ML19211C530
| ML19211C530 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Seabrook  |
| Issue date: | 03/15/1979 |
| From: | Vassallo D Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Tallman W PUBLIC SERVICE CO. OF NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| References | |
| REF-GTECI-A-09, REF-GTECI-SY, TASK-A-09, TASK-A-9, TASK-OR NUDOCS 8001110622 | |
| Download: ML19211C530 (8) | |
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UNITED STATES 3*
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WASHINGTON, D. C. 20656 e
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March 15,1979 c, -
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,y Docket Nos. : 50-443 and 50-444 Mr. W. C. Tallman, President Public Service Company of New Hampshire
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1000 Elm Street t
Manchester, New Hampshire 03105
Dear Mr. Tallman:
The NRC Staff finds it necessary to request additional information regarding the capability of your nuclear steam supply systems to respond to postulated ATWS transients. We have chosen, for reasons of resource conservation and expediency, to send our request for
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this information directly to the NSSS vendors and to initiate dis-cussions regarding the nature, extent and schedule of the response f
directly with them.
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Enclosed for your information is a copy of a letter which was sent to General Electric Company, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Combustion Engineering, Inc., and Babcock & Wilcox Company, trans-mitting a request for information needed to perform generic analyses related to ATWS.
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P The generic analyses are to confirm that the proposed modifications for various classes of Light Water Reactor (LWR) designs accomplish the degree of ATWS prevention and mitig; tion described by the staff f
in Volume 3 of NOREG-0460 (enclosed). We expect that the vendors will find it necessary to obtair; some of this information from you.
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We are asking that you provide this information in order to base
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ATWS rulemaking on generic confirmation, and thereby avoid costly b
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Mr. W. C. Tallman March 15,1979 w
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and unnecessary repetitive analysis. Although we were not able (F-..
to provide you with the enclosed information prior to the March 1, 1979 meeting refrcred to, we understand that you were contacted by the AIF or t'.e respective vendor ccncerning the meeting. Should i
you desire an additional meeting on the generic analyses requested or have additional questions, please contact Mr. Ashok Thadani, (301) 492-7341.
Sincerely,
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v D. B. Vassallo, Assistant Director for Light Water Reactors l
Division of Project Management
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Enclosures:
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Letter to General Electric b
Co. dated February 15, 1979 I
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NUREG-0460, Volume 3 cc: See attached sheet (w/o enclos ares) 1740 015 b
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i Public Service Company of New Hampshire ccs:
b' b-John A. Ritscher, Esq.
3i Ropes. and Gray 225 Franklin Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 Ralph H. Wood, Esq.
General Counsel Public Service Company of "ew Hampshire Q-1000 Elm Street Manchester,,New Hampshire 03105 Nr
F Mr. John Haseltine, Project Manager Yankee Atomic Electric Company 20 Turnpike Road Westboro, Masse:husetts 01581 Mr. Bruce B. Beckley, Project Manager Public Service Company of New Hampshire f'"
1000 Elm Street Manchester, New Hampshire 03103 F
Robert A. Backus, Esq.
l-0'Neill, Backus, Spielman & Little i
116 Lowell Street Manchester, New Hampshire 03105 Norman Ross, Esq.
g-30 Francis Street Brookline, Massachusetts 02146 Karin P. Sheldon, Esq.
Sheldon, Harmon and Roisman 1025 15th Street, N. W.
@N-Washington, D. C. 20005
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Laurie-Burt, Esq.
b Office of the Assistant Attorney General h
Environmental Protection Division p
One Ashburton Place Ke Boston, Massachusett! 02111 1740 016 s
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Public Service Company of New Hampshire cc (continued) amma
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Samuel Chilk x[.
Secretary of the Commission.
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U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555 Alan S. Rosenthal, Esq.
s Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
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Dr. John H.
Buck b*
Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555 Michael C.
Farrar, Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.
C.
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Ivan W. Smith, Esq.
P Atomic Safety and Licensing Board v.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555 Dr. Ernest Salo, Professor Fisheries Research Institute - WH-10 College of Fisheries 7
University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 4-Dr. Marvin M. Mann Atomic Safety and Licensing Board M-U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission h
Washington, D. C.
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Letter to be sent by DPM and D0R to same Utilities that received letters in March.
Docket numbers for All Plants operated and/or under construction for the U ility should be referenced on lettpp.
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Dear (Mr.) (Ms.) (Hrs.) Utility President:
This past March the NRC transmitted to you by letter a copy of Volume 3 of NUREG-0460 " Anticipated Transients Without Scram For Light Water Reactors" (ATWS) and a copy of an NRC letter that was sent this past February to each of the four nuclear reactor vendors. The letter to the vendors contained a request for information needed to perform generic analyses related to ATWS.
