ML20148Q124

Amend 42 to Facil Oper Lic DPR-36 Rev Tech Specs Re Radiological & Thermal Effluent Monitoring.Changes Involve Environ Surveillance Prog,Air Particulate Charcoal Gamma Monitoring & Estuary Water Temp Monitoring

ML20148Q124
Person / Time
Site:	Maine Yankee
Issue date:	11/08/1978
From:	Reid R Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:
Shared Package
ML20148Q120	List: ML20148Q114 ML20148Q124 ML20148Q127
References
NUDOCS 7811290318
Download: ML20148Q124 (10)

Text

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/  % UNITED STATES )

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f' NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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g WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555 l

%, ...../ MAINE YANKEE ATOMIC POWER COMPANY DOCKET NO. 50-309 MAINE YANKEE ATOMIC POWER STATION AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE l

Amendment *h, 42 i License No. DPR-36

1. The Nuclear Regulatory Comission (the Comission) has found that:

A. The applications for amendment by Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (the licensee) dated November 7 and December 1, 1977, comply with the standards.and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Comission's rules and regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I, 1

l B. The facility will operate in confomity with the applications, I the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations of the Commission; C. There is reasonable assurance (1) that the activities authorized )

by this amendment can be conducted without endangering the health 1 and safety of the public, and (ii) that such activities will be 1 conducted in compliance with the Comission's regulations; D. The issuance of this amendment will not be inimical to the comon defense and security or to the health and safety of the public-and j l

E. The issuance of this amendment is in accordance with 10 CPR Part  !

51 of the Comission's regulations and all applicable requirements i have been satisfied.

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2. Accordingly, the license is amended by changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment, and paragraph 2.B.(6)(b) of Facility Operating License No. DPR-36 is hereby amended to read as follows:

1 (b) Technical Specifications '

The Technical Specifications contained in Appendices i A and B, as revised through Amendment No. 42, are I hereby incorporated in the license. The licensee shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications.

3. This license amendment is effective as of the date of its 1 issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMISSION

) Y Robert N. Reid, Chief Operating Reactors Branch #4 Division of Operating Reactors

Attachment:

Changes to the Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: November 8, 1978 k-

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ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 42 r FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-36 DOCKET NO. 50-309 Revise-the Appendix A Technical Specifications as follows:

Remove Pages Insert New Pages j 4.8-2 & 4.8-3 4.8-2 & 4.8-3 Revise the Appendix B Technical Specifications as follows:

Remove Page Insart Page 1.6 1.6-1 Fig. 1.6-1 Fig. 1 6-1 The changed areas on the revised pages are indicated by marginal 1tnes, 1

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TABLE 4.8-1  %

MAINE YANKEE q

ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

(

1.m FREQUENCY ANALYSIS SAMPLE )"'"l"2  ?

weekly gross beta y Air Particulate 9 quarterly composite gamma spectroscopy }!

' fh weekly gamma spectroscopy Charcoal Filter 9 ,5 17' monthly integrated gamma dose Direct Radiation two TLD readouts a.

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monthly composite gamma spectroscopy },

Estuary ut.er 3 quarterly composite tritium , j p

tritium, gamma spectroscopy [,f 4 quarterly Fresh Water Ra-226 h9 once per 3 years II 2 annually (harvest) gamma spectroscopy, Sr-89-90**  ;

Food Crop I-131 on green leafy portion te of vegetables j Marine Biological 9 quarterly gamma spectroscopy Media (Fish, Lenthic) S r-89-90**

Algae quarterly gamma spectroscopy [l 3

Sr-89-90** y semiannually gamma spectroscopy /

Bottom Sediments 4

• S r- 8 9- 9 0*

• Milk *** 2 monthly gamma spectroscopy, I-131 [

Sr-89-90 {

monthly composite

• gamma spectroscopy Sr-89-90**

weekly

• I-131 twice during gamma spectroscopy g vegetation 4 Sr-89-90** t growing season V

monthly composite tritium C/g Precipitation 2 t

• Performed whenever plant 1-131 releases exceed quarterly limit (Technical Specification 3.17)

• • . Per forned wheneve r plant related Cs-137 concentration is 10X non-plant .-

related Cs-137 concentration.

