ML19280C270
| ML19280C270 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Waterford  |
| Issue date: | 10/30/2019 |
| From: | Maureen Wylie Plant Licensing Branch IV |
| To: | Jury K Entergy Services |
| Pulvirenti A | |
| References | |
| EPID L-2019-LRM-0056 | |
| Download: ML19280C270 (4) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 October 30, 2019 Mr. Keith Jury Vice President, Regulatory Assurance Entergy Services, LLC 1340 Echelon Parkway Jackson, MS 39213
Dear Mr. Jury:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission), I am responding to your letter dated May 16, 2019 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML19137A082), as supplemented by letter dated September 12, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19255K330), requesting a fee waiver under Part 170.11(b) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) for NRC review of a license amendment request (LAR) for a digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) modification at Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3 (Waterford 3).
The NRC has established regulations for the granting of fee exemptions under 10 CFR 170.11, Exemptions, that may be applied for in accordance with 10 CFR 170.5, Communications.1 The NRC staff has reviewed your request based on 10 CFR 170.11(b) and 10 CFR 170.11(a)(13), which provide as follows:
10 CFR 170.11(b) The Commission may, upon application by an interested person, or upon its own initiative, grant such exemptions from the requirements of this part as it determines are authorized by law and are otherwise in the public interest. Applications for exemption under this paragraph may include activities such as, but not limited to, the use of licensed materials for educational or noncommercial public displays or scientific collections.
10 CFR 170.11(a)(13) All fee exemption requests must be submitted in writing to the Chief Financial Officer in accordance with § 170.5, and the Chief Financial Officer will grant or deny such requests in writing.
In your letter, you expressed Entergy Operations, Inc.s (Entergy) intent to submit the LAR to replace the existing instrumentation of the core protection calculator system and control element assembly calculator system with a digital system based on an NRC-approved licensing topical report. The LAR would be submitted in accordance with the Alternate Review Process (ARP) guidance in NRC DI&C Interim Staff Guidance (ISG)-06 (DI&C-ISG-06), Revision 2, Licensing Process, dated December 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18269A259). Revision 2 to DI&C-ISG-06 was developed in response to an NRC staff initiative to modernize the regulatory 1 10 CFR 170.5 provides that All communications concerning the regulations in this part should be addressed to the NRC's Chief Financial Officer, either by mail to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; by hand delivery to the NRC's offices at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; or, where practicable, by electronic submission, for example, via Electronic Information Exchange, or CD-ROM.
structure for DI&C, as documented in SECY-16-0070, Integrated Strategy to Modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Digital Instrumentation and Control Regulatory Infrastructure, dated May 31, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16126A137).
In a public teleconference held on August 29, 2019, NRC staff and Entergy discussed features of the fee waiver request. A summary of this public teleconference can be found at ADAMS Accession No. ML19247C388. During the public teleconference, the NRC staff requested further information about the technical aspects of the planned LAR. Entergy provided this information, along with an updated proposed project schedule, in a public meeting held on September 19, 2019. The information presented by Entergy at that meeting can be found at ADAMS Accession No. ML19255H682.
SECY-18-0100, Annual Update Regarding the Integrated Strategy to Modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Digital Instrumentation and Control Regulatory Infrastructure (ADAMS Accession No. ML18255A351), Enclosure 1, Updates to the Digital I&C Integrated Action Plan (ADAMS Accession No. ML18275A344), dated October 9, 2018, states, in part, that proposed revisions to DI&C-ISG-06 will allow reducing the scope of licensee document submittals and provide an alternative for earlier approval, which would precede factory acceptance testing, for digital designs that are based on approved topical reports.
The NRC intends to evaluate the efficiency and efficacy of the new ARP guidance in Revision 2 of DI&C-ISG-06 by means of a lead plant, as described in Enclosure 1 of SECY-18-0100:
The industry has indicated that a lead utility plans to use the revised draft guidance and submit license amendment requests in the future. The staff will apply lessons-learned from this lead plant application before updating the permanent guidance in NUREG-0800, Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR [Light-Water Reactor]
Edition, and retiring DI&C-ISG-06.
