarks Line 27: tolerance level multipliers combined Suggested changes shown in the markup.
Section 3.2 Page 4: Staff accepts the change.
Amendment To be more precise, revise the sentence. Change incorporated.
46 to GEH suggests the following change GESTAR II (Line 25):
For analysis temperatures less than Suggested change shown in the markup.
Section 5.0 Page 5: Staff accepts the change.
References Correct the revision of GESTAR. Change incorporated.
GEH suggests the following change (Line 4):
NEDE-24011-P-A-2426 Suggested change shown in the markup.