ML20070W014
| ML20070W014 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Fort Saint Vrain  |
| Issue date: | 03/29/1991 |
| From: | Crawford A PUBLIC SERVICE CO. OF COLORADO |
| To: | NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| References | |
| P-91116, NUDOCS 9104120276 | |
| Download: ML20070W014 (5) | |
Text
___
3' c Service' PubHo Servic.
l co, voiceio,.oo I
P.O. Box 840 March 29, 1991 Denv" co 80201 0s40 Fort St. Vrain Unit No. 1 A. Clegg Crawford P-91116 Vic' Pod'a' Nuclear perations n
Executive Director for Operations U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555 Docket No. 50-267
SUBJECT:
Exemption from Annual Fees Under 10 CFR Part 171
REFERENCES:
See Attachment 1 Gentlemen:
l Public Service Company cf Colorado (PSC) hereby makes application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for an exemption regarding the payment of annual fees for fiscal year 1991 as promulgated in 10 t
CFR 171 (Reference 1).
PSC officially announced the end of operations at the Fort St. Vrain Nuclear Generating Station (FSV) on August 29, 1989. Written notification of PSC's decision to terminate operations at FSV was submitted to the NRC in Reference 2.
Prior to the August 1989 decision to terminate operations at FSV, PSC had notified the NRC that nuclear power operation would cease at FSV on or before June 30, 1990 (Reference 3).
PSC received approval on August 30, 1989, to amend the FSV license upon permanent shutdown to reflect a 2% power restriction (ROYerence 4). On October 1,1989, PSC submitted a proposed licente anmndment (Reference 5) tn have the 22 power restriction made a part tf the FSV license effeciive August 18, 1989, the last day FSV was in an operating mode.
On November 21,
- 1989, this amendment application was revised to request that a restriction prohibiting power operation at any level be tdded to the FSV license (Reference 6).
This amenda nt application was noticed by the NRC in the Federal Register on May IF,1990 (Reference 7),
s PSC has previously requested ex:mption from the annual fees undar the criteria -listed in 10 CFR 171.11. The NRC _ granted PSC a partial exemption from the annual fee in 1987 (Ref$ rents 9).
The exemption requests submitted for the 1988 (Reference 9),
1989 (Reference 10) and 1990 (Reference 12) annual fees remiin under review by the NRC.
Although andlysis of exemption criteria factors a) through d) has not changed.significantly from PSC's previous applications, it remains applicable and is included herein.
PSC's justification for requesting total enmption from the fiscal yen 1991 annual fees is contained in A t tachment 2 to this letter.
Discussion of the permanent shutdown of FSV, which is of itself sufficient to justify -
total exemption from the annual fees, is included in factor e).of Attachmtnt 2.
(. :.. :
9304120276 910329 v
PDR ADOCK 03000267 I
P-91116 Page 2-March 29, 1991)
PSC believes total exemption _from the :Part 171 fees-is fully l
justified.
FSV was permanently shutdown _i n fiscal year 1989 and notification of permanent shutdown was'made~to the NRC in 1989. All parties were aware-that-FSV was not an operating nuclear power-reactor at the close of fiscal year 1989, and FSV-has not been-considered an operating nuclear power' reactor atf any time -during
_l fiscal year 1991. =
j Should you have any-questions.regarding PSC's application for-exemption, please contact _ Mr. M. H. Holmes at (303) 480-6960.
Very truly yours, 47 b Y,N y
A. Clegg Crawford Vice President l
Nuclear _0perations ACC/DCG:km Attachments cc:
U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN: Document Control Desk Washington, D.C. :20555 -
C.-James Holloway,-Jr. Chief License Fes Management Branch Division-of Accounting and-Financei Office of the Controller-
- Regional Administrator, Reg sor. TV 611 Ryan _ Plaza Drive,-Suite 1000 Arlington, _*iX 76011-Mr. - J. B. Baird -
-Senior Resident Inspector Fort St. Vrain
\\f Ia
P-9ul6 Page 1 March 29, 1991 l
REFERENCES:
(1) Federal Register (55 FR 7610) Annual Licer,se fees for Fit:a1 Year 1990 for Peer Reactor Operr',in9 Licenses.
March 2, 1990
{
)
(2) PSC Letter, Crawford to Weiss, dated September 1, 1989 (P-89342)
'3) PSC Letter, Williams to Document Control Desk, datedDecember5,1988(P-88422) l (4) NRC Letter, Heitner to Williams, dated August 30,1989 (G-89304)
(5) PSC Letter, Crdwford to Weiss, Jated October 1,1989(P-89366)
(6) PSC Letter, Crawford to Weiss, dated November 21,1989'(P-89452)
(7) Federal Register (55 FR 20364), May 16, 1990 (8) NRC Letter, Stello to Williams, dated August 7,1987(G-87268)
(9) PSC Letter, Williams to Executive Director of Operations, dated September 25, 1987 (P-87335)
(10) PSC Letter, Brey to Executive Director of Operations, dated February 14,1989(P-89044)
(11) PSC Letter, Crawford to Hebdon, dated June 9, 1989 (F 89216)
(12) PSC Letter, Crawford to Executive Director of Operations dated July 13, 1990 (P-90217)
Po 9111t>
Page 1 March 29, 1991 Following is PSC's justification for requesting total exemption from the fiscal year 1991 annual fees:
I a)
ALe of Reactar FSV first went critical in January 1974.
