ML23345A122
| ML23345A122 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vallecitos Nuclear Center, 07000754, Vallecitos |
| Issue date: | 12/21/2023 |
| From: | William Allen Reactor Decommissioning Branch |
| To: | Michelle Catts GEHA Regulatory Affairs |
| References | |
| EPID L-2023-LLO-0002 | |
| Download: ML23345A122 (1) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 21, 2023 Michelle P. Catts, Senior Vice President GEHA Regulatory Affairs 3901 Castle Hayne Road, P.O. Box 780 Wilmington, NC 28402
SUBJECT:
REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE DIRECT TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF VALLECITOS NUCLEAR CENTER LICENSES AND CONFORMING LICENSE AMENDMENTS (EPID NO. L-2023-LLO-0002)
Dear Michelle P. Catts:
By letter dated September 1, 2023 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
[ADAMS] Accession No. ML23244A247), as supplemented by letters dated September 5, 2023, October 19, 2023, and November 1, 2023 (ML23248A232, ML23292A336, and ML23305A052, respectively) GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC (GEHA) and NorthStar Vallecitos, LLC submitted a request for the direct transfer of control of GEHAs Vallecitos Nuclear Center (VNC)
NRC licenses in Sunol, CA. Specifically, GEHA and NorthStar Vallecitos, LLC requested written consent to transfer Possession Only License No. DPR-1 for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor, Possession Only License No. TR-1 for the General Electric Test Reactor, Facility Operating License No. R-33 for the Nuclear Test Reactor, and Possession Only License No.
DR-10 for the Empire State Atomic Development Associates (ESADA) Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor, as well as Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-960.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is reviewing the submittal and has determined that additional information is needed to complete its review. The specific requests are found in the enclosed request for additional information (RAI). The NRC staff requests that a response to the RAI be provided within 30 days of the date of this letter.
In accordance with 10 CFR Part 2, Agency Rules of Practice and Procedure, a copy of this letter will be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records component of the NRCs ADAMS. ADAMS is accessible from the NRC website at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
2 If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me by telephone at (301) 415-6877 or via email at william.allen@nrc.gov.
Sincerely, Signed by Allen, William on 12/21/23 Chris Allen, Project Manager Reactor Decommissioning Branch Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket Nos. 50-18, 50-70, 50-73, 50-183, and 70-754 License Nos. DPR-1, TR-1, R-33, DR-10, and SNM-960 EPID No. L-2023-LLO-0002
Enclosure:
Request for Additional Information cc: J. Parrott, NMSS O. Siurano-Perez, NMSS GEVallecitos Listserv GovDelivery subscribers for Docket 50-073
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE DIRECT LICENSE TRANSFER REQUEST FOR VALLECITOS NUCLEAR CENTER DOCKET NOS. 50-18, 50-70, 50-73, 50-183, and 70-754 By letter dated September 1, 2023 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
[ADAMS] Accession No. ML23244A247), as supplemented by letters dated September 5, 2023, October 19, 2023, and November 1, 2023 (ML23248A232, ML23292A336, and ML23305A052, respectively) GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC (GEHA) and NorthStar Vallecitos, LLC submitted a request for the direct transfer of control of GEHAs Vallecitos Nuclear Center (VNC)
NRC licenses in Sunol, CA. Specifically, GEHA and NorthStar Vallecitos, LLC requested written consent to transfer Possession Only License No. DPR-1 for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor, Possession Only License No. TR-1 for the General Electric Test Reactor, Facility Operating License No. R-33 for the Nuclear Test Reactor, and Possession Only License No.
DR-10 for the Empire State Atomic Development Associates (ESADA) Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor, as well as Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-960.
NRC regulations at 10 CFR 50.80 and 10 CFR 70.36 require the Commissions written consent for transfer of licenses. The regulations at 10 CFR 50.80(c) state, in part, that the Commission will approve an application for the transfer of a license, if the Commission determines: (1) That the proposed transferee is qualified to be the holder of the license; and (2) That the transfer of the license is otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the Commission pursuant thereto. The regulations at 10 CFR 70.36(a) state, in part, that No license shall be transferred directly or indirectly, through transfer of control of any license to any person unless the Commission shall after securing full information, find that the transfer is in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and shall give its consent in writing.