• • • Further, the licensee will ascertain by a semi-annual survey whether milk cows have been introduced at localities closer than the above two dairies. If positive results are found and the milk cow owner agrees with.the licensee on a reasonable environmental surveillance program, 3 1

milk from these sources will also be sampled and analyzed as above. /

1-131 in milk will be sampled with a sensitivity of 0.5 picoeuries per . ,

H liter at the time of sampling with an overall crror of +25 percent.

The analysis for I-131 will be completed within'8 days of taking the sample.

' Amendment'No. , 42 4.8-2

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TABLE 4.8-2' '(

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AIR PAP.TliTLA!E CilARCOAL GAMMA MCNITORING STATIONS

• Station Distance From Direction Designation- Location Plant (miles) from Plant f f

AP1 Bath' 6.8 SW

.AP2 Montsweag 1.7 NW AP3 Eaton Farm 0.3 W

-AP4 Baily Farm House 0.4 NE AP5 Mason Station 3.0 NE l AP6 Edgecomb Fire House 3.5 ENE j AP7 Westport Fire. House 1.1 S AP8 Harrisons 4.0 SW

-AP9 Dresden 12.4 NNW TABLE 4.8-3 ESTUARY WATER SAMPLE STATIONS

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Station Distance From Direction g Il Designation Location Plant.(miles) from Plant  !

WEll Plant Intake ** ' -- -- i WE12 Plant Outfall** -- --

l WE20 Kennebec Rive r*** 6.8 SW ')

CDeviations from the sampling schedule are permitted if specimens are unavailable due to automatic sampling equipment malfunctions or other icgitimate reasons. If automatic equipment malfunctions, a reasonable j effort shall be made to complete. corrective action prior to the end of l the next sampling period. All deviations from the sampling schedule 3 i

shall be reported annually. If an estuary. water sampler is inoperable, I weekly grab samples.will be substituted for continuously composited 6 samples.

C* Continuously compositing sampler, analytical frequencies as per Table j 4.8-1. t o** Grab samples,' weekly collection--frequency. .l 1

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Amendmert No. ,42:

1.6 MONIf0 RING ESTUARY WATER TEMPERATURE Appl icabil it y : Applies to t':e enuarine waters in the vicinity of the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Station.

Obj ect ive: To provide estuarine temperature data during plant operation.

Speci ficati on: A minimum of four of the estuarine sensors currentiy in us' l

by the Maine Yankee Environmental Studies Department sili continue to be used during the monitoring program after plant startup. Figure 1.6-1 shows the approximate location of the sensors.

Basis: The location of the temperature recording stations extends from Cheney's Landing in the Sheepscot River in the north throughout Montsweag Bay to Harrison's (Westport) in the south. Water temperatures at these stations are recorded at one ft below the water surface and at 20 ft below MSL.

Graphs of the data are made from the maximum daily temperatures at each station to indicate warming or cooling trends taking place as a result of plant operation. Maintaining the location of the sensors at their present locations will also allow j comparison of water temperatures taken before and after plant j operation, although the natural variability of water temperature at a given location is such that precise conparisons will be of littic value, only trend data.

Amendment No. 42 1.6-1

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Amendment No. 42

j 9 UNITED STATES j

• • - *i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION l WASHINoToN, D. C. 20665  ;

APPRAISAL OF CHANGES IN THE RADIOLOGICAL l AND THERMAL EFFLUENT MONITORING PROGRAMS TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR MAINE YANKEE ATOMIC POWER STATION DOCKET N0. 50-309 Introduction By letter dated December 1,1977, Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (licensee) proposed changes to the Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS), Appendix B to Facility Operating License No. DPR-36, for Maine Yar.kee. This change would reduce the scope of the estuary temperature monitoring program from the present seven stations to four stations.

In a separate action, by letter dated November 7,1977, the licensee proposed an Appendix A Technical Specification change to delete the requirements for weekly grab samples of estuary water at Mason Station (EWS 1), Bailey Point (EWS 2), Long Ledge (EWS 3), and Harrison's Dock (EWS 4). Replace-ment sampling would be a continuously composited sample from the plant in- ,

take. Also, the licensee proposed that the requirement for continuously composited samples from the Sasanoa River (EWS 5 - central location) be replaced by a requirement for weekly grab samples from the Kennebec River.

