ML21347A626
| ML21347A626 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07109372 |
| Issue date: | 12/14/2021 |
| From: | Pierre Saverot Division of Fuel Management |
| To: | Geoffrey Miller Division of Fuel Management |
| P SAVEROT NRC/NMSS/DFM/STLB 3014157505 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML21347A619 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML21347A626 (4) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 MEMORANDUM TO:
Geoffrey Miller, Acting Deputy Director Division of Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards FROM:
Pierre Saverot, Project Manager Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF NOVEMBER 29, 2021, MEETING WITH FRAMATOME
Background
On November 29, 2021, an Observation Public Meeting was held by teleconference between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and representatives from Framatome in anticipation of a letter authorization request, to be followed by an amendment request and a revision of the Certificate of Compliance (CoC), for the Model No. TN-B1 package. This Observation Public Meeting was noticed on November 22, 2021 Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML21326A045).
The attendance list and the publicly available presentation slides are provided as Enclosure Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
Discussion Framatome recently issued a 10 CFR 71.95 Report regarding the fuel channel side thickness exceeding the maximum dimension during the Browns Ferry reload. Framatome also found out that the latest Brunswick shipment of fresh fuel experienced unacceptable vibrations. As a consequence, Framatome should (i) improve the shock isolating system within the inner and outer containers of the packaging, which consists of multiple materials, (ii) perform a new criticality evaluation to address fuel assembly rotational orientation and (iii) correct some errors, identified by ORNL, in the h-poly cross section of SCALE.
CONTACT:
Pierre Saverot, NMSS/DFM 301-415-7505 December 14, 2021 Signed by Saverot, Pierre on 12/14/21
G. Miller 2
The shock isolating material, currently identified as natural rubber, will be now defined as neoprene, butyl, nitrile, natural or synthetic type rubber, and will also allow size and shape variations. The foam absorber pad, positioned under the fuel assemblies, currently identified as a polyethylene foam, will now include other material options such as discontinuous strips of rubber. Neither the shock isolating material, or the foam absorber pad has any primary safety functions: they are used to maintain the fuel assembly quality.
The inner and outer container lid gasket material, currently identified as natural rubber, will now include neoprene as a material option. The applicant noted that the purpose of gasket is not a pressure retaining seal and serves only as a dust seal; thus, it has no primary safety function.
The staff asked how the applicant arrived at the bromine, chlorides, fluorides (150 ppm) and sulfur (350 ppm) limits for neoprene, butyl, nitrile, natural or synthetic type rubbers and said that testing might eliminate some types of rubber that could be initially selected. Although the materials are not relied upon for any safety function, the staff said that the applicant needs to consider the long-term performance and degradation of the selected materials over time.
Framatome confirmed that the rubber and gaskets are inspected before each shipment.
The new criticality evaluation will increase the allowable fuel channel thickness from 0.254 cm to 0.315 cm, establish a maximum density based on polyethylene, add a penalty for the h-poly cross section error, and include a new evaluation for fuel orientation. The applicant said that the CSI will increase from 1.0 to 1.5 due to the allowable fuel assembly rotation. In response to a staffs question on the potential over moderation of the system (increased Keff) due to the thickness increase, the applicant referred the staff to the sensitivity study that was performed as part of the 71.95 report. The applicant also explained that the h-poly error was assessed in SCALE 6.2.2, that the new criticality evaluation will be performed with SCALE 6.3.3 but that Framatome will not be redoing the benchmarking.
A letter authorization request will be submitted on December 17, 2021, for a maximum of two transports with each transport including up to three TN-B1 packages, i.e., 6 channeled fuel assemblies, and additional empty packages. The Letter Authorization will not include the fuel rotation allowance. An amendment request will then be submitted in January 2022 for a revised CoC need date in the Fall of 2022. The staff did not express any concern about the schedules, and no regulatory commitments were made during this meeting.
Docket No. 71-9372 EPID L-2021-LLA-0201
Enclosures:
- 1. Meeting Attendees
- 2. Presentation Slides
G. Miller 3
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF NOVEMBER 29, 2021, MEETING WITH FRAMATOME.
DOCUMENT DATE:
DISTRIBUTION:
SHelton, NMSS ADimitriadis, RI BDesai, RII DHills, RIII GWarnick, RIV ADAMS No.: ML21347A619 (PKG) ML21347A626 (MEMO) ML21347A621 (ENC1)
ML21347A624 (ENC2)
OFFICE NMSS/DFM NMSS/DFM NMSS/DFM NAME PSaverot SFigueroa YDiaz-Sanabria DATE 12/09/2021 12/09/2021 12/14/2021 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY December 14, 2021
ML21347A619; Memo ML21347A626 OFFICE NMSS/DFM/STLB NMSS/DFM/STLB*
NMSS/DFM/CTCFB NMSS/DFM/STLB NAME PSaverot SFigueroa YDiaz-Sanabria PSaverot DATE Dec 13, 2021 Dec 13, 2021 Dec 14, 2021 Dec 14, 2021