ML20235X033

Application for Amend to License NPF-57,revising Tech Spec 4.1.5.b.2 & Figure 3.1.5-1 for Standby Liquid Control Sys & Associated Bases Section 3/4.1.5 to Maintain Compliance W/ 10CFR50.62(a)(4).Fee Paid

ML20235X033
Person / Time
Site:	Hope Creek
Issue date:	07/14/1987
From:	Corbin McNeil Public Service Enterprise Group
To:	NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION & RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (ARM)
Shared Package
ML20235X036	List: ML20235X033 ML20235X822
References
NLR-N87131, NUDOCS 8707240020
Download: ML20235X033 (8)

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Public Service Electric and C ar, Company Ctrbin A. McNeiH, Jr. Public Service Electric and Ga3 Company P.O. Box 236, Hancocks Bndge. NJ 08038 609 339-4800

[,"u"cfe'af* "'" July 14, 1987 ,

NLs- 87131 United, States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk -

• Washington, DC 20555 }

Gentlemen: ,

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REQUESIt IDR AMENDMENT I

FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NPF-57 \

HOPE CREEK ' GENERATING STATION I DOCKET NO. 50-354 '

l , 9 2n accordance with the requirements of 10CFR50.90, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) hereby transmits a request for amendment of Facility Operating License NPF-57 for Hope Creek Generating Station (HCGS). In accordance with the requirements of 10CFR170.23,, a check in the amount of $150.00 is enclosed. Id

- %,accordance wi<.h the requirements of 10CFR50.91(b)(1), a copy of,

' this request has been sent to the State of New Jersey as n indicated below,t This amendmect request revises Technical Specification d.l.5 b.2 and Figure 3.1.5-1, for the Standby Liquid Control (SLC) system as well as the associated Bases Section 3/4.1.5 (sae attachment 2).

• These changes are necessary in order for HCGS to maintain compliance to 10CFR50.62(c)(4) and are requested to be effective thirty (30) days after approval and issuance. Attachment 1

• contains further discussion and justification for f.shese proposed  !

revisions while Attachment 3 dontains support chang d for the 1

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Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR). 4, * *

% 5 This submittal includes ones (1) algned original, including /, I

+

affidavit, and thirty-6even (37) copies pursuant to ,'

10CFR50.4(b)(2)(ii). ,

s Should you have any questions on the subject transmittal, pleasei do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely, 4

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Enclosure (check) s Affidavit \ (M Attachments (3) x

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9 8707240020 870714 ,

PDR ADOCK 05000354 i P PDR  ;, kgC,jgejfec/L$$'9^0

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Document Control Desk 2 7-14-87 C Mr. G. W. Rivenbark l USNRC Licensing Project Manager Mr. R. W. Borchardt USNRC Senior Resident Inspector Mr. W. T. Russell, Administrator USNRC Region I Mr. D. M. Scott, Chief l Bureau of Nuclear Engineering Department of Environmental Protection 380 Scotch Road Trenton, NJ 08628 1

l

(

i 4 Ref: LCR 87-11 STATE OF NEW JERSEY )

) SS.

COUNTY OF SALEM )

i Corbin A. McNeill, Jr., being duly sworn according to law deposes and says:

I am Senior Vice President of Public Service Electric and Gas Company, and as such, I find the matters set forth in our letter dated July 14, 1987 , concerning Hope Creek Generating Station License Change Request 87-11, are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.

\

l c 1 Subscribed and Sworn o efore me this /?* day of -

, 1987

[ "

/

LARAINE Y. BEARD Notary Public #

of New Jersey Notory Public of New Jersey My Cornmission Expires May 1,1991 My Commission expires on l

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ATTACHMENT 1 ,

PROPOSED CHANGE TO TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS LCR 87-11 FACILITY OPERATING L; CENSE NPF-57 HOPE CREEE GENERATING STATION

.DOCERT NO. 50-354 I. Description of the Changt Revise Technical Specification 4.1. 5. b. 2 for the Standby Liquid Control' ( SLC) system by increasing-the amount of sodium pentaborate from 5760 pounds to 5776 pounds and ,

replace Figure 3.1.5-1, Sodium Pentaborate Solution Volume / Concentration Requirements, with the revised figure as shown in Attachment 2. These changes are necessary in order for Hope Creek Generating Station ( HCGS) to maintain compliance to 10CFR50. 62( c)( 4) with a minimum flow capacity and boron equivalent in control capacity to 86 gallons per minute ( gym) of 13 weight percent (13 - w/o) sodium pentaborate solution. Similar changes are required in Technical Specification Bases Section 3/4.1. 5.

II. Reason for the Chance l The NRC staff has expressed concerns that the current HCGS  ;

Technical Specifications ( Surveillance Requirement 4.1 5. c) I only requires' the two SLC pumps to provide a minimum flow of 82.4 gym, whereas 10CFR50. 62( c)( 4) requires that the SLC system operate at 86 gym if the boron conter t equivalent in control capacity is 13 w/o sodium pentaborate solution. The speration of the HCGS SLC system requires a boron I concentration of 13.4 w/o at the SLC ' tank low level ( 4850 j gallons) while the pumps are only required to operate at 41.2 gpm per pump, therefore, the NRC requested either the ]

j pump capacity or the boron concentration to be changed to meet the control equivalent of 13 w/o at 86 gym.

