ML20035F470
| ML20035F470 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Yankee Rowe |
| Issue date: | 04/16/1993 |
| From: | Fairtile M Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Tracy H YANKEE ATOMIC ELECTRIC CO. |
| References | |
| TAC-M85897, NUDOCS 9304210320 | |
| Download: ML20035F470 (6) | |
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f Docket No.50-029 April 16, 1993 Mr. H. T. Tracy Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer l
Yankee Atomic Electric Company i
580 Main Street Bolton, Massachusetts 01740-1398
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Dear Mr. Tracy:
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SUBJECT:
DECOMMISSIONING FUNDS (TAC NO. M85897)
By letters dated March 5, March 25 and April 8,1993, Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC) requested that they be permitted to use funds in the decommissioning trust fund before receipt of NRC approval of the Yankee i
Nuclear Power Station Decommissioning Plan. These funds would be used only for the removal of the four steam generators, pressurizer, and reactor vessel j
internal s.
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The Commission issued a Staff Requirements Memorandum dated January 14, 1993, that enables the staff to permit, on a case-by-case basis, the licensee to use its decommissioning funds for certain activities notwithstanding the fact that j
its decommissioning plan has not yet been approved by the NRC.
In regard to such use of decommissioning funds, the staff evaluated the proposals in the March 5 letter and the additional information in the March 25 and April 8 letters, regarding maintenance of the funds at an adequate level during component removal. The staff criteria and evaluation of each are provided in the enclosure.
The staff concludes that the licensee will maintain the decommissioning funds at an adequate level throughout the component removal program discussed in the l
first paragraph of this letter. Therefore, the staff does not object to the proposed use of decommissioning funds for these activities.
Sincerely, ORIGINAL SIGED BY RICHARD F. DUDLEY, JR. for l
Morton B. Fairtile, Senior Project Manager l
Non-Power Reactors and Decommissioning Project Directorate l
Division of Operating Reactor Support Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation l
Enclosure.
As stated 1
CC W/ enclosure See next page gm DISTRIBUTION:
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April 16, 1993 Docket No.50-029 Mr. H. T. Tracy Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Yankee Atomic Electric Company 580 Main Street Bolton, Massachusetts 01740-1398
Dear Mr. Tracy:
SUBJECT:
DECOMMISSIONING FUNDS (TAC NO. M85897)
By letters dated March 5, March 25 and April 8,1993, Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC) requested that they be permitted to use funds in the decommissioning trust fund before receipt of NRC approval of the Yankee Nuclear Power Station Decommissioning Plan.
These funds would be used only for the removal of the four steam generators, pressurizer, and reactor vessel internals.
The Commission issued a Staff Requirements Memorandum dated January 14, 1993, that enables the staff to permit, on a case-by-case basis, the licensee to use its decommissioning funds for certain activities notwithstanding the fact that its decommissioning plan has not yet been approved by the NRC.
In regard to such use of decommissioning funds, the staff evaluated the proposals in the March 5 letter and the additional information in the March 25 and April 8 letters, regarding maintenance of the funds at an adequate level during component removal. The staff criteria and evaluation of each are provided in the enclosure.
The staff concludes that the licensee will maintain the decommissioning funds at an adequate level throughout the component removal program discussed in the first paragraph of this letter. Therefore, the staff does not object to the proposed use of decommissioning funds for these activities.
Sincerely, q
Y l
4 i
Morton B. Fairtile, Sen or Project Manager Non-Power Reactors and Decommissioning l
Project Directorate-l Division of Operating Reactor Support l
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation l
Enclosure:
l As stated cc w/ enclosure:
See next page 1
Ms. Jane M. Grant Yankee Rowe Docket No. 50-29 j
CC Dr. Andrew C. Kadak, President Chairman, Franklin County and Chief Executive Office Commission Yankee Atomic Electric Company 425 Main Street 580 Main Street Greenfield, Massachusetts 03101 Bolton, Massachusetts' 01740-1398 Executive Director Thomas Dignan, Esq.
New England Conference of Public i
Ropes and Gray Utility Commissioners One International Place 45 Memorial Circle Boston, Massachusetts 02110-2624 Augusta, Maine 04330 f
i Mr. N. N. St. Laurent Citizens Awareness Network Plant Superintendent P. O. Box 83 l
Yankee Atomic Electric Company Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts 01370 l
Star Route i
Rowe, Massachusetts 01367 Resident Inspector i
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Regional Administrator, Region I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P. O. Box 176
{
475 Allendale Road Vernon, Vermont 05354 King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406 l
l Robert M. Hallisey, Director l
l Radiation Control Program Massachusetts Department of Public Health 305 South Street Boston, Massachusetts 02130 i
Commissioner Richard P. Sedano Vermont Department of Public Service l
120 State Street, 3rd Floor l
Montpelier, Vermont 05602 i
Mr. Jay K. Thayer l
Vice President and Manager i
of Operations Yankee Atomic Electric Company 580 Main Street Bolton, Massachusetts 01740-1398 Mr. David Rodham, Director ATTN: Mr. James B. Muckerheide Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency 400 Worcester Road P. O. Box 1496 i
Framingham, Massachusetts 01701-0317 i
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ENCLOSURE CONSIDERATIONS FOR STAFF APPROVAL OF YANKEE ATOMIC ELECTRIC COMPANY (YAEC) RE0UEST TO l
WITHDRAW DECOMMISSIONING TRUST FUNDS PRIOR TO NRC APPROVAL OF YAEC DECOMMISSIONING PLAN In its Staff Requirements Memorandum dated January 14, 1993, the Commission I
has authorized the staff to approve withdrawals by a licensee from its decommissioning trust fund on a case-by-case basis before NRC approval of the demonstratesthatithasmetthecriterialistedbelow.jfthelicensee decommissioning plan.