As
~
such, it was the first reactor to go initially critical in 1974 Prior to 1970, eight reactors went critical; between 1970 and 1972 fifteen mere went critical, and during 1973 eleven reactors went critical.
Therefore, of the 114 reactors currently having operating licenses, FSV was the 35th reactor to go _ critical.
This pkces FSV among the oldest third of the nuclear units currently licensed, b) Site of Reactor FSV is rated at 330 MWe net.
However, the unit was restrictitWto 82% of rated capacity and throughout much of its operating life was not operable while equipment modifications were being made. Reactors that have gone critical since 1980 have ranged in size from 829 MW for Farley 2 to 1221 MW for the Palo Verde units.
The newer units are roughly 4 times larger than the restricted rating of FSV, roughly 9 times larger than the capacity that FSV generally realized, and infinitely larger than the shutdcwn capacity that was often required in order to make safety related modifications and repairs.
Given the permanent shutdown of FSV, the operating capacity of the reactor is ef fectively zero MW, which precludes prodection of any revenue to offset fees imposed by the NRC.
c) Number of Customers in Ra u Base The number of customers in rate base is not applicable to FSY~ No additional expenses of any kind, including additional fees such as the 10 CFR 171 fees, can be passed on to the PSC rate payers.
As the result of a 1986 litigation settlement between PSC and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and other litigants, FSV was removed from the PSC rate base and costs associated with FSV are no longer recoverable from PSC customers, d) Net Increase in kWh Cost for Each Customer Directly Related to the AnnuaTTe'e Assessed Under this Parl No increase in KWh cost to customers oT PTC ~w~iTl result due to the imposition of the annual fee.
PSC is not permitted to seek future rate increases based on increased costs at FSV.
As stated in paragraph c) above, FSV was removed from the PSC rate base and costs associated with FSV are no longer recoverable from PSC customers, e) Any Other Relevant Matter, '.ich the Licensee Believes Justifies H e Reduction of the Annual Fee Under 10 CFR~TT[3, the annual fees a re applicable on"ly to licensees holding an operating license.
As tiefined in Part 171.S. annual fees do not apply to licensees that have requested a license amendment for permanent withdrawal of authority to operate.
d
P 91116 Page 2 Attachaent 2 March 29, 1991
\\
As stated before, PSC notified the NRC in Decembec 1988, that nuclear power operation would cease at FSV on or.before June 30, 1990 (Reference 3)._
in light of this decision, PSC requested I
approval to amend the FSV license upon permanent shutdown to reflect a 2% power restriction (Reference 11). The 25 power restriction is effectively the same as withdrawal of operating authority, since 2% power is below the power required for " power operation" as defined in the FSV Technical Specifications.
Approval to amend the FSV license to reflect a 2% power restriction upon permanent shutdown was granted _ on August 30, 1989 (Reference 4).
Permanent shutdown was defined at that time as "on or before June 30, 1990".
PSC formally announced the end of nuclear operations at FSV on August 29, 1989, and notified the NRC of the decision not to restart FSV by letter dated September 1, 1989 (Reference 2).
Thus, prior to the start of fiscal year-1990.
FSV's status met i
the intent of the requirement in the regulation that the annual i
fees only be assessed against operating nuclear reactors.
On October 1,
- 1989, PSC submitted an. amendment application (Reference 5) to impose a 2f power restriction effective August 18, 1989 (the last day FSV was in an operating mode). Since the 2% power restriction at Fort St. Vrain is effectively the same as withdrawal of operating authority, PSC in effect submitted an amendment to withdraw authority to-operate on October 1.- 1989.at the start of fiscal year 1990.
The October 1 amendment application was superseded on November 21, 1989 by a PSC proposal that the FSV license be amended t o --
withdraw authorization to operate at any power level (Reference 6).
AlthoughthisNovemberproposalwasnoticedby),the NRC in the Federal Register in May 1990 (Reference 7 PSC met the defined exemption requirement in.No'/tmber 1989, as a, licensee that had requested permanent withdrawal of authority to operate.
A refund to PSC will not be necessary because the request. for permanent withdrawal of operating authority was made before the annual fees for fiscal year 1991 were assessed (Reference 1), and-PSC has~made no payments for the 1991 fees.
Finally, per the Federal Register: notice which assessed the fees (Reference 1), fees related to FSV were not included in the-fee base. FSV is in the "Other Reactor'.' category, reactors that have previously been greated full.or. partial exemptions.
- Thus, the t
fee base would not be reduced if-this request for exemption is-granted.
--1._-..
P-v'"
ww ww-d V
-v gew,v - w p
,p ow w-we w-e p-- w -
gri-s--r e,y-eg t
p-+
c+y%----
iyeyw---
yr - e gr -
.a w -
y..=
r y w w - y -gt vrir y y, sw,Aw arr
-- r s v gw e,e m vep-'t*,-49'y7-w ig p,'eg g
wmyg w+w-yy,y-+ ve syywriy=' v g' 7y w we r e-wW+'g'y
-