ML20097J885

Provides Further Technical Justification to Support Proposed Exception to Reg Guide 1.68,Rev 2,App A,Section 5.f. Approval of Exception in Future Suppl to SER Requested

ML20097J885
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba
Issue date:	09/18/1984
From:	Tucker H DUKE POWER CO.
To:	Adensam E, Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
RTR-REGGD-01.068, RTR-REGGD-1.068 NUDOCS 8409240094
Download: ML20097J885 (2)

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'1 DUKE POWER GOMPANY P.O. Box 33189

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~ CHARLOTrE, N.C. 28242

HAL B. TUCKER p-Tetzenoxz-

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,.5 Mr. Harold R..Denton, Director Office:of Nuclear Reactor'Regulat' ion U./S.. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.

20555 At(ention:.11s. E. G.-Adeu$am, Chief Licensing Eranch No. 4 y

d Re:- Catawba Nuclear Station-Docket Nos. 50-413 anC 5'0-414 4

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Dear Mr. Denton:

i On June 29,,1984, Duke Power provided additional information on the initial test program for Catawba' Units 1 anC 2.

Included in this submittal as a part of Attachment 2 was"a proposed exception to Regulatory Guide 1.68,

.i Rev. 2,1Aopendix A.:Section 5.f.

In Supplement.3 to the Catawba SER, the

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4 Staff found this proposed exception unacceptable without further technical ft justifidation.'

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~ Appendix A,'Section 5 of Regulatory Guide 1.68, Rev. 2 provides an illus-tration ofsthe types of.' tests that should be performed during the power-ascention tiest phase. Paragraph'(f) requests a demonstration that core

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-thermal'and. nuclear parameters,are in accordance with predicticns with a

sing 1. high worth rod fully inserted and during and following return of the red.to its bank position O As noted in FSAR Table 14.2.7-1 (Page 3), which-

/Vas subtaitted in the above referenced letter, exception is taken to the

,N;, jn.aboversquirement)following/returnoftherodtoitsbankposition.

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Catawba utilizes the Westinghouse movable incore detector system for obtain-

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ing flux'(reaction rate)Edata for synthesizing the core's power distribution.

Secause of the mechanics' of this system, full core mapping can take a

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' nominal two (2) hours. ?It is therefore not meaningful to take a core power

' distribution map immediately following the return of a rod to its bank position.

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..g iChanges in' xenon would.make the resulting measurement meaningless. Other alternatives;are to wait on peak xenon or equilibrium xenon before recording

,4 th'ei ower distribution.. This would require a nominal 9 to 10 hours1.157407e-4 days <br />0.00278 hours <br />1.653439e-5 weeks <br />3.805e-6 months <br /> delay p

y}if,takenat'peakxenonorlongeriftakenatequilibriumxenon. Neither

Ippproach is considered practical.

,>s' Themovableincore:detectorsystemdiscussedaboveisastandardsystemfor iWestinghouse'NSSSiunits. Because of the impracticality of full core mapp-

'ing during :a misaligned rod test, to the best of our knowledge, this test

~ has never been performed.on similar Westinghouse N5SS units. For this reason, Westinghodse does not provide synthesis factors for this particular core' condition and no comparision with predictions could be made as required by the A.5.f position.

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Mr.; Harold R. Denton, Dirsctor Sept mbsr 18, 1984

-Page;Two In Chapter 14lof Catawba SSER-3, the Staff noted that their review of this startup test on other plants indicated that although the data taken on this test would not be in xenon steady state, the xenon transient effects would be small compared to the time scale of a dropped rod. The Staff's-

' discussion did'not indicate if the startup tests reviewed by the Staff

-were from facilities with fixed incore detectors, which would allow a

~" snap-shot" core power distribution,' or at a fccility more comparable to Catawba with a movable'incore detector system.

. Recognizing the impracticality of,the full core flux mapping-during transient conditions, it is our conclusion that the requested partial exception to Regulatory Guide 1.68, Rev. 2 Appendix A, Section 5.f is technically justi-fled and we-therefore. request that the Staff approve the requested exception in a future supplement to the Catawba SER.

Very.truly yours, b.

/Qf

'Hal B. Tucker

-ROS: sib cc:

Mr.' James P. O'Reilly, Regional Administrator U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

! Region II 101'Marietta Street, NW, Suite 2900 Atlanta, Georgia 30323

'NRC. Resident Inspector Catawba Nuclear Station Mr. Robert Guild, Esq.

Attorney-at-Law P. 0, Box-12097

' Charleston, South Carolina 29412 Palmetto. Alliance-2135 Devine Street Columbia, South Carolina 29205

-Mr. Jesse L. Riley

. Carolina' Environmental Study Group 854Henley Place.

Charlotte, North: Carolina 28207 t

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