Such withdrawals may be allowed Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC) compliance with these criteria is evaluated below:
1.
The withdrawals are for legitimate decommissioning activity expenses as defined in 10 CFR 50.2 that would necessarily occur under most reasonable decomissioning scenarios.
10 CFR 50.2 defines " decommission" as meaning "to remove (as a facility) safely from service and reduce residual radioactivity to a level that permits release of the property for unrestricted use and termination of license."
Staff Evaluation:
YAEC presented the Yankee component removal plans in its letter dated March 5,1993, which supplemented the YAEC letter of January 12, 1993. YAEC proposes to remove core internals, steam generators, and the pressurizer from the plant. These components contain radioactivity; therefore, such removal is a decommissioning activity consistent with the definition of decommissioning contained in 10 CFR 50.2 and would be required under most acceptable decommissioning scenarios.
Based on the above, the I
staff concludes that YAEC has complied with this criterion.
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' The Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) dated January 14, 1993, set forth the fundamental factors that a licensee would have to satisfy prior to beginning decommissioning activities (as defined in 10 CFR 50.2) before NRC approval of the decommissioning plan. The SRM would allow any decommissioning activity "that does not -- (a) foreclose the release of the site for possible unrestricted use, (b) significantly increase decommissioning costs, (c) cause any significant environmental impact not previously reviewed, or (d) violate the terms of the licensee's existing license (e.g., OL, POL, OL with confirmatory shutdown order etc.) or 10 CFR 50.59 as applied to the existing license." By letter dated March 29, 1993, the NRC asked YAEC to submit its evaluation of items (b) and (c), and to describe how it will implement the 50.59 process in the shutdown condition. The NRC also indicated it would notify YAEC when the review of information showing how Yankee meets the applicable criteria is completed. YAEC has complied with factor (b) by indicating that NRC approval of early fund withdrawals will not violate the three criteria discussed herein. The staff review of the remaining factors will be completed before scheduled component shipments in late September 1993.
The licensee states that early withdrawal of the funds is needed to initiate the process. The staff can take appropriate action if the reviews are l
unsatisfactory.
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2.
The r.penditures would not reduce the value of the decomissioning trust below an amount necessary to place the reactor in a safe storage condition if ceforeseen conditions or expenses arise (for example, if the waste shipments 1
wre rejected by the disposal site and had to be returned to the licensee).
the licensee would be required to document the rationale for this minimum amount.
Etaff Evaluation: YAEC provided this information in its March 5th letter.
In a subsequent letter dated March 25, 1993, YAEC certified to and provided i
documentation for the minimum amount needed should unforeseen -
astances arise. YAEC estimates this amount to be $3 million and has so;, " V the rationale for this estimate; it is based on a worst-case scenar!
m 1ving a forced return of the steam genert. tors and pressurizer to the Rowe site after having been shipped to Barnwell, South Carolina. The bulk of this cost i
($1.58 million) is for the return shipment and subsequent construction of an onsite storage facility at Rowe for these components.
Included is a conservative 50% contingency allowance of $1 million. The staff accepts these amounts based on an analysis contained in NUREG/CR-0130, Technology, Safety and Cost of Decommissioning a Reference Pressurized Water Reactor, when applied to a reactor of the size of Yankee Rowe. Also, funds needed to
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maintain the facility in a safe storage condition are currently available to the licensee without the need for trust fund withdrawals. The staff expects that these funds will continue to be available in the future. Thus, YAEC has met this criterion.
3.
The withdrawals would not inhibit the ability of the licensee to complete funding of any shortfall in the decomissioning trust. The licensee would be required to document the effect of the withdrawals or the decomissioning funding plan.
Staff Evaluation: YAEC estiriates the cost of the proposed component removal activities to be apprcximately $30 million as stated in a letter dated April 8, 1993. During component removal, from April 1993 through June 1994, YAEC will collect about $33.1 miliion in the decommissioning trust fund; thus, the fund will grow by about $3 million.
In addition, during this interval, interest payments to the fund will be significant. The fund balance is projected to never be less than $74.6 million, its present value, at any time i
during or after the component removal process.
In addition, in a July 25, 1990 certification letter, YAEC stated that its ownership agreement with the utility owners of YAEC obligates these owners to pay their proportionate share of decomissioning expenses. This obligation was confirmed and funded in a March 18, 1993 Order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Comission. The order provides for rate increases to cover decomissioning costs. The YAEC stockholder owners are authorized to increase their rates to the ratepayers to cove: monthly installment payments into the decomissioning trust for a total of $28 million annually for 3 years. Thereafter, from 1996 to 2000, the stockholder owners are authorized to collect sufficient funds from ratepayers to accumulate a total of $235 million ir the decomissioning trust fund. This amount includes funds for an on-site dry cask spent fuel storage facility and return of the site to greenfield conditions. Since these two activities are not considered to be decommissioning under the NRC's definition in 10 CFR 50.2, the $235 million total funding will exceed NRC funding requirements by
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l about $50 million. Even if the $235 million fund were reduced by $30 million to $205 million, the YAEC decommissioning fund would still be sufficient to j
cover NRC-required decommissioning activities.
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Based on the above ar.d on a chart provided with the January 12, 1993 letter, the staff concludes that contractually mandated contributions from the stockholder owners will enable the decommissioning trust fund to retain j
sufficient funding to meet NRC requirements when final dismantlement commences; therefore, YAEC complies with this criterion.
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