ML20112B984
| ML20112B984 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Brunswick  |
| Issue date: | 12/06/1984 |
| From: | Eisenhut D Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20112B987 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8501100736 | |
| Download: ML20112B984 (7) | |
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7590-01 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAP. REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of Docket No. 50-325 CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY
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(Brunswick Steam Electric Plant,
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Unit 1)
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EXEMPTION I.
The Carolina _ Power & Light Company (CP&L, the licensee) is the holder of Facility Operating License No. OPR-62 (the license) which authorizes the operation of the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit 1 at a steady-state power Tevel not in excess of 2436 megawatts thermal. The facility consists (d a' boiling water reactor (BWR) located in Brunswick County, North Carolina. This license provides, among other things, that it is subject to all rules, regulations and Orders of the Commission now or hereafter in effect.
II.
Section 50.54(o) of 10 CFR Part 50 requires that primary reactor containments for water coc'ad power reactors be subject to the requirements of Appendix J to 10 CFR Part 50. Appendix J contains the leakage test requirements, schedules, and acceptance criteria for tests of the leak-tight integrity of the primary reactor containment and systems and l
ccmponents which penetrate the containment.Section III.D of Appendix J 9501100736 841206
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PDR ADOCK 05000325 Y
'- - > requires that local leak rate tests be performed during each reactor shutdown for refueling but in no case at intervals greater than two years.
Appendix J was published on February 14, 1973 and in August 1975, each licensee was requested to review the extent to which its facility met the requirements.
In responses dated September 8,1975, February 9, and September 16, 1977, and in an earlier letter dated May 2,1975, the licensee responded to the August 5, 1975 letter from the staff and requested a number of specific exemptions from Appendix J.
On November 5, 1977 Amendment Nos. 10 and 36 to DPR-71 and DPR-62, respectively, were issued. Those amendments granted specific exemptions from Appendix J and contained the Technical Specifi~ cation changes for Appendix J consistent with these exemptions.
Brunswick Unit I was last shut down for refueling in December 1982 and the leak r~te test was performed over a period of the next three or four a
months.
Brunswick Unit I was restarted in July 1983 after a 71 month outage and except for about one month, when an intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) inspection was perforned, it has operated essentially continuously since then, a total of about 14 months.
By March 31, 1985 Unit I will have operated the full 18-month cycle and will be ready for refueling. However, the two year Type B and C local leak' rate test periods end on various dates beginning about the middle of December 1984 III.
On September 4, 1984, as supplemented October ??, 1984, the licensee requested an exemption from the local leak rate interval requirements of
~~~ Appendix J to 10 CFR 50 for about 164 valves and penetrations. An associated proposed Technical Specification (TS) change revises Section 4.6.1.2.d to allow a one-time only deferment of required Type B and C local leak. rate tests (LLRTs) until the next refueling outage scheduled to begin on or before March 31, 1985. TS Section 4.6.1.2.d requires performance of LLRTs at least once per 24-month interval based on the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix J, Section D, Part 2.
Therefore, an amendment to the Technical Specifications and an exemption to 10 CFR 50 Appendix J was requested. A listing of the valves and penetrations involved in this
' request, their size (applicable to penetrations only), results of the previous LLRTs, and the current test due dates are provided in the L
application. These due dates range fron December 1984 to March 1985.
_ Additionally, the application proposes to change TS Section 4.6.1.2.f to allow a one-time only deferment of main steam line isolation valve (MSIV) leak testing until the March 31, 1985 refueling outage.
The current due date for the !!SIV leak testing is March 18, 1985.
As indicated above the intent of Appendix J was that isolation valves be tested during refueling outages but not to exceed 24 months. CP&L is presently scheduled to conduct a refueling outage for Brunswick Unit 1 beginning on or before March 31, 1985. The proposed amendment would allow these tests to be postponed until that refueling outage.
Such an extension is desirable in order to maintain personnel exposures as-low-as-reasonably achievable.(ALARA). With the current LLRT schedule, that is with no exemption, m.id-cycle LLRTs would need to be performed acain early in J
Brunswick linit 1 Cycle 5 to return to a schedule which is coincident with
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_4 the Unit 1 refueling interval.
Performance of mid-cycle LLRTs now and during the next fuel cycle would result in increased exposure of personnel of approximately 20 nan-rem which is not consistent with CP&L's or NRC's ALARA policies.
In addition, the test interval for Type C tests in Appendix J was based on two years of expected exposure of components to service conditions.
In the case of the valves referred to in the licensee's request, approximately eight months of the two-year period since the valves were last tested was spent in an extended maintenance outage during which
- the components were not exposed to an operating environment.
Technical Specification Section 4.6.1.2.f requires that the main steam line is~olatinn valves be leak tested at least once per 18 months. The 7
MSIVs were last tested on May 3, 1983. Utilizing the maximum surveillance period of 125 percent, the latest required performance date is tiarch 18, 1985. The requested extension results in only an additional 12 days, or a 1.75 percent increase, in the maximum surveillance interval permitted by the TS.
IV.
The staff has reviewed the information contained in the above referenced letters and has concluded that it would be acceptable to postpone, until the fiarch 31, 1985 scheduled refueling outage, the required LLRTs for approximately one-half of the Brunswick Unit 1 primary containment penetrations. These penetrations are identified in Tabic 1.
The basis for our conclusion is contained in the Safety Evaluation dated t
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. December 6,1984, which is available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room,1717 H Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.,
and at the Southport, Brunswick County Library,109 W. Moore Street, Southport, North Carolina 28461.
Based on our evaluation, the staff has concluded that the one-time extension of the test period for certain valves from December 12, 1984 or later to the next refueling outage scheduled to begin on or before March 31, 1985 will not adversely affect the health and safety of the public and that the requested exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix J, Section D.2 for the valves. listed in Attachment 1 should be granted.
V.
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security, is otherwise in the public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby approves the following exemption request.
Exemption is granted from the requirement of 10 CFR 50, Appendix J, Section D.2, that requires a 24-month interval between local leak tests for the valves specified in Table 1 for the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit 1 from December 12, 1984 or later to the next refueling outage scheduled to begin on or before March 31, 1985.
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~ Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the issuance of this exemption will have no significant impact on the environment (49 FR 44336).
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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Division of ticensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosure:
Table 1 Dated at Bethesda, Maryland this 6th d,ay of December 1984.
TABLE 1 LIST OF BRUNSWICK 1 CONTAINMENT PENETRATIONS WHOSE LLRTs CAN BE DELAYED UNTIL MARCH 31, 1985, REFUELING OUTAGE Penetrations are identified by their Test No. (from October 22, 1984, licensee letter).
Test'No.
TestNo.(cont'd)
CAC-1 E11-26 thru F11-32 CAC-2' E21-1 thru E21-5 CAC-9 thru CAC-12 E21-7 h
CAC-lh thru CAC-26 E21-8
--CAC-39.thru CAC-42 E41-2 CAC-45^
E41-4 E11-1 E41-6 Ell-2 E41-8 E11-4 '
E51-2 thru E51-4 E11-6 G31-2 E11-11 SA-1 E11-12 TIP-1 thru TIP-5 E11-15 thru~E11-17 Also, the Main Steam Isolation Valves
'E11-19 B21-F022A, F028A E11-20 G21-F022B, F02SB E11-22 821-F022C, F028C' E11-24 B21-F022D, F028D i