ML22189A184
| ML22189A184 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Beaver Valley |
| Issue date: | 07/15/2022 |
| From: | Ballard B NRC/NRR/DORL/LPL1 |
| To: | Grabnar J Energy Harbor Nuclear Corp |
| Ballard B, NRR/DORL/LPL1 | |
| References | |
| EPID L-2020-PPM-0005 | |
| Download: ML22189A184 (4) | |
Text
July 15, 2022 Mr. John J. Grabnar Site Vice President Energy Harbor Nuclear Corp.
Beaver Valley Power Station P.O. Box 4, Route 168 Shippingport, PA 15077
SUBJECT:
BEAVER VALLEY POWER STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 - CLOSEOUT OF BULLETIN 2012-01, DESIGN VULNERABILITY IN ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM
Dear Mr. Grabnar:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has verified that Energy Harbor Nuclear Corp. (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 Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2. The NRC staff has completed its review and this letter closes out BL 2012-01 for Beaver Valley.
The NRC issued BL 2012-01 to all holders of operating licenses and combined licenses for nuclear power reactors, except those that 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 (ML12300A066), the licensee provided its response to BL 2012-01 for Beaver Valley. By letter dated February 3, 2014 (ML14034A055), the licensee provided supplemental information for Beaver Valley in response to an NRC staff request for additional information issued on December 20, 2013 (ML13351A314).
By letters dated October 9, 2013, and March 16, 2015 (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 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 (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 (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 (ML19172A086). On August 18, 2020, the NRC staff issued Revision 2 of TI 2515/194 (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 September 2021 and June 2022, the NRC staff performed inspections at Beaver Valley using TI 2515/194 Revision 2. The inspections at Beaver Valley were performed to verify the licensees implementation of the voluntary industry initiative at Beaver Valley. To address the potential open phase condition design vulnerability issue at Beaver Valley, 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 staff documented the results of inspections in the following reports:
Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 - Temporary Instruction 2515/194 Inspection Report 05000334/2021011 and 05000412/2021011, dated October 19, 2021 (ML21292A063)
Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 - Temporary Instruction 2515/194 Inspection Report 05000334/2022011 and 05000412/2022011, dated June 29, 2022 (ML22180A228)
The NRC staff reviewed the information submitted by the licensee and the results of the TI 2515/194 inspections for Beaver Valley. An exception related to risk-informed evaluation noted in inspection report dated October 21, 2021, has been resolved accordingly to the inspection report dated June 29, 2022. 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 Beaver Valley.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 301-415-0680 or Brent.Ballard@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Brent T. Ballard, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-334, 50-412 cc: Listserv
ML22189A184 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL1/PM NRR/DORL/LPL1/LA NRR/DEX/EEEB/BC NAME BBallard KZeleznock WMorton (SRay for)
DATE 07/08/2022 07/12/2022 07/05/2022 OFFICE NRR/DRA/APOB/BC NRR/DRO/IOEB/BC NRR/DORL/LPL1/BC NAME AZoulis (JHughey for)
LRegner JDanna DATE 07/07/2022 07/08/2022 07/15/2022 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/PM NAME BBallard DATE 07/15/2022