As we pointed out in our March letter the generic analyses are to confim that the proposed modifications for various classes of LWR designs accomplish the degree of ATWS prevention and mitigation described by the staff in the above referenced report. We also pointed out that we had chosen to work directly with the vendors in obtaining this'information in order to conserve resources. We requested that utilities cooperate with the vendors by supplying information to them that they might need to perform the requested analyses.
The NRC Staff met with representatives of each of the NSSS vendors and many Utility representatives here in Bethesda on March 1,1979 to discuss the resolution of ATWS as recommended in Volume 3 of NUREG-0460; and, in particular, the "early verification" approach which requires the perfomance of generic analyses in order to base ATWS rulemaking on generic confirmation, and thereby avoid costly and unnecessary repetitive analysis on an individual plant basis.
Additionally at the meeting a tentative schedule was agreed to whereby generic analyses could be provided in three separate submittals to be submitted 1740 018
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respectively by May 1,1979, September 1.,1979, and December 1,1979.
a, Imediately foll0 wing the March 1 meeti'ng the'NRC staff met separately with each of the NSSS venders and agreements sere made as tc. the minimum information to be supplied by May 1.
Also, as noted above, copies of the ATWS staff report and the generic analyses questions were transmitted to the utilities.
On March 28, 1979 the Three Mile Island accident occurred. Because of the heavy expenditure of NRC resources required for Three Mile Island related activities, essentially no staff effort was applied to the ATWS issue for three months or so following the accident. Also as you are probably aware there was some reduction in effort on the part of the industry during that period.
In June the NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulaiton was temporarily reorganized.
Within this interim organization a group was assigned under the direction of S. Hanauer to work on the 19 Unresolved Safety Issues as reported to Congress this past January in NUREG-0510. ATWS is one these 19 issues.
Based upon a preliminary NRR Staff review, it was concluded that for Pressurized Water Reactors, the Three Mile Island 2 accident scenario raised new questions with regard to the appropriateness and adequacy of the resolution of ATWS as proposed in Volume 3 of NUREG-0460. For Boiling Water Reactors it was concluded that the impact of Three Mile Island was minimal and that the completion and :eview of the generic analyses for BWR's as agreed to in March should proceed as expeditiously as possible.
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. For the p6rpose of discussing with the PWR segment of the nuclear Utilities /
industry considerations arising from t,he Thrge Mile Island accident that might appear to be relevant for evaluating generically the consequences of an A'AS event, a meeting was held in Bethesda on July 25, 1979.
For your information a copy of the staff minutes of that meeting are enclosed. As can be seen from the minutes, at the meeting the staff:
a) Reiterated that ATWS is still a serious safety conc.ern and that protection must be provided.
b) Expressed some general and specific concerns with regard to the Volume 3 NUREG-0460 proposed resolution which have been raised by the Three Mile Island accident.
c) Noted that we cannot wait another year to make progress on ATWS.
d) Asked the industry to provide their assessment of the Three Mile Island 2 impact on ATWS, the scope of effort to resolve these issues, and the schedule for performing this effort within 30 days of the meeting date.
Subsequent to the meeting we have met with representatives of all four NSSS vendors. We have reached agreement with IMEXRNRXVEMMEMEXXEXXHXIMMXKE8pH MIXtNMXXXIHKENMMEXINXMMX5XMMX#IXIMMXIMMHHXMIINXIIIXNNXXXINpKEXXMMXIMMXXINI MEENIKIIEMXXXMMX G.E. with regard to the scope of the remaining generic analysis information to be supplied for BWR 4/5/6's.
Further discussions are planned relative to BWR/3's.
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. The NRR Staff objective is to submit a proposed ATWS rule to the Commission for BWR's by the end of calendar year 1979 and for PWR's sometime in the Spring 6f 1980. The types of rules proposed to the Commission will depend upon the type of information provided by the industry in response to the questions attached to the February 15 Mattson letter and the Three Mile Island 2 related concerns as discussed in the July 25 meeting minutes.
If the early verification generic analysis program succeeds, we believe it will provide for resoultion of the ATWS safety issue with the least possible expenditure of resources on the part of both NRC and industry. So that this program can succeed we encourage you to join or form U tility/0wners Groups, if you have not already done so, and provide the necessary support to each of the NSSS vendors from whom you have purchased a reactor either operating or under construction.
If you have additional questions on the generic analysis early verification program discussed in this letter, please contact Mr. Ashok Thadani, (301) 492-7341.
Sincerbly, (To be signed by appropriate A/D in DPM and DOR)
Enclosure:
NRC-Industry ATWS Meeting
}[40 Q2l Summary for July 25,1979 i