ML20094C937

Provides Summary & Schedule for Activities Re Licensed at-reactor Dry Storage Demonstration Program for Spent Nuclear Fuel

ML20094C937
Person / Time
Site:	Robinson
Issue date:	07/20/1984
From:	Utley E CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO.
To:	Cunningham R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
Shared Package
ML20094C927	List: ML20094C937
References
NLS-84-270, NUDOCS 8408080194
Download: ML20094C937 (5)

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Carolina Power & Light Company SERIAL: NLS-84-270 P. o. Box 1551. Ral.igh, N. C. 27602 JUL 2 01984 g 23 m.26 L E. UTLaY amo. w.,

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Director of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards Attention:

Mr. Richard E. Cunningham, Director Division of Fuel Cycle and Material Safety United' States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC

.20555 H. B. ROBINSON STEAM ELECTRIC PLANT, UNIT NO. 2 DOCKET NO. 50-261/ LICENSE NO. DPR-23 DRY STORAGE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

SUMMARY

with the Carol.ina Power & Light Company (CP&L) han entered into an agreement U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a licensed at-reactor dry storage demonstration prograr. for spent nuclear fuel at the H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant Unit No. 2 (HBR2). The purpose of this letter is to summarize the activities to be conducted, and to provide the schedule by which CP&L expects.to complete the program. It is CP6L's intent to file an application under 10 CFR Part 72, " Licensing Requirements for the Storage of Spent Fuel in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation."

BACKGROUND The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) established 1998 as an operational date for a spent fuel /high level radioactive waste repository. To assist utilities in providing for spent fuel storage until a repository is operational, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires DOE to ".

. establish a demonstration program in cooperation with the private sector, for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel at civilian nuclear power reactor sites, with the Counission the objective of establishing one or more technologies that (NRC) may by rule approve for use at the sites of civilian nuclear power reactors without, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional site-specific approvals by the Commission." Accordingly, on May 9, 1983, the DOE issued its Solicitation for Cooperation Agreement Proposal

-(#DE-SC06-83RL10432) for a Licensed, At-Reactor, Dry Storage Demonstration Program.

8408080194 840730 yDRADOCK 05000261 PCR

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I Mr. R. E. Cunningham,

Carolina Power & Light Company, in response to the DOE solicitation, submitted a-proposal on August 23, 1983 to DOE to demonstrate the NUTECH Engineers, Inc. (NUTECH) Horizontal Modular Storage (NUHOMS) System at lEBR2. DOE accepted CP&L's proposal in October 1983, and the contract was signed in March 1984.

DETAILS' Storage Concept.

The NUHOMS system provides a complete storage and handling system for the horizontal, dry, on-site storage of irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies in a

~ concrete module. The principal components are shown in the attached figure.. The HBR2 demonstration will construct th'ee horizontal storage modules (HSM) and store one dry-shielded canistat (DSC) in each module.

Eacn canister will contain seven intact pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel

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assemblies. The existing shipping cask at HBR2 (IF-300 rail cask) will be used to transfer the canister from the fuel pool to the dry-storage

_ modules.

The modules will be located within the plant protected area. 'Once fuel;is loaded, a test period of approximately one year will commence. Data will be obtained on the pressure, temperature, radiation, and air flow

. within the HSM. Nuclear, thermal-hydraulic, and mechanical / structural

. reanalyses will be performed to compare performance predictions with actual

' data.

Program Management The demonstration program will be managed by CP&L with support from NUIECH, DOE, and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

NUTECH, CP&L's

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subcontractor, will provide certain engineering, techuical support, and

.other services for the program relating primarily to the NUH0MS System.

Carolina Power & Light Company and other subcontractors will provide remaining engineering, technical support, and services. EPRI, acting through and in cooperation with CP&L, may participate in the formulation and formal. definition of the research and dev'elopment aspects of the program.

