ML20058N462

Safety & Safeguards Evaluation Rept Recommending That 931130 Exemption Request for Receipt of Fresh Fuel Assemblies Be Granted

ML20058N462
Person / Time
Site:	Westinghouse
Issue date:	12/07/1993
From:	NRC
To:
Shared Package
ML20058N457	List: ML20058N455 ML20058N459 ML20058N462
References
NUDOCS 9312220029
Download: ML20058N462 (2)

Text

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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70-1151 LICENSEE: Westinghouse Electric Corporation Columbia, South Carolina

SUBJECT:

SAFETY AND SAFEGUARDS EVALUATION REPORT: APPLICATION REQUEST DATED NOVEMBER 30, 1993, RE EXEMPTION REQUEST FOR RECEIPT OF FRESH FUEL ASSEMBLIES Backaround for business considerations, the General Electric Company (GE) (Wilmington, North Carolina) desires to ship (from time to time) fresh fuel assemblies to Westinghouse for the sole purpose of interim storage pending final shipment to a GE reactor customer. The assemblies will be shipped and stored on flatbed trailers.

Each Model RA2/RA3 shipping package (containing two assemblies) will be tamper-safe sealed by GE.

Upon receipt, Westinghouse will visually l

inspect the shipments for package and tamper-safe seal integrity.

Unless there is evidence of degradation of shipping package integrity. Westinghouse will not remove or alter the configuration of the shipping containers on the fl at beds.

No more than 250 GE fuel assemblies will be present at any given time, Discussion Relative to these particular assemblies, Westinghouse has requested exemptions from the requirements of (1) conducting contamination surveys of the external surfaces of the shipping containers, (2) opening the shipping containers to perform an item count verification, and (3) conducting certain physical inventory activities on such assemblies if present at the time of an annual Westinghouse physical inventory.

Under normal special nuclear material receiving situations, Westinghouse is required to monitor the external surfaces of received packages for radioactive contamination, and to open the packages to perform an item count verification. To check for contamination on the external surfaces of the fuel assembly shipping packages, Westinghouse personnel would have to unfasten hold-down chains and physically move the shipping containers.

Since the special nuclear material in question is contained in encapsulated fuel rods, which are rigidly held together as assemblies, there is no real need to perform contamination surveys unless there is evidence of container damage.

Likewise, as long as the integrity of container seals are verified, there is no need to open the packages to verify that each contains two assemblies.

This will, of course, be done by the reactor f acility when the shipment is completed.

Also there is no need to physically verify the identity and special nuclear material content of each assembly at the time of a Westinghouse physical inventory.

Westinghouse will assure that no more than 250 such interim stored assemblies are present at any given time so as to avoid a need for criticality alarm i

9312220029 931209 PDR ADOCK 0700 1

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J monitors in the yard area where the flatbed trailers will he stored.

Although these fuel assemblies will be stored in a re ady to ship status (on 7

flatbed trailers), the physical and administrative cantrols governing the release of fuel assemblies for shipment are suffici'snt to preclude an i

unauthorized truck driver from transporting such ft el in an unauthorized i

manner.

Categorical Exclusion 1

1 Based on the information submitted by Westinghouse, the staff has determined l

l that the granting of the requested exemptions will not adversely affect the j

public health and safety or the environment; nor will it adversely affect the

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common defense and security; and is otherwise in the public interest.

Accordingly, the staff has determined that the criteria in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(il) for categorically excluding an action from an environmental review has 'c.en 2

met. Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is necessary for this proposed action.

Conclusion / Recommendation The staff concludes that the requested exemptions should have no adverse i

affect on the public health and safety or on the environment and that they i

will not reduce the effectiveness of the licensee's safety and safeguards l

1 programs. Hence, the staff recommends that the requested exemptions be granted.

Principal Contributor Donald P Joy

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