Based on a review of the information supplied to date, the NRC staff is unable to make the findings required by 10 CFR 50.80(c) and 10 CFR 70.36(a). Therefore, the NRC staff has the following requests for additional information.
Regulatory Basis:
The regulation at 10 CFR 50.80(b)(1)(i) requires that the application for transfer include the identity and technical and financial qualifications of the proposed transferee as would be required by those sections if the application were for an initial license, and the regulation at 10 CFR 50.80(c)(1) states, in part, that the Commission will approve the application for transfer if it finds that the proposed transferee is qualified to be the holder of the license. In addition, 10 CFR 70.36(b) requires the application to include (1) the identity, technical, and financial qualifications of the proposed transferee, and (2) financial assurance for decommissioning information required by 10 CFR 70.25.
FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS The application dated September 1, 2023, states on pages A-7 and A-8 that GE will make an initial deposit into a single NDF of up to a maximum of $[ million] , and that The amount of this deposit has been calculated based on the combination of the most recent decommissioning cost estimates for the Reactor Licenses, the Materials License, and the CDPH License.
Additionally, the application states that the NDF will provide the appropriate basis for the financial qualifications of NorthStar Vallecitos, as all of NorthStar Vallecitos activities will be related to decommissioning the site and maintaining special nuclear material until it can be removed from the site. The regulation at 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(i)(A) limits withdrawals from decommissioning trust funds to expenses for legitimate decommissioning activities consistent with the definition of decommission in 10 CFR 50.2. The maintenance of special nuclear material is not considered a legitimate decommissioning expense; thus, it is not considered by the NRC staff when evaluating the remaining estimated cost to (radiologically) decommission a facility. Rather, maintenance of special nuclear material is considered an operating cost for a facility that has permanently ceased operation. The NRC staff recognizes that a decommissioning cost estimate may include activities other than the radiological decommissioning of a facility, e.g., the maintenance of special nuclear material.
Request:
Provide more specificity regarding the activities to be performed using the Nuclear Decommissioning Fund (NDF) established by the Transaction:
A. While the footnote at the bottom of page A-8 supports the statement on pages A-7 and A-8, the NRC staff requests that the basis for the deposit amount be provided including the expected remaining costs to radiologically decommission each Reactor License, the Materials License, and the CDPH License.
B. The NRC staff requests that the applicants describe the makeup of the $[ million]
total decommissioning cost estimate. Specifically, if the amount includes activities other than radiological decommissioning, e.g., special nuclear material maintenance, please provide a description of those amounts. If not, please provide the amount dedicated to items other than radiological decommissioning, including special nuclear material maintenance, and describe the funding mechanism for those costs.
C. The applicants requested that the NRC impose the regulatory requirements of 10 CFR 50.75(h)(1) and 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8) on Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-960 to help ensure the NDF adequacy. However, the regulations in 10 CFR part 50 are not applicable to Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-960. The NRC staff requests that the applicants clarify how the NDF will be managed beyond the requirements imposed by 10 CFR 70.25 and 10 CFR 70.38, and how the applicants want the regulations in 10 CFR part 50 imposed on Special Nuclear Materials License No.
SNM-960.
TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS OF PROPOSED TRANSEREE
- a. Page A-20 of the application states that the NorthStar Vallecitos project organization ultimately reports to Scott State. However, because the organization chart provided in Exhibit E only shows Billy Reid directly reporting to Scott State, the NRC staff is uncertain where David Carlson and Gary Thibodeaux fit within the organization. The organization chart provided in Exhibit E appears to indicate that both Luke Self and Matthew Hooper directly report to David Carlson, Gary Thibodeaux, and Billy Reid. In addition, Luke Selfs title in the organization chart appears to indicate that he reports directly to Billy Reid.
However, page A-19 of the application states that Matthew Hooper will be further supported by Luke Self, which appears to indicate that Luke Self reports directly to Matthew Hooper.
Request: The NRC staff requests that the application be supplemented to clarify where David Carlson, Gary Thibodeaux, Matthew Hooper, and Luke Self fit within the