ML19354E876

Exemption from 10CFR50,App J,Section III.D.1(A) to Permit Type a Tests to Continue to Be Conducted at 40 Month,+ or - 10-month Interval But No Longer Require That Third Test Be Conducted During 10-yr Inservice Insp Refueling Outage

ML19354E876
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	01/29/1990
From:	Zwolinski J Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	TOLEDO EDISON CO.
Shared Package
ML19354E877	List: ML19354E876
References
NUDOCS 9002020189
Download: ML19354E876 (5)

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7590-01 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

.In the Matter of

-TOLEDO EDISON COMPANY Docket No. 50-346 THE CLEVELAND ELECTRIC ILLUMINATING COMPANY (Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, UnitNo.1)

EXEMPTION I..

The Toledo Edison Company and The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (the licensees), are the holders of Facility Operating License-No. NPF-3-(the license) which authorizes operation of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit No.1. The license provides, among other things, that it is subject to all rules, regulations and Orders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) now and hereaf ter in effect.

The facility consists of a pressurized water reactor located at the licensee's site in Ottawa County, Ohio.

L II.

By letter dated March 7 1988, the Toledo Edison Company (the licensee) applied for an amendment to Operating License NPF-3 to change certain provisions of the-Technical Specifications. The licensee had previously-requested an exemption from the Commission's regulations in its letter dated November 20, 1987.

The requested exemption is from a requirement in Appendix J to 10 CFR Part 50 which requires that certain surveillance tests be conducted during the same refueling outage, y,%20hhkbb

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w ThespecificrequirementiscontainedinSectionIII.D.1(a)of Appendix J. 10 CFR Part 50, and states in part that "... a set of three l

Type A-tests shall be performed, at approximately equal intervals during.

each 10-year service period. The third test of each set shall be conducted when the plant is shut down for the 10-year plant inservice inspections."

The Type A tests are defined in Section II.F of Appendix J as those "...

v tests intended to measure the primary reactor containment overall. integrated leakage rate... at periodic intervals..." The 10-year inservice inspection is that series of inspections performed every 10 years in'accordance with

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Section XI of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and Addenda as

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t required by 10 CFR 50.55a. The time required to perform the integrated leakage rate tests (ILRTs) necessitates that th'ey be-performed during.

refueling outages. The time interval betwsen ILRTs should te 40 months based on performing three such tests during each 10-year, service period..

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Since refueling outages do not necessarily occur coincident with a i

40-month interval, a' permissible variation of 10 months is typically authorizedinthetechnicalspecifications'(TSs)issuedwithanoperating l

license to permit flexibility in scheduling'the'ILRTs.-

The third of the ILRT set of three tests for the Davis-Besse plant a

was successfully conducted in September 1988-during the last refueling l

outage (i.e., the fifth refueling outage). The' Davis-Besse TSs require o

a that the next ILRT be conducted in January.1992 but no later than November j

1992. This'will coincide with the seventh refueling outage which will.

probably start in January 1992.

1 Due to the time required to conduct it, the 10-year ISI required by 2

i 10 CFR 50.55a also must be conducted during a refueling outage. This ISI 7

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will be performed during the sixth refueling outege starting in February 1990.

Iftherequestedexemptionisnotgranted, Sect *ionIII.D.1(a)of Appendix J woul'd require an additional ILRT to be perfomed in April 1990, about 19 months after the previous ILRT. This interval would L

be considerably shorter than the. minimum interval of 30 months specified in the Davis-Besse TSs. More importantly, this interval would not-be

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consistent with either the intent or the underlying purpose of the rule which requires that these Type A tests "... be performed-at approximately

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1 equal intervals ciuring each 10-year service period."

(SectionIII.D.1(a) 1 ofAppendixJ).

l The licensee addressed this issue in its exemption. request dated 1

November 20, 1987 in which it cites from Appendix J that "the purpose of the tests are to assure that (a) leakage through the primary reactor containment and systems and compenents penetrating primary containment i

shall not exceed allowable leakage rate values as specified in the technical specifications..." The licensee asserts and the NRC staff agrees that the Type A test conducted in September 1988 met the underlying purpose of the rule in that the required overall leak-tightness of the' primary containment was demonstrated. Accordingly, it is not necessary to conduct.another Type A test in the forthcoming refueling outage to meet the intent of the rule. Doing another ILRT in the forthcoming-refueling outage would not add significantly to the assurance that the L

overall leakage rate of the primary containment and'its penetrations

'l remain within the value specified in the Davis-Besse TSs and would certainly not meet the intent of the rule to conduct these tests at approximately equal intervals as cited above.

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On this basis, we find that the licensee has demonstrated that the

" Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary to achieve theunderlyingpurposeoftherule..."[10CFR50.12(a)(2)(ii)).

Each of these two tests (i.e., the Type A test and the-10-year ISI) is independent of each other and provides assurances of different plant I

characteristics. The Type A tests assure the required leak-tightness to demonstrate compliance with the guidelines of 10 CFR Part 100. The 10-year ISI provides assurance of the structural integrity of the structures, systems, and components in compliance with 10 CFR 50.55a. Accordingly, there is no safety-related concern associated with their coupling in the same refueling outage.

On this basis, the NRC staff finds that the licensee has demonstrated thattherearespecialcircumstancespresentasrequiredby'10CFR50.12(a)(2).

Further, the staff also finds that the uncoupling of..the Type A test from the 10-year ISI will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety.

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III.

Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, an exemption is authorized by law and will not endanger life or_ property or the common defense and security and is otherwise-in the public interest and hereby grants an exemption with respect to one of the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, AppendixJ.SectionIII.D.1(a):

The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit.-1. Technical Specifi-cations may be revised to require that the ILRTs be performed solely according to the 40 t 10-month frequency, not in conjunction i

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with the 10-year inservice inspection. This Exemption does not alter the' existing requirement that three ILRTs be performed during-each 10-year service period.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the'Connission has determined that' the 1

issuance of the Exemption will'have no sigt.ificant impact on the environ-'

ment.

(55FR2721).

C This Exemption is effective upon. issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY MMISSION

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S-WL x-John A Zwolinski, Acting Director Division of Reactor Projects III~, IV; V and Special Projects Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 29th day of January, 1990 f

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