ML20138D392

Exemption from 10CFR30.51,40.61,70.51(d) & 70.53 Requirements,Per 850418 Request.Exemption from 10CFR70.53 Shall Expire Following Completion of Defueling Effort, Including Assessment of Fuel Fines & Debris within Plant

ML20138D392
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	10/17/1985
From:	Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	GENERAL PUBLIC UTILITIES CORP.
Shared Package
ML20138D384	List: ML20138D377 ML20138D392 ML20138D398
References
NUDOCS 8510230262
Download: ML20138D392 (6)

Text

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, Enclosure 1 I

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of )

)

GENERAL PUBLIC UTILITIES NUCLEAR ) Docket No. 50-320 CORPORATION )

(Three Mile Island Nuclear Statior, Unit 2) )

EXEMPTION 1.

GPU Nuclear Corporation, Metropolitan Edison Company, Jersey Central Power and Light Company and Pennsylvania Electric Company (collectively, the licensee) are the holders of Facility Operating License No. DPR-73, which has authorized operation of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 2 (THI-2) at power levels up to 2772 megawatts thermal. The facility, whica is located in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, is a f pressurized water reactor previously used for the commercial generation of electricity.

By Order for Modificatior, of License, dated July 20, 1979, the licensee's authority to operate the facility was suspended and the licensee's authority was limited to nairitenance of the facility in the present shut-down cooling mode (44 Fed. Reg. 45271). .By further Order of the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, dated February 11, 1980, a new set of license requirements was imposed to reflect the post-accident condition of the facility and to assure the continued maintenance of the current safe, stable, long-tem cooling condition of the facility (45 Fed. Reg.11292).

The license provides, among other things, that it is subject to all rules, regulations and Orders of the Comission now or hereaf ter in effect.

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II.

By letter dated April 13, 1985, the licensee requested exemptions from 10 CFR 30.51, 40.61, 70.51(d), 70.53, and 70.54 regarding the requirements for record keeping, inventorying, and reporting cf core special nuclear, source and byproduct materials. Specifically, 10 CFR 30.51 and 40.61 specify the requirements for keeping records which show the receipt, transfer and disposal of source and byproduct material. 10 CFR 70.51(d) specifies the requirements for the periodic conduct of a physical inventory of all special nuclear material in possession. 10 CFR 70.53 specifies the' requirements for the periodic submittal of a Material Balance Report and Physical Inventory Listing of special nuclear material possessed by the licensee. 10 CFR 70.54 specifies the requirements for submitting fluclear Material Transaction Reports for the transfer or receipt of special nuclear material. In meetings with the licensee held subsequent to the April 18, 1985 exemption request, staff representatives of the flRC and Department of Energy (D0E) have determined that the licensee will have sufficient information to comply with the requirements of 10 CFR 70.54 and that an exemption from this regulation is not necessary.

III.

The accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 severely damaged the reactor core.

Video inspections and topography measurements indicate a cavity in the upper core region which represents approximately 26% of the tocal original core volume. fio more than 2 of the original 177 core fuel assemblies

w remain intact and only 42 assemblies have any full length fuel rods. The core damage extenas radially all the way out to the core former walls. As a result of the accident induced embrittlement of virtually all fuel rods, no fuel assemblies are expected to be withdrawn intact. There is a significant amount of core debris in ex-core region locations (e.g., an estimated 10 to 20 tons in the lower reactor vessel head) and much of the

- core byproduct material has been released from the fuel. For' example, analyses of core debris bed samples indicate that, on the average, only about 13% of the original Cs-137 inventory remains in the fuel although the percentage retained can vary considerably from sample to sample.

During the defueling of the damaged core, the fuel debris will be collected in canisters by vacuuming or " pick and place" techniques. However, as a result of the damaged condition of the core, the licensee will have no means of accurately characterizing (e.g., U-235 enrichment and total uranium content, fission product radionuclide content and distribution, plutonium content) the fuel debris during the defueling sequence. The capability for characterizing the collected fuel debris in each canister would require sophisticated hot cell and laboratory facilities with the means to homogenize, sample, weigh, and analyze the contents of each canister. Such facilities do not exist at Three Mile Island. Given the damaged condition of the core and lack of sophisticated hot cell and laboratory facilities, there is no practical means for the licensee to perform the measurements or precise calculations necessary to comply with the Commission's regulations related to accountability of special nuclear,

7-source and byproduct materials. The staff therefore concludes that exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR 30.51, 40.61, 70.51(d), and 70.53 are appropriate. As previously sta.ted in Section II of this evaluation, staff representatives of the NRC and DOE have determined that the licensee will have sufficient .information to comply with the transfer requirements of 10 CFR 70.54 and that exemption from this regulation is not necessary.

The granting of these exemptions does not mean that the licensee will not provide any record keeping or reporting of the canister core debris which is intended to be transferred to the custody of the DOE for research and/cr storage at DOE facilities in Idaho. In lieu of the reporting requirements of 10 CFR 70.53, the licensee will provide to the DOE all available information describing the physical contents of each canister including:

the canister identification number, canister type (i.e., knockout, fuel, or filter), date of shipment, the shipment number, the empty weight of the canister, the loaded weight of the canister, the dewatered weighi.~of the canister, maximum total curies, the canister pressure, general physical descriptionofthecanistercontentsincludingvideotapedata(if available), and any additional information based on mutual agreement between the. licensee and the D0E. Further, following the completion of defueling and the offsite shipment of the packaged fuel debris, the licensee will be in a position to comply with the requirements of 10 CFR i l ,

70.53 and the licensee will be required to submit a Material Balance Report {

1 and Physical Inventory Listing at that time.  ;

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In lieu of the requirement in 10 CFR 70.51(d) for the periodic conduct of a physical inventory of all special nuclear material, the licensee will conduct such an inventory upon the completion and analysis of a post-defueling survey.

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In lieu of the record keeping requirements of 10 CFR 30.51 and 40.61, the licensee will maintain records of each fuel shipment in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 71.91. Such records will include an identification i

of the shipment packaging, the maximum total curies, the total quantity of each shipment, and the date of shipment.

IV.

Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 30.11,  ;

40.14, and 70.14, these exemptions are authorized by law and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security and are otherwise in the public interest. The Commission hereby grants exemptions j from the requirements of 10 CFR 30.51, 40.61, 70.51(d), and 70.53. Tho exemption from 10 CFR 70.53 shall expire following the completion of the ,

defueling effort, including an assessment of any fuel fines and debris which remain within the plant, and the subsequent offsite shipment of all ,

packaged fuel debris, i

It is further determined that the exemptions do not authorize a change in f effluent types or total amounts nor an increase in power level and will not  !

result in any significant environmental impact. In light of this v ~ n , a, , - - ,

w determination and as reflected in the Environmental Assessment and Notice of Finding of No Significant Environmental Impact prepared pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21 and 51.30 through 51.32, issued September 20, 1985, it was concluded that the instant action is insignificant from the standpoint of environmental impact and an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY C0ftMISSION l k Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Effective Date: October 17, 1985 Dated at Bethesda, Maryland Issuance Date: October l', 1985