PSEEG has reviewed the SLC system design specifically investigating the pump's design capacity and the amount of  !

boron in solution. PSE&G has decided to increase the I minimum allowable concentration of the sodium ~pentaborate solution by adding 16 pounds of sodium pentaborate and reducing the SLC tank low level by 210 gallons thereby increasing the boron concentration to 14. 0 w/o at the new SLC tank low level ( 4640 gallons - note that the SLC tank high level will also change from 4997 to 4880 gallons) .

This decision, rather than increasing the pumps rated capacity, assures that the SLC pumps will. continue to meet the requirements of 10CFR50.62 assuming normal pump degradation. Hence this submittal is provided to formally Page 1 1

request a revision to the-appropriate sectionn of the HCGS .

Technical Specifications.

.III. Justification for the Chance Design details for the SLC system are contained in Final Safety Analysis Report ( FSAR) Section 9.3.5. The SLC system has been incorporated into the HCGS design in order to cope with an Anticipated Transient Without a Scram ( ATHS) event

( see FSAR Section 15. 8) . in which sufficient negative reactivity must ' be; added to the reactor vessel in order to-effect and maintain a cold shutdown. The current SLC system is capable of meeting its design. intent; however, additional margins of safety are required to maintain compliance with 10CFR50.62.

The ability to safely shutdown the react or - with the existing SLC system requirements has not been con. promised since issuance of the HCGS operating license even though the HCGS Technical Specifications did not require the pumps to be tested at 86 gym. The minimum amount of neutron absorber (i.e. minimum boron concentration) required to shutdown the reactor is based on the weight of water in the reactor vessel and recirculation loops at regetor water level 8 ( Ld) and the reactor coolant piping at 68 F with a 255 margin to allow for leakage, imperfect mixing and the operation of the Residual Heat Removal ( RHR) system in the shutdown cooling mode ( SDCM) . The SLC system pump rating and the concentration of the solution ensure that the boron gets into the reactor fast enough to counteract the decreasing reactor temperature but slow enough so that the boron does not recirculate throughout the core in uneven concentrations. Additionally, the SLC system meets these design requirements even if only one SLC pump is available.

PSE&G has been festing the SLC system in accordance with Technical Speci M cation Surveillance Requirements since fuel load in April ineG. Results have indicated that the boron concentration in the SLC storage tank has not dropped below

13. 3 w/o and the pump capacities have not dropped' below 43. 5 -

g ym. In fact the most recent test of the pumps was performed in February 1987 with the following results: Pump-A - 44.19 gym, Pump B - 45.7 gym.

Therefore, PSE&G concludes that the proposed change does not imply that the SLC system has been incapable of performing its design function. Rather, the change will increase the margin of safety and assure that the system continues to meet the requirements of 10CFR50.62, i . e. "a minimum flow capacity and boron content equivalent in control capacity to 86 gallons per minute of 13 weight percent sodium pentaborate solution."

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III. Significant Hazards Consideration ,

The proposed change to the HCGS Technical Specifications:

1) Does not involve a significant increase in the probability.or consequences of an accident previously evaluated. This change does not affect the ability of sodium pentaborate to reach the core nor the capability of boron to absorb neutrons; hence, the design intent of the SLC system is not affected. This change increases the ability of the SLC system to shutdown the reactor during an

-ATWS event since more sodium pentaborate will be available to absorb neutrons.

The proposed change increases the minimum allowable boron concentration by increasing the amount of sodium pentaborate .

in the SLC storage tank by 16 pounds (less than 0. 3 percent) and reducing the SLC tank low level by 210 gallons

( approximately 45) . As a result of these changes, the sodiug pentaborgte solution saturation temperature increases to 62 F from 59 F ( approximately 55). However, as shown in revised FSAR Section 9. 3. 5 and Figure 9. 3-9 ( see Attachment 3), the increased saturation temperature is still less than the temperature maintained by the electrical heager systeg which maintains the SLC tank solution between 75 F and 85 F.

The performance of Technical Specification Surveillance Requirements 4.1.5.a.1 and a.3, on a daily basis, assures that the SLC system heat tracing and SLC tank electrical heater system gaintains system temperature at greater than or equal to 70 F. Addi ti onally, the areas in which the SLC sygtem is located are maintained at temperatures of at least 70 F. Therefore, the proposed change does not signit'icantly increase the possibility of the sodium pentaborate coming out of solution.

Hence, the proposed change does not significantly increase the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated.

ii) Does not create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated. The proposed change does not alter SLC system operation nor affect any other system, including the ability-of the plant to recover from accident conditions. Therefore it can be concluded that the proposed change does not create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated.

iii) Does not involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. The proposed change increases the ability of the SLC system to respond to ATNS events by increasing the amount of sodium pentaborate which is available to safely bring the reactor to a shutdown condition. Although as discussed in subparagraph (1) above, the saturation Page 3

l temperature of sodium pentaborate is increased, this ,l increase is not significant especially in light of the fact that the electrical heater system maintains solution temperature with a margin of approximately 215, 3 Additionally, the Technical Specifications maintain a margin {

of approximately 135. The changes to the actual Technical  !

Specircations are conservative in nature and hence, the proposed change does not significantly reduce a margin of safety.

Finally, this amendment request conforms to Example (ii) for Amendments That Are Not Likely To Involve Significant Hazards Considerations ( published in Federal Register Vol.

51, No. 44 dated Narch 6, 1986) in that this change ,

constitutes an additional limitation not presently included I in the Technical Specifications. In addition, based upon the discussions provi de d in the above three subparagraphs, PSE&G concludes that the proposed change does not involve a Significant Hazards Consideration. {

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4 ATTACHMENT 2

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