ML20202F441

Requests Exemption from Requirements of 10CFR72.82(e) Re ISFSI Preoperational Test Rept.Exemption Is Requested So That Fuel Loading Operations May Proceed During Interim Period

ML20202F441
Person / Time
Site:	Trojan  File:Portland General Electric icon.png
Issue date:	02/10/1998
From:	Quennoz S PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
TAC-L22102, VPN-012-98, VPN-12-98, NUDOCS 9802190200
Download: ML20202F441 (8)

Text

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. . .e Portland General Electric One World Tra.le Center 121 SW Salmon Strert Portland, OR 97204 February 10,1998 VPN-012-98 Trc% <

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Dt 17 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Cominission Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555

Dear Sir:

I Reauest for Exemotion from the Reauirements of 10 CFR 72.82(e) l ISFSI Preonerational Test Report (TAC No. L22102) l In accordance with the provisions of 10 CFR 72.7, " Specific Exemptions," this letter requests an exemption from certain requirements contained in 10 CFR 72.82," Inspection and Tests." Section 72.7 authorizes the NRC to grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR 72 if such exemptions are authorized by law, will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security and are otherwise in the public interest.

Portland General Electric (PGE) is requesting an exemption from the provisions of paragraph (e) of 10 CFR 72.82, " Inspection and Tests." 10 CFR 72.82(e) requires that licensees report the results of preoperational testing at least 30 days prior to the receipt of spent fuel.

PGE is in the process of dismantling and decommissioning the Trojan Nuclear Plant (TNP) and will be prepared to begin the transfer of spent fuel from the TNP to the Trojan Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) immediately following the successful completion of preoperational testing. As a result, the requirement that a preoperational test report be submitted 30 days prior to receipt of spent fuel could impose an unnecessary delay ir. the transfer of spent fuel from the TNP to the Trojan ISFS1 and result in additional and unwarranted costs associated with decommissioning of the TNP. PGE proposes to submit the required report within 30 days following successful completion of preoperational testing, but requests this exemption so that fuel loading operations may proceed during this interim period. More detail concerning the basis for this request is contained in Attachment 1.

This request is being submitted as an amendment to PGE's previously submitted application for an ISFSI license (PGE letter VPN-012-96 dated March 26,1996).

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VPN-012-98 Februar 10,1998 Eage 2 of 2 If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Ray Pate of my staff at (503) 556-7480.

Sincerely, Apw%~f Stephen M. Quennoz Trojan Site Executive Attachment c: C. J. liaughney, NRC, NMSS w/o attachment D. G. Reid, NRC, NMSS, (15 copies)

M. T. Masnik, NRC, NRR, w/o attachment R. A. Scarano, NRC Region IV, w/o attachment David Stewart-Smith,00E

- STATE OF OREGON, )

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COUNTY. OF COLUMBIA- )=

1, S. M. Quennoz, being duly sworn, subscribe to and say that I am the Trojan Site Executive for

. Portland General Electric Company, the licensee herein; that I have full authority to execute this oath; tlut I have reviewed the foregoing; and that to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief the statements made in it are tme, D4_- bktlAAsi // ,1998 M ,f S M. Quennoz, Trojan Site Executive Portland General Electric Company On this day personally appeared before me, S. M. Quennoz; to me known to be the individual -

' who executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged that he signed the same as his free act.

GIVEN under mv hand and seal this // day of M3 ,

,1998.

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0 NotaryMic in the State of Or 4

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My commission expires 7-M92

Attachment I Request for Exemption from Certain Requirements of 10 CFR 72.82," Inspections and Tests" l

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w Attachment I to VPN-012-98 Februar910,1998 Page1of4 Request for Exemption from Certain Provisions of 10 CFR 72,82," Inspections and Tests" Background Information Ily letter dated March 26,1996, (PGE letter VPN-012-96), Portland General Electric (PGE) submitted an application for a specific license for an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) to be constmeted at the existing site of the Trojan Nuclear Plant (TNP) PGE is constructing the Trojan ISFSI to allow the removal of spent nuclear fuel and greater than class C (GTCC) radioactive waste from the TNP to facilitate TNP decommissioning activities. The ISFSI license application included a safety analysis report (SAR) which describes the proposed design o the facility. As described in the SAR, the Trojan ISFSI will use Sierra Nuclear Corporation's TranStor* design for spent fuel storage. This is a vertical cask, dry storage system. Spent fuel assemblies (or GTCC waste) are contained in scaled metal baskets wisich are in turn hous cylindrical concrete casks. The system is designed to allow the transfer of the sealed baskets from the storage casks to approved shipping containers for subsequent transport to a final repository o interim storage facility.

As required by Paragraph (p) of 10 CFR 72.24, " Contents of Application: Technical information,"

the Trojan ISFSI SAR contains a description of the testing program to be conducted p:ior to the receipt of spent fuel at the Trojan ISFSI (Re Trojan ISFSI SAR Section 9.2," Pie-Operational i

and Startup Testing"). It should be noted that the Trojan ISFSI is being constructed solely for the storage of spent nuclear fuel and GTCC waste from the TNP. The loading of spent fuel /GTCC waste into the storage baskets and the subsequent loading of the storage baskets into the concrete casks will be performed under the 10 CFR 50 license for the TNP. As a result, much of the initial testing associated with these evolutions will also be performed under the 10 CFR 50 license.