DOE is participating in the program through financial and/or in-kind services. Carolina Power & Light Company, DOE, and EPRI will be responsible for input to and approval of the schedular, technical, procedural, and administrative details of the program. Program review and' guidance will be provided to CP&L by all participants.

Quality Assurance

.The dry storage demonstration program will be performed under the guidance of applicable portions of the CP&L Corporate Quality Assurance (QA) Program and applicable QA requircaents as delineated in Amendment No. 2 to the HBR2 Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (to be submitted by July 20, 1984).

Controls will be established for the applicable activities which CP&L will perform as well as for those appropriate activities which subcontractors will perform.

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.Mr.,R. E. Cunningham.

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Quality Assurance personnel in CP&L's Corporate QA Department perform oversight to assure that appropriate quality requirements are being met in the normal implementation of technical programs. Work associated with this

- project will be performed in the same way as other nuclear plant related

. activities, and vill therefore be covered by the normal surveillance and audit process.

~ Safety-Related Considerations

-The accident analysis will define credible accident scenarios, including design and operating accidents, natural accidents, and man-made accidents,

l and perform analyses'to determine the consequences of each, ALARA Considerations Shielding and the dose assessment tasks will be performed to assure th.c the EBR2-specific dose limits and criteria are met.

In addition, CP&L's current policy on maintaining. radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable

( ALARA) ' will be. f ollowed.

Schedule Carolina Power & Light Company intends to file the license application required by 10 CFR Part 72 by January 31, 1985. Much of the design

.information will be based on a generic. topical report scheduled to be submitted to NRC by NUTECH Engineers, Inc. in November 1984.

It is requested that the license be issued by NRC by January 31, 1986 to support the commencement of construction in early 1986. Carolina Power & Light Company expects to load spent fuel in January 1987 for one year of operation until completion of the demonstration program. Upon completion of the first

year of operation, CP&L may elect to continue storage of the spent fuel in

.the facility-until a permanent repository is available. In addition, the facility may.be expanded to store additional fuel assemblies, if needed.

Carolina Power & Light Company recognizes that this is an ambitious schedule; but we believe it is achievable.

It is requested that the NRC commit"to. dedicating the resources necessary to achieve the final schedule, including-the following interim milestones:

Issue Safet?

vale. tion Report -~ July 1985 1 Bold Public Hearing (if required) - November 1985 9

' lssue License - January 31, 1986 11f there are any: concerns with meeting the above schedule at any time during the program, please inform.CP&L as soon as possible.

CONCLUSION' TheLCP&L program is seen as an &lternative storage technology and as a complement to the bank.of available technical data and technology, and as an

-extension of the experience in licensing, demonstrations, and analytical performance modeling. Furthermore, the CP&L/ DOE /EPRI/NUTECH program will

-provide the. utilities' and other DOE programs with additional, independent and alternative data, experience, and analycical performance models. The G

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- Mr.. R. E. Cunninghan -

use-of canisters that could be placed in any suitably-designed transportation cask will demonstrate that storage of spent fuel can be independent of future shipping and transportation requirements and regulations..

-Carolina Power & Light' Company will'be. putting forth significant effort to L achieve-the schedule discussed above. Any guidance or recommendations that

. the NRC could.give to expedite the review and approval of this effort would be greatly appreciated.

If you~ require additional information with regard to these activities, or

~ desire a meeting to'further discuss or expand upon the information above

-prior to our preliminary report, please contact Mr. Sherwood Zimmerman at

-(919)-836-6242.

Yours very truly,

E. E. Utley

-ONH/ccc (2550NH)

' Attachment Mr. J. L. Daily (DOE, Richland Operations) cc:

Mr.-R. W. Lambert (EPRI)

Dr. J. V. Massey (NUTECH)

. Mr. J. P. O'Reilly (NRC-RII)

Mr. G. Requa (NRC)

Mr. J. P. Roberts (NRC-NMSS)

Mr. L. C. Rouse (NRC-NMSS)

- Mr.'S. A. Varga (NRC)

Mr. Steve Weise (NRC-HBR) l:

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