ML20246M225

Exemption from Requirement of 10CFR50.54(w) Re Reduction to Required Min Amount of Primary Property Damage Insurance

ML20246M225
Person / Time
Site:	Humboldt Bay
Issue date:	08/22/1989
From:	Greeves J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO.
Shared Package
ML20246M189	List: ML20246M185 ML20246M225
References
NUDOCS 8909070120
Download: ML20246M225 (6)

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I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

[ HUCl. EAR REGULATORY COMMI5SION l

In the matter of PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY ) Docket No. SG-133 Hur6oldt Bay Power Ptsnt Unit No. 3 EXEMP(ION I.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (the licensee) is the holder of Facility License No. DPR-7, which authorizes possession but not cperation of Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit No. 3 (Huraboldt Bay Unit 3). The license provides, among other things, that it is subject to all rules, regulatior.3, and orders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) now or hereafter in effect. lhe facility consists of a permanently shut down boiling water reactor ano stored sper.t fuel located at the licensea's site in Humboldt County, California.

II.

Section 50.54(w) of the Commission's regulations requires that each connercial pwer reactor licensee shall; by June 29, 1982, take reasonable steps to obtain en~ site property damage insurance available at reasonable costs and on reasonable terms frem private sources or to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Commission that it possesses an equivalent amount of protection coverirg the facility, provided, among other things, that "this 8909C70120 890g22 h.DR ADOCK OSoco133FDC m-__-__.~sm_. -- - _ - - _ _

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• insurance must have a minimum coverage limit for the reactor station site of either $1.06 billion or whatever amount of insurance is generally available-1 from private sources, whichever is less."

On May 28, 1982, the licensee filed a previous Request for Exemption from-

-10 CFR 50.54(w) to reduce the required minimum amount of primary property damage insurance to $100,000,000. .In support of this request, the licensee indicated.that Humboldt Bay Unit 3 had been shut down since July 1976 and was.

.in cold shutdown condition. The licensee indicated that studies conducted by it and the NRC staff concluded that the unit presented no danger to the health and safety of the public. Further, the licensee was then maintaining all-risk property damage insurance for Humboldt Bay Unit 3 in the amount of approximately-I

$100,000 000. The licensee submitted that any additional insurance beyond that currently carried should not be required. In addition, the licensee stated that the annual premium for additional insurance would be an unnecessary burden on its ratepayers. That exemption request was granted on November 3,1982 (54 FR 3168). i i

In its June 9,1989 request the licensee asks for a further reduction in the required minimum property damage insurance from $100,000,000 to $63,160,000.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a) the Commission may grant exemptions from the requirements of the regulations which are authorized by law, will not l

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endanger life or property or the common defense and security, and are otherwise in the public interest.

III.

Humboldt Bay Unit 3 has been shut down since July 2,1976. In 1983, the licensee decided to decommission Humboldt Bay Unit 3 and subsequently submitted a proposed Decommissioning Plan, proposed Technical Specifications (TS).and an Environmental Report. The licensee proposed (1) to amend License No. DPR-7 to possess-but-not-operate status; (2) to delete certain license conditions related to seismic modifications required before the NRC would authorize a return to power operation; (3) to revise the TS to reflect the possess-but-not-operate status; (4) to decommission Humboldt Bay Unit 3 in accordancewiththeplanincludedwiththesubmittal;and(5)toextend License No. DPR-7 for 15 additional years, to November 9, 2015, to be consistent with the Decommissioning Plan.

On July 16, 1985 License No. OPR-7 was amended to possess-but-not-operate status. On July 19, 1988 License No. DPP,-7 was amended to approve the Decommissioning Plan and the balance of items 1 through 5 above.

The licensee notes that all fuel has now been removed from the reactor i

(394 assemblies), all fuel is now stored in the on-site spent fuel pool, along E -__

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with 54 in-core fission chembers, and the unit is now functioning as a spent fuel storage facility. Plant operations are now limited to. surveillance and monitoring activities, and continued treatment and purification of spent fuel pool water and water entering the plant as ground water in-leakage. The licensee also notes that the: staff's previous evaluation of the spent fuel pool concluded that the probability of any crediDie means of achievin.g nuclear criticality was negligibly small.

The licensee explains that the requested insurance minimum:of $63,160,000 is the corrhined book valta of the nuclear unit (Humboldt Bay Unit 3,

$10,294,000) andthetwoon-sitefossilfuelunits($52,960,000). The licensee indicates that the difference in cost between insuririg for $100,000,000 and the proposed $63,160,000 is about $94',000 per year, and that the additional cost is against the public intersst as it is a needless expense.

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, The NRC staff agrees with the licensee that Humboldt Bay Unit 3 is l1 functioning as a spent fuel storage facility, that the risk of criticality is negligibly small, and that the proposed minimum amount of property damage insurance is adequate. A previous Connission-sponsored review and cnalysis of the costs of clean-up arid decontamination at reference non-reactor facilities follcwing postulated accidents comparable to those for which Humboldt Bay Unit 3 is conceivably vulnerable (e.g., fire, explosion) concluded that recovery  !

costs would be substantially less than the proposed insurance minimum (see NUREG/CRv3293). Fur example, costs of recovery from credible accidents at a j I

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mixed oxide plant and a uranium fue) fabrication plant are estimated to be no more than $4.6 million and $2.2 million, respectively, in 1981 dollars.

Potential accident recovery costs at these facilities would be higher than' at Humboldt Bay Unit 3. This is because the radioactive material is more dispersive and can lead-to more widespread c.ontaminatfcn than the aged spent fuel elements maintaincd under water in the spent fuel pool at Humboldt Bay Unit 3. The staff therefore concludes that the underlying purpose.of

.10 CFR 50.54(w) will still be achieved with a minimum property damage insurance amount of $63,160,000.

Basedontheforegoing,andinaccordancewith10CFR50.12(a)thestaff concludes that the exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(w) as discussed above, is authorized by law, will not endanger lffe or property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the public interest.

Furthermore, full compliance with 10 CFR 50.54(w) is not necescary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule. Thus, special circumstances exist as

-described in 650.12(a)(2)(ii) which the Commission has determined are sufficient to warrant the exemption.

Accordingly, the Commission hereby grants Pacific Gas and Electric

. Company the following exemption:

The licensee is exempt, until further Order of the Commission, fron 4

the requirement to carry primary property damage insurance coverage

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for Hu'mboldt Bay Unit No. 3 in the full amount called for by 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1), provided that the licensee maintains such primary property damage insurance in an amount not less than $63,160,000.

IV.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission previously determined that the granting of this Exemption would have no significant impact on the environment (54 FR 34266).

This exemption is effective upon issuance.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION b.5bW, -

John T. Greeves, Deputy Director Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 22nd day of August, 1989 I'

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