ML22132A010

Meeting of Public Meeting with Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., Regarding Proposed Accident Tolerant Fuel License Amendment Request and Exceptions for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2

ML22132A010
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	05/17/2022
From:	John Lamb Plant Licensing Branch II
To:	Gayheart C Southern Nuclear Operating Co
Lamb J
References
EPID L-2022-LRM-0023
Download: ML22132A010 (7)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 May 17, 2022 LICENSEE: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.

FACILITY: Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2

SUMMARY

OF MAY 11, 2022, PUBLIC MEETING WITH SOUTHERN NUCLEAR OPERATING COMPANY, INC., REGARDING A PROPOSED ACCIDENT TOLERANT FUEL LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST AND EXEMPTIONS FOR VOGTLE ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2 (EPID NO. L-2022-LRM-0023)

On May 11, 2022, a partial open and partial closed meeting was held between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and representatives of Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. (SNC, the licensee). The purpose of the meeting was for SNC to describe its plan to submit an accident tolerant fuel (ATF) license amendment request (LAR) and exemption request to load 16 fuel rods (4 assemblies with 4 rods per assembly) with an enrichment of 6 weight-percent U-235 for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (Vogtle), Units 1 and 2.

This was the second pre-submittal meeting on this topic. The first pre-submittal meeting was held on January 27, 2022, with the meeting summary dated February 1, 2022 (Agencywide Document and Access Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML22028A046).

A list of attendees is provided as an Enclosure.

On April 1, 2022 (ML22126A129), the meeting was noticed on the NRC public webpage.

The NRC staff opened the meeting with introductory remarks and a roll call of the attendees.

The NRC staff provided slides with licensing questions as a follow-up to the pre-submittal meeting held on January 27, 2022 (ML22126A010).

The SNC representative discussed the following topics: (1) Vogtle LTA [Lead Test Assembly]

program objective, (2) Vogtle LAR format, (3) proposed license condition, (4) LTA evaluation method and approach, (5) Cladding Exemption - Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 50.46, Acceptance criteria for emergency core cooling systems for light-water nuclear power reactors, and 10 CFR 50 Appendix K, ECCS [emergency core cooling systems] Evaluation Models, (6) Enrichment Exemption - Paragraph (b) of 10 CFR 50.68, Criticality Accident requirements, (7) source term and environmental considerations, (8) impact on probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), severe accident management guidelines (SAMG) timing, and surveillance frequency control program (SFCP), and (9) schedule.

The SNC representative presented slides contained in ML22126A001.

Vogtle LTA Program Objective Vogtle, Units 1 and 2, have 193 fuel assemblies, and the rod array is 17 x 17, with 264 rods per assembly.

SNC stated that the 4 Westinghouse ATF LTAs with higher enrichment capable of higher burnup have the following:

4 rods with enrichment up to 6 weight-percent U-235 in 4 LTAs (16 ATF rods total),

AXIOM high performance fuel rod cladding, EnCore chromium coated cladding (one or more rods may be uncoated),

ADOPT' doped fuel material for non-IFBA [Integral Fuel Burnable Absorbers] rods, Standard (undoped) fuel material for IFBA rods.

ADOPT', AXIOM, and EnCore are trademarks or registered trademarks of Westinghouse.

Vogtle LAR Format SNC stated that the LAR format will consist of five enclosures: (1) evaluation of the proposed change - proprietary version, (2) evaluation of the proposed change - non-proprietary version, (3) 10 CFR 50.46 and 10 CFR 50 Appendix K exemption, (4) 10 CFR 50.68 exemption, and affidavit for enclosure 1.

Proposed License Condition SNC presented slides 8 and 9 regarding the proposed license condition.

Lead Test Assembly Evaluation Method and Approach SNC said that some NRC-approved methods outside Vogtles current licensing basis will be used solely to assess performance of the LTAs but noted that analytical results will be confirmed in accordance with the Core Operating Limits (COLR) report.

Cladding Exemption - 10 CFR 50.46 and 10 CFR 50 Appendix K SNC stated that it would request an exemption to 10 CFR 50.46 and 10 CFR 50 Appendix K to use AXIOM cladding.

Enrichment Exemption - 10 CFR 50.68(b)

SNC stated that it would change Vogtles licensing basis from 10 CFR 70.24, Criticality accident requirements, to 10 CFR 50.68. SNC said an exemption is needed to 10 CFR 50.58(b)(7) to allow the proposed LTAs to have greater than 5 weight percent U-235 rods.

Source Term and Environmental Considerations SNC said that it would present comparisons of the LTA versus the analysis of record nuclide inventories in the proposed LAR. SNC stated that it plans to submit the proposed LAR under the categorical exclusion clause regarding environmental considerations.

Impact on PRA, SAMG Timing, and SFCP SNC said that there would be no impacts for PRA, SAMG timings, or SFCP related to the proposed LAR.

Schedule SNC stated that it plans to submit the proposed LAR and exemption requests on June 30, 2022, and to request completion by the NRC no later than by July 15, 2023.

