ML21300A006

Closeout of Bulletin 2012 01, Design Vulnerability in Electric Power System (EPID L-20172-CRS-0063)

ML21300A006
Person / Time
Site:	FitzPatrick
Issue date:	11/16/2021
From:	Justin Poole Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:	Rhoades D Exelon Generation Co
Poole J
References
EPID L-20172-CRS-0063
Download: ML21300A006 (4)

Text

November 16, 2021 Mr. David P. Rhoades Senior Vice President Exelon Generation Company, LLC President and Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Nuclear 4300 Winfield Rd Warrenville, IL 60555

SUBJECT:

JAMES A. FITZPATRICK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT - CLOSEOUT OF BULLETIN 2012-01, DESIGN VULNERABILITY IN ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM (EPID L-20172-CRS-0063)

Dear Mr. Rhoades:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has verified that Exelon Generation Company, LLC (the licensee) has provided the necessary information requested in NRCs Bulletin (BL) 2012-01, Design Vulnerability in Electric Power System, dated July 27, 2012 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML12074A115), for James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant (FitzPatrick). The NRC staff has completed its review of this information and has closed out BL 2012-01 for this facility.

The NRC issued BL 2012-01 on July 27, 2012, to all holders of operating licenses and combined licenses for nuclear power reactors, except those who have permanently ceased operation and have certified that fuel has been removed from the reactor vessel. The Bulletin requested information about each facilitys electric power system designs that would allow the NRC staff to verify the systems capability to address open phase conditions. Specifically, the NRC requested licensees to provide the following information:

A description of how the protection scheme for engineered safety features buses (Class 1E for current operating plants or non-Class 1E for passive plants) is designed to detect and automatically respond to a single-phase open circuit condition or high impedance ground fault condition on offsite power circuits or another power source; and A description of the operating configuration of engineered safety features buses (Class 1E for current operating plants or non-Class 1E for passive plants) at power (i.e., normal operating condition).

By letter dated October 25, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12300A280), the licensee provided its response to BL 2012-01 for FitzPatrick. By letter dated February 3, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14034A362), the licensee provided supplemental information for this facility in response to an NRC staff request for additional information issued on December 20, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13351A314).

D. Rhoades By letters dated October 9, 2013, and March 16, 2015 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML13333A147 and ML15075A454, respectively), the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) submitted a voluntary industry initiative to address open phase conditions at nuclear power plants. The NEI letter dated March 16, 2015, stated, in part: The initiative is a formal commitment by the companies that operate nuclear power plants to follow a specific policy or plan of action. The initiative calls for a proactive plan and schedule for addressing the potential design vulnerabilities to the open phase condition.

To evaluate the adequacy of the open phase isolation systems designs, the NRC staff issued Temporary Instruction (TI) 2515/194, Inspection of the Licensees Implementation of Industry Initiative Associated with the Open Phase Condition Design Vulnerabilities in Electric Power Systems (NRC Bulletin 2012-01), dated October 31, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17137A416), which provided temporary inspection instructions for the purpose of verifying that licensees appropriately implemented the NEI voluntary industry initiative dated March 16, 2015. The NRC staff piloted the use of TI 2515/194 by inspecting four nuclear power plants with four distinct open phase isolation system designs. A summary of the NRC staffs preliminary observations and issues needing additional clarity were discussed with industry representatives in two public meetings conducted on September 19, 2018, and October 17, 2018. The meeting summaries can be found in ADAMS under Package Accession Nos. ML18268A342 and ML18309A226, respectively.

By letter dated June 6, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19163A176), NEI submitted Revision 3 of the voluntary industry initiative to include an option for plants to perform a risk evaluation under certain boundary conditions to support manual response to an open phase condition. NEI also submitted NEI 19-02, Guidance for Assessing Open Phase Condition Implementation Using Risk Insights on June 20, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19172A086). On August 18, 2020, the NRC staff issued Revision 2 of TI 2515/194 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20230A328), which provided temporary inspection instructions for the purpose of verifying that licensees appropriately implemented Revision 3 of the NEI voluntary industry initiative. The revision accounted for changes reflected in Revision 3 of the NEI voluntary initiative.

In April 2021, the NRC staff performed inspection at FitzPatrick using TI 2515/194 Revision 2.

The inspection at FitzPatrick was performed to verify the licensees implementation of the voluntary industry initiative at this facility. To address the open phase condition design vulnerability issue at this facility, the licensee implemented open phase isolation system plant modifications, which provide detection and alarm in the control room, and necessary plant procedures that allow operators to diagnose and take manual action to mitigate an open phase condition. The NRC inspection report listed below documents the results of the TI 2515/194 inspection.

James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant - Temporary Instruction 2515/194 Inspection Report 05000333/2021012, dated May 4, 2021 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21124A028)

The NRC staff reviewed the information submitted by the licensee and the results of the TI 2515/194 inspections for FitzPatrick. No findings or exceptions were identified. Based on this review, the NRC staff concludes that the licensee provided the necessary information requested in BL 2012-01 and has completed the implementation of its open phase isolation system. Therefore, the NRC staff closes BL 2012-01 for FitzPatrick.

D. Rhoades If you have any questions, please contact me at 301-415-2048 or Justin.Poole@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Justin Poole, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-333 cc: Listserv

ML21300A006 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL1/PM NRR/DORL/LPL1/LA NRR/DEX/EEEB/BC(A)

NAME JPoole KZeleznock SRay DATE 10/29/2021 10/29/2021 09/02/2021 OFFICE NRR/DRA/APOB/BC NRR/DRO/IOEB/BC NRR/DORL/LPL1/BC NAME ETorres for AZoulis LRegner JDanna DATE 10/29/2021 10/29/2021 11/15/2021 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL1/PM NAME JPoole DATE 11/16/2021