The NRC staff anticipates that licensees who intend to perform major DI&C upgrades, and all licensees that have or will apply for subsequent license renewal pursuant to 10 CFR 54.31, Issuance of a Renewed License, are likely to utilize various features of DI&C-ISG-06, Revision 2, such as the ARP. In addition, industry has indicated that additional regulatory certainty is needed before submitting LARs to perform major DI&C upgrades. Reviewing a lead plant application will provide insight into the efficacy and efficiency of new ARP guidance and assist NRC staff in revising the guidance to streamline reviews of future DI&C applications.
Finally, the review of a lead plant LAR would assist NRC staff in developing permanent guidance in NUREG-0800, leading to further efficiencies. The review of a lead plant LAR would ultimately conserve time and resources and therefore is in the public interest.
The request for a licensee to submit an application in accordance with the ARP guidance in DI&C-ISG-06, Revision 2, was reiterated in a public meeting held February 22, 2018. A summary of that meeting dated May 3, 2018, is available at ADAMS Accession No. ML18101A151. Although the meeting summary references a digital I&C industry working group within the Nuclear Energy Institute, the main participant of the meeting, any licensee may submit an application as a lead plant to utilize the ARP.
The staff reviewed Entergys proposed scope and schedule for submitting the LAR, and confirmed that, under the proposed schedule, the Waterford 3 submittal will be the first LAR to utilize this new guidance, and, therefore, will act as the lead plant consistent with SECY 0100. Because the planned digital upgrade at Waterford 3 is of relatively narrow scope and
shares some features with the previously approved digital modification at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the NRC staff does not anticipate a complex review of the planned LAR.
The review of the LAR, with a focus on evaluating the ARP, will assist NRC in revising and streamlining the ARP guidance to aid in future reviews and to develop permanent guidance to be included in future revisions of NUREG-0800. Future licensee submittals are expected to benefit from the increased efficiency that is developed from review of the lead plant LAR.
After evaluating the information submitted to the NRC and staff assessment of the proposed approach as described above, I have determined that the review of the proposed LAR for Waterford 3 meets the applicable criteria for public interest under 10 CFR 170.11(b). The application as described by Entergy will be the first to exercise the new licensing approach and key attributes of the ARP. However, because the scope of the planned digital upgrade is relatively narrow compared to a potentially more complex digital upgrade and the full review capacity developed in the ARP, I approve a waiver for 50 percent of the fees incurred for the review of the LAR with the conditions that (1) the LAR is the first to be submitted to the NRC and is therefore a true lead plant, and (2) the LAR is submitted in accordance with the ARP guidance described in DI&C-ISG-06, Revision 2.
This partial fee waiver will begin when the application is received, and NRC staff confirms that it meets the conditions above. The expiration of this specific fee waiver will occur with any of the following: (1) issuance, withdrawal, or denial of the initial LAR for Waterford 3; or (2) one year after acceptance of the LAR (consistent with our review metrics for routine licensing actions and the modest complexity of this expected design review). Any future review of the LAR, beyond that cited in the granting of this fee waiver, will require a new fee waiver request for NRC consideration pursuant to the fee exemption provisions under 10 CFR 170.11.
If you have any technical questions regarding this matter, please contact April Pulvirenti at 301-415-1390. Please contact Mr. William Blaney, of my staff, at 301-415-5092, for any fee-related questions.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Maureen E. Wylie, Chief Financial Officer Office of the Chief Financial Officer Docket No. 50-382
ML19280C270 (letter)
- via e-mail OFFICE OCFO/DPB/LFPT OCFO/DPB/LFPT NRR/DORL/PM NRR/DORL/LA NRR/DE/EICB/BC(A)
NAME WBlaney JJacobs APulvirenti PBlechman WMorton*
DATE 10/09/2019 10/09/2019 10/08/2019 10/08/2019 10/09/2019 OFFICE NRR/DSS/DD(A)
NRR/DORL/BC NRR/DORL/D NRR/DD (A)
NRR/D NAME MWaters*
RPascarelli*
CErlanger*
EBenner*
HNieh* EBenner for DATE 10/09/2019 10/09/2019 10/10/2019 10/10/2019 10/10/2019 OFFICE OGC OCFO/DOC/LAFB OCFO/DOC/LAFB OCFO/DPB/LFPT OCFO/DPB NAME CMcCann*NLO JGibbs-Nicholson*MBlair for MBlair*
ARossi MSampson DATE 10/22/2019 10/22/2019 10/22/2019 0/24/19 10/28/19 OFFICE OCFO/DPB DCFO CFO NAME SCoffin BFicks MWylie DATE 10/30/19 10/30/19 10/30/19