Questions The NRC staff asked questions:

Will the proposed LAR include changes to technical specifications (TSs) 4.2.1, 4.3.1, and 3.7.18?

Will the proposed LAR change the license condition and not the TSs?

Will the proposed LAR reference certain figures in the proposed license condition?

What would be the action if a part of the proposed license condition is not met?

To what extent will the proposed LAR rely on unapproved topical reports?

Will the proposed LAR only rely on plant-specific analyses?

Will the proposed LAR assessment of radiological consequences rely only on the current analysis of record but also include analysis supporting the proposed alternate source term (AST) LAR?

What radiological information will be submitted so the NRC staff can perform a confirmatory calculations?

Will the proposed LAR address the impact of the risk-informed completion time (RICT) program in TSs?

Will the proposed LAR have an explanation of the assessment and impact on probabilistic risk assessment?

Will the proposed exemptions be related only to the proposed LTAs or more broadly?

Public Participation There was one member of the public in attendance. The member of the public did not have any questions or comments for the NRC staff.

Closing The open portion of the meeting was adjourned at 9:58 am Eastern Time (ET).

The closed portion of the meeting was held between 10:15 am and 11:30 am ET to discuss proprietary information related to the proposed LAR and exemption requests.

The NRC staff made no regulatory decisions during the meeting.

Once received, the NRC staff will perform a thorough review of the proposed LAR and exemptions. The NRC staff will make any regulatory decisions in writing in a timely manner.

Public Meeting Feedback forms were available, but no comments were received.

Please direct any inquiries to me at John.Lamb@nrc.gov or 301-415-3100.

/RA/

John G. Lamb, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch, II-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-424 and 50-425

Enclosure:

List of Attendees cc w/encls: Distribution via Listserv

LIST OF ATTENDEES MAY 11, 2022, PUBLIC MEETING WITH SOUTHERN NUCLEAR COMPANY REGARDING A PROPOSED ACCIDENT TOLERANT FUEL (ATF)

LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST AND EXEMPTION VOGTLE ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2 ATTENDEE REPRESENTING John G. Lamb* U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Mike Markley NRC Kevin Hsueh NRC Vic Cusumano NRC Matt Hamm NRC Henry Wagage NRC Steve Jones NRC Scott Krepel NRC Charles Peabody, Jr. NRC Elijah Dickson NRC Edward Stutzcage NRC Donald Palmrose NRC Robert Lukes NRC Brandon Wise* NRC Kent Wood NRC Josh Whitman NRC Kevin Heller* NRC Larry Burkhart NRC James Rubenstone NRC Delza Mas-Pernanda NRC Mike Norris NRC Ed Robinson NRC Dave Gasperson NRC Lynnea Wilkins NRC Zena Abdullahi NRC Weidong Wang NRC Carolyn Wolf NRC Paul Clifford NRC Ben Parks* NRC Angel Moreno NRC Rob Elliott NRC Ravi Grover* NRC Joe Messina* NRC Kristy Bucholtz NRC Jeremy Dean NRC Brian Wittick NRC Prema Chandrathil NRC Don Palmrose NRC Ken Erwin NRC

7 ATTENDEE REPRESENTING Chris Safouri NRC MJ Ross-Lee NRC Joe Donoghue* NRC Bo Pham NRC Ryan Joyce* Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC)

Wes Sparkman* SNC Johnathan Chavers* SNC Bradley Balltrip* SNC Jennifer Baker SNC Ernest Bates* SNC Thomas Kindred* SNC Cheryl Gayheart SNC Jason Douglass* SNC Matt Leonard* SNC Jeremiah Gilbreath SNC Ken Lowery SNC DeLisa Pournaras SNC Dale Lancaster SNC Dr. S. I. Abdel-Khalik SNC Contractor Frank Boylan* Westinghouse Michael Anness* Westinghouse Michael Boone* Westinghouse Radu Pomirleanu* Westinghouse Micheal Wenner* Westinghouse John Moorehead* Westinghouse Ann Marie DiLullo* Westinghouse Carey Haas Westinghouse Zachary Harper Westinghouse Parvez Khambatta Westinghouse Cenk Guler Westinghouse Tanya Sloma-DeLosier Westinghouse Andrew Bowman Westinghouse Zeses Karoutas* Westinghouse Robert Schillat Westinghouse Rachel Christian Westinghouse Gregory Stehle Westinghouse Brian Pasco Westinghouse Susan Hoxie-Key Public

• In-Person Enclosure

PKG ML22132A008 Meeting Notice ML22126A129 Meeting Summary ML22132A010 Slides ML22126A001 and ML22126A010 OFFICE DORL/LPL2-1/PM DORL/LPL2-1/LA DSS/SNSB/BC DORL/LPL2-1/BC DORL/LPL2-1/PM NAME JLamb KGoldstein SKrepel MMarkley JLamb DATE 5/11/2022 05/12/2022 05/16/2022 05/16/2022 05/17/2022