We have evaluated the proposed changes.

Evaluation Temperature Monitoring Program ETS Section 1.6 currently requires a minimum of seven continuous water temper- '

ature monitoring stations during plant operation to allow comparisons of water temperatures before and after plant operation. The t .'ature data collected during this-program have been submitted in the Mair.c R,kee Environmental ,

Studies - Annual Reports 2 through 4 (1970-1972) and, tnereafter, in the Maine Yankee Environmental Surveillance Reports Nos. 1 through 10.

Upon start-up in 1972, the Maine Yankee plant discharged its condenser cool-ing water to the surface of Montsweag Bay creating a mixing zone of 200 acres.

This surface discharge mode dictated the areal extent of the temperature mon-itoring program. Beginning in July 1975, a submerged diffuser was utilized i to dissipate the heated effluent in order to meet more stringent state regu- l 1ations. This resulting mixing zone is 25 acres and is controlled by Sections 1.1 and 1.2 of the ETS.

The licensee has proposed to eliminate stations 1, 6 and 8 from the present

, temperature monitoring system, contending that while such an extensive l

temperature monitoring program was appropriate for the former surface dis-charge. mode, it has little relevance for the present heat dissipation system L

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and stations 1, 6 and 8 presently contribute nothing to a better understand- l ing of bay' temperatures or the thermal discharge. According to the licensee, the objective of Section l.6 can be fully met with the monitoring stations that would remain as a result of this change.

We have reviewed the licensee's request, the semiannual surveillance reports, and the laboratory design of the submerged diffuser. A major consideration  ;

in the elimination of these stations is that their placements reflected  !

the' expected influence of the thermal plume before the installation of the~ 1 submerged thermal diffuser and the removal of the causeway across Cowseagan

~ l Narrows. From the data it is clear that station 6 is not influenced by the j thermal effluent from the plant. Station 5 exhibits similar temperature i trends and can serve as a background station; therefore, deletion of station i 6 is acceptable. l Station 1 is near stations 2 and 3 and indicates very similar temperature  !

trends to those two stations. In addition, station 8 is near station 4 and field data indicate that no additional information is provided by station j

8. Therefore, deletion of stations 1 and 8 is acceptable. .l

2. Radiological Samples i

Several years of monitoring have indicated no significant differences in i the. radiological content of samples from the .four subject grab sample loca- I tions which are upstream and downstream from the plant. This similarity  !

is expected to continue due to the tidal . flushing experienced in the  !

Montsweag Bay and Back River. Therefore, we agree that these four sample l locations can be replaced by one location representative of Montsweag Bay /  !

Back River water. The plant's circulating water intake stream is a repre- l sentative location. In addition, the use.of a continuously composited ,

sample will more readily permit detection of short term fluctuations in l the radiological content of tiontsweag Bay. j Reversible flow in the Sasanoa River' has resulted from the replacement' of the Westport Island Causeway near the plant. It is possible that the level of radioactivity in the Sasanoa River could 'be influenced by plant operation,  !

resulting in an inadequate control' sample. Therefore, the Kennebec River i provides a better control (background) sample location. Also, difficul ty  !

has been experienced.in maintaining a continuously composited sampler on  !

the Sasanoa River. ' Extreme environmental conditions such as. cold tempera-  !

' tures, winter ice jams, currents and tides limit effective operation of a )

continuous sampler. The radionuclide content of the Kennebec River is not subject-to rapid fluctuations in radioactivity; therefore, a weekly grab sample is acceptable..

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Based on the above, we find the proposed changes in sampling locations and techniques acceptable.

It is expected that due to certain environmental conditions several of the required samples each year may not be available. Therefore, the licensee has proposed that a footnote be added to the Technical Specifications to allow deviations from the required sampling frequency if samples are unavail-able due to hazardous conditions, seasonal unavailability, malfunction of automatic sampling or other legitimate reasons. If the unobtainable sample is due to sampling equipment malfunction, every reasonable effort is required to complete corrective action prior to the end of the next sampling period.

All deviations shall be documented in the annual report to the NRC. We find this proposed change acceptable.

Dated: November 8,1978