ML19249C667

Revision of Schedule and Level-of-Effort Estimates for Review of License Amendment Requests

ML19249C667
Person / Time
Site:	Watts Bar
Issue date:	10/08/2019
From:	Undine Shoop Plant Licensing Branch II
To:	Jim Barstow Tennessee Valley Authority
Wentzel M, 415-6459
References
EPID L-2018-LLA-0279, EPID L-2018-LLA-0494
Download: ML19249C667 (3)

Text

October 8, 2019 Mr. James Barstow Vice President, Nuclear Regulatory Affairs and Support Services Tennessee Valley Authority 1101 Market Street, LP 4A-C Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT:

WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2 - REVISION OF SCHEDULE AND LEVEL-OF-EFFORT ESTIMATES FOR THE REVIEW OF LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUESTS (EPID L-2018-LLA-0279 AND EPID L-2018-LLA-0494)

Dear Mr. Barstow:

By letter dated October 12, 2018 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML18288A352), as supplemented by letters dated May 7, 2019; June 6, 2019; and August 29, 2019 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML19127A323, ML19157A302, and ML19242D967, respectively), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA, the licensee) submitted a license amendment request for the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 (Watts Bar), to modify the Watts Bar Technical Specifications to adopt Technical Specifications Task Force (TSTF) Traveler TSTF-425, Revision 3, Relocate Surveillance Frequencies to Licensee Control

- RITSTF Initiative 5b (ADAMS Accession No. ML090850642).

By letter dated November 29, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18334A389), as supplemented by letters dated June 7, 2019; and September 4, 2019 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML19158A394 and ML19247C981), TVA submitted a license amendment request for Watts Bar to adopt TSTF Traveler TSTF-500, Revision 2, DC [Direct Current] Electrical Rewrite - Update to TSTF-360 (ADAMS Accession No. ML092670242).

In its August 29, 2019, letter, TVA requested the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff to delay the completion of its review of the licensees request to adopt TSTF-425, Revision 3, until after the completion of the staffs review of the licensees request to adopt TSTF-500, but no later than December 28, 2019. The NRC staffs current schedule for completion of review of these applications is October 31, 2019, for the request to adopt TSTF-425, and November 29, 2019, for the request to adopt TSTF-500. TVA stated that the basis for this request is to properly sequence the proposed amendments to address the interaction between the two license amendment requests that was not fully accounted for during their development. TVA further stated that it intended to provide an additional supplement for its TSTF-425 request to account for the TSTF-500 amendments once those had been issued.

The NRC staff has reviewed the schedule and resource impacts of the licensees request for delay and agrees to delay approval of the licensees request to adopt TSTF-425 until after the completion of its review of the licensees request to adopt TSTF-500. However, the NRC staff has determined that additional changes are necessary to the schedule and level-of-effort estimates previously communicated to the licensee.

In its January 7, 2019, e-mail transmitting the acceptance review results for the license amendment request to adopt TSTF-500 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19011A349), the NRC staff estimated that it could complete review of the licensees request by November 2019 and would require approximately 250 hours0.00289 days <br />0.0694 hours <br />4.133598e-4 weeks <br />9.5125e-5 months <br /> of staff time to do so. As stated in the e-mail, these estimates were based on the NRC staffs initial review of the application and were subject to change due to factors such as requests for additional information and unanticipated addition of scope to the review.

The NRC staffs review of the licensees request has resulted in two rounds of requests for additional information, and TVA has twice modified its original request. Both modifications have added additional complexity to the staffs review. As a result, the NRC staff has expended approximately 280 hours0.00324 days <br />0.0778 hours <br />4.62963e-4 weeks <br />1.0654e-4 months <br /> on its review of the request. The staff estimates that it will require an additional 70 hours8.101852e-4 days <br />0.0194 hours <br />1.157407e-4 weeks <br />2.6635e-5 months <br /> to complete review of the licensees request, for a total of 350 hours0.00405 days <br />0.0972 hours <br />5.787037e-4 weeks <br />1.33175e-4 months <br />.

Regarding the schedule, TVAs September 4, 2019, supplement to the request to adopt TSTF-500 included a new proposed change that the NRC staff determined expands the scope of the request beyond what was provided to the public in the notice published in the Federal Register on June 18, 2019 (84 FR 28348). The NRC staff prepared a new notice that was published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2019 (84 FR 48180). To account for the limited time available for the staff to complete its review following the expiration of the hearing period, the NRC staff is revising the estimated completion date of its review of the licensees request to adopt TSTF-500 to December 2019. Similarly, the NRC staff is revising its estimated completion date for its review of TVAs request to adopt TSTF-425 to February 2020 to account for the timing of TVAs planned supplement to address changes being made by TSTF-500 and the time needed for the staff to complete its review, once received. As practicable, the NRC staff will attempt to meet the licensees requested issuance dates.

The NRC staffs revised estimates assume that all remaining information will be provided in a timely fashion and that there will not be any additional changes made to either of TVAs requests that add to the scope of review. Should either change, the NRC staff will provide a revised estimate, as necessary.

If you have any questions, please contact Michael Wentzel at 301-415-6459 or by e-mail to Michael.Wentzel@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Undine Shoop, Chief Plant Licensing Branch II-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-390 and 50-391 cc: Listserv

ML19249C667 OFFICE DORL/LPL2-2/PM DORL/LPL2-2/LA DORL/LPL2-2/BC NAME MWentzel LRonewicz UShoop DATE 9/09/2019 9/09/2019 10/08/2019