ML19210D346
| ML19210D346 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Maine Yankee |
| Issue date: | 11/19/1979 |
| From: | Thurlow E Maine Yankee |
| To: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19210D345 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7911260329 | |
| Download: ML19210D346 (4) | |
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,a 1_v RIAIRE HARHEE Arom/CPOL'HRComPARU*
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(207) 623-3521 9
November 19, 1979 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Ucshington, D.C.
20555 Attention:
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Mr. Harold R. Denton, Director
Reference:
Plant Modifications to Comply with Short Term Lessons Learned
Dear Sir:
Consistent with your request, the subject modifications will be completed at the earliest possible opportunity.
We are exerting every effort to finalize the design and procure the necessary material.
However, due to component availability and engineering design constraints, they cannot be completed prior to the objective January 1, 1980 date.
I'm l
sure you will concur that these important plant modifications should be carefully thought out and reviewed to assure they meet the desired objective and do not somehow result in a deg-radation of safety.
The Maine Yankee plant is scheduled to begin an extended maintenance-refueling shutdown the evening of January 11, 1980.
All of the subject modifications will be completed prior to startup.
We understand that the NRC is concidering forcing a shut-down of nuclear units that cannot meet a January 1, 1980 objec-tive date for the completion of the srbject modifications.
In our view, such an action if applied to Maine Yankee would serve no useful purpose and would jeopardize the power supply of Maine and New England during the peak demand period of the year.
1301 038 79112 60 N
Page 2 United States Regulatory Commission November 19, 1979 Mr. Harold R. Denton i
Such a forced shutdown would necessitate the burning of A.
j an additional 40,000 bbla. of oil per day, much of it #2 oil, and all of it imported.
It would, of course, aggravate the l
current critical oil situation.
Replacement power for Maine Yankee sponsors would result in substantially higher customer i
costs.
l l
Enclosed is a letter from the New England Power Exchange that addresses the impact of advancing the shutdown to January 1, 1980.
Therefore, we request that Maine Yankee be granted a time extension for the implementation of the Short Term Lessons requirements which would permit continued operation until January 12, 1980.
I Very truly yours, 5 NV f E. W. Thurlow Fresident Enclosure i
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NEPEX NEW ENGLAND POWER EXCHANGE 174 BRUSH HILL AVENUE WEST SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS 01089 TELEPHONE (413) 785-5871 HARRY H. MOCHON, JR.
DIRECTOR Hovember 16, 1979 Mr. Charles E. Monty, Vice President Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company Edison Drive Augusta, Maine 04336
Dear Mr. Monty:
This letter is in response to your request to determine the effects of moving the beginning of the Maine Yankee refueling outage from 12 MDT, January 11,1980, to 12 MDT, December 31, 1979. As you are aware, the NEPEX overhael schedule is pretty well set through 1980. The most critical period during the 1980 overhaul is in January.
The NEPEX Maintenance Scheduling Task Force (MSTF) develops the over-haul schedule in accord with NEPEX Operating Procedure No. 5, Unit Outages.
One of,the criteria in the Procedure prevents the MSTF from granting outages unless a specified MW margin remains for unscheduled outages after the scheduling. That number is now 2,800 MU. The average unscheduled outage for the past three months has been 3,370 MW, far above the specified margin.
If thine Yankee were to be removed from service on December 31, 1979, the margin for the week ending January 5,1980 would be 2,435 MW, and the margin for the week ending Janusry 12, 1980 would be 2,046 MW. These margins are well below the required margin set by the NEP00L Operations Committee for reliability purposes. Therefore the MSTF and the NEPEX staff cannot grant scheduled out-age for the period from December 31, 1979 to January 11, 1980 because it results in an unacceptably low level of reliability in the operation of the Pool.
In addition to the above, other outages have already been rejected for the same reasons.
During the period in question, Maine Yankee would be expected to generate about 175,000 MWHR.
Because the outage is being requested during the peak season and the Pilgrim t it is also down during this period, part of the energy would have to be replaced by internal combustion unit generation.
Not only does this impose a financial penalty of 40-50 mills /KUHR, but it also utilizes #2 fuel oil during the height of the heating season.
Since all New England states are urging conservation of fuel to insure enough home heating oil during this period, the outage is not in the public interest.
The replace-ment cost of energy will approximate $1,000,000/ day in January, whereas the replacement cost of energy in March is estinated to be $750,000/ day.
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Mr. Monty Eovember 16, 1979 In summary, NEPEX strongly opposes advancing the beginning of the Maine Yankee outage from January 11, 1980 to December 31, 1979 for reliability, public interest and economic aspects.
Very truly yours,.
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