ML19254E191
| ML19254E191 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Big Rock Point File:Consumers Energy icon.png |
| Issue date: | 10/29/1979 |
| From: | Dewitt R CONSUMERS ENERGY CO. (FORMERLY CONSUMERS POWER CO.) |
| To: | Gossick L NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7910310279 | |
| Download: ML19254E191 (2) | |
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General Offices: 212 West Michigan Avenue. Jackson, Michigan 49201 Area Code 517 788-0550 October 29, 1979 Mr Lee V Gossick Executive Director for Operations US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 DOCKET 50-155, LICENSE DPR BIG ROCK POINT PLANT - FEE FOR TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS CHANGE REQUEST An October 17, 1979 letter from Mr Willi;m 0 Miller of NRC's Office of Administration required that we :.ubmit a s' lass II fee of $4,000 for a Technical Specifications Change Request submitted on September 28, 1979. Our check for $4,000 is enclosed to preclt.de an unnecessary extension of the current Big Rock Point outage. However, this fee is submitted under protest, and we request your prompt review of the circumstances under which it was required and a refund of the fee.
The proposed change relates to a May 2, 1979 loss of feedwater event at the Oyster Cree' facility. A notice concerning that event was published in the Federal Register on August 30, 1979.
The notice stated L'RC's belief tc.at Pig Rock Point is also susceptible to such an event, and that additional Technical 1pecifications requirements would be imposed on Big Rock Point prior to its start-up from the current outage, in order to preclude such an event.
Consumers Power Company was not directly informed of NRC's intention to impose such requirements until a September 17, 1979 telephone conversation.
We were informed in that conversation that insufficient time remained before scheduled start-up to ensure that NRC could impose the requirements without delaying the start-up.
We were informed that the necessary changes could be made without delaying the scheduled plant start-up if Consumers Power Company propssed the chan.1s, obviating the need for formal action by NRC to impose them as license requirements. Accordingly, and solely to avoid such a delay, we submitted the Technical Specifications change request on September 28, 1979.
The changes requested were those the Staff said would be imposed on Big Rock Point by NRC in order to preclude a loss of feedwater event at Big Rock Point similar to that which occurred at Oyster Creek.
Consumers Power Ccz.pany was informed by telephone thereafter, on October 17, 1979, that the proposed Technical Specifications change would not be approved until the Company had submitted a Class III fee.
1247 293 oc1079-0465a-46 7 910310 2' M
2 Clearly, had the NRC Staff pursued its stated intention to impose these Technical Specifications requirements on the Big Rock Point Plant, that imposition would have been without fee.
The requirements would have been imposed under 10 CFR 2.204, and Footnote 2 to 10 CFR 170.22 states that
" License amendments or approvals resulting from Commission Orders issued pursuant to 10 CFR 2.204...are nit subject to these fees," with an exception not here relevant.
Some support for Mr Miller's position is provided by the remainder of the footnote, which states that " Class...III.imendments which result from a written Commission request for the applicatfun may be exempt from fees when the amendment is to simplify or clarify li.-nse or technical specifications; the amendment has only minor safety sign, ticance, and is issued for the convenience of the Commission." We are dealing here with an amendment which is not simply to simplify or clarify and which has more than minor safety significac~
However, an order under 2.204 could have been issued in ample t.>
impose the requirements, in which case the fee would have been avoided, had the Staff initiated that effort when the need for change was first identified.
It should not be able to generate a fee for a regulatory action merely by procrastinating for so long that the licensee's continued operations are threatened.
We ask that you please review this matter and grant an exemption from the fee under the provisions of 10 CFR 170.11(b), as being authorized by law and in the public interest.
Your prompt attention to this matter will be appreciated.
Russell B DeWitt (Signed)
Russell B DeWitt Vice President, Nuclear Operations CC HRDenton, USNRC DLZiemann, USNRC JGKeppler, USNRC 1247 294 oc1079-0465a-46