These testing evolutions are included in the description contained in Section 9.2 of the Trojan ISFSI SAR due to their importance to the safe loading and subsequent operation of the storage system.

Specific Exemption Requested The specific regulatory requirement from which PGE seeks exemption is contained in Paragraph (e) of 10 CFR 72.82, " Inspections and Tests." This paragraph is repeated below.

(e) A report of the preoperational test acceptance criteria and test results must be submitted to the appropriate Regional Office specified in appendix A of part 73 of this chapter with a copy r

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. Attachment I to VPN-012-98 February 10,1998 Page 2 of 4 to the Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, at least 30 days prior to the receipt of spent fuel or high-level radioactive waste.

PGE seeks an exemption from the required time frame for submitting the preoperational test report (i.e., at least 30 days prior to receipt of spent fuel). In lieu of this requirement, PGE proposes to submit the required report within 30 days following successful completion of the preoperational testing program. This exemption would allow fuel loading operations to begin prior to submittal of the preoperational test report.

Bases for Exemption Request

. Given the current status of the NRC's review of the pending Trojan ISFSI license application, it is possible that the ISFSI license will be issued prior to completion of the ISFSI preoperational

. testing. In that case, PGE would be prepared to begin fuelloading operations and startup testing immediately following the successful completion of preoperational testing. Therefore, the i requirement to submit the preoperational test report at least 30 days prior to receipt of spent fuel at the Trojan ISFSI could result in an unnecessary delay in the transfer of spent fuel from the TNP to the Trojan ISFSt.

PGE estimates that such a delay would result in increased decommissioning costs of more than

$300,000. This cost increase would result from increased expenses associated with maintaining necessary staffmg during the 30-day delay.

PGE believes that this exemption is appropriate because the submittal of the preoperational test report does not serve a critical role in the NRC's assessment of the adequacy of the ISFSI preoperational testing. As noted above, the scope of preoperational testing is already described in the Trojan ISFSI S AR. - In add _ition, the detailed procedures governing the preoperational testing evolutions will be available for NRC review prior to commencement of the te' sting operations.

Discussions with the NRC staff have indicated that the NRC plans to have representatives on-site during ISFSI preoperational testing to observe the testing and conduct inspections. As described in the NRC's inspection procedures', the objectives of the NRC inspection efTort during preoperational testing are, in part, to:

. determine by direct observation and independent evaluation whether the licensee has developed, implemented, and evaluated preoperational testing activities to safely load spent fuel from the spent fuel pool into a dry

'NRC Inspection Procedure 60854 - Preoperational Testing of an ISFS!

Attachment I to VPN 012 98 February 10,1998 bge 3 of 4 cask storage system (DCSS) and to transfer the loaded DCSS to the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). '

". . determine whether the licensee has fulfilled all test acceptarse criteria and that allidentified deficiencies are resolved before receipt of fuel at the ISFSI."

" Independently assess, et the completion of the preoperational testing program, the licensee's readiness to load spent fuelinte & ISFSI or retrieve spent fuel from the ISFSI

l Therefore, PGE's report documenting the results of the preoperational testing should not be necessary to suppor1 the NRC's cor.elusions relative to PGE's readiness to begia fuel loading and transfer operations.

The conclusion noted above (i.e., that a preoperatici al test report is not critical to the h M assessment 1)is suppo 1ed by the fact that a preoperational test report is not requitec Sr similar ISFS cated at nuclear pawer plants utilir.ing the generallicense provisions of Su spu K of 10 CFR 72. Althcugh a Subpart K generallicense requires the use of a storage cask des.g.

that has been previously approved by the NRC, the scope of preoperational testing would be similar to that required for a site specific licensee such as PGE At a recent NRC/ industry meeting the NRC staffindicated plans to initiate rulemaking to eliminate the potential 30 day delay following submittal of the preoperational test report? Such a nile change would obviate this exemption request. PGE is proceeding with this exemption request, however, since there is no assurance that the generic rulemaking will be completed in time to address this issue for the Trojan ISFSI.

Conclusions The descriptions of the preoperational testing contained in the ISFSI SAR, the detailed procedures which will be available to NRC inspection personnel, and the NRC's direct inspections and observations will provide ample basis for the NRC's assessment of preoperational testing activities for the Trojan ISFSt. Granting of the requested exemption will in no way endanger life or property or be inimical to the common defense and sec.4'y.

' Proceedings of the NRC Regulatory Information Conference, April 10,1997, Presentation by Charles J. llaughney, Deputy Director, Srent Fuel Project Ollice, Oflice of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, p. 27

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O Attachment I to VPN 012 98 Febniary 10,1998 j?nge 4 cf 4 Therefore, in accordance with 10 CFR 72,7," Specific Exemptious," PGE requests that an exemption from the requirement for reponing preoperational test results at least 30 days prior to receiving spent fuel, contained in 10 CFR 72.82(e), be included in the 1rojan ISFS1 license, an application for which is currently pending before the NRC. In lieu of this requirement, POE proposes to submit the preoperational test report within 30 days following - iccessful completion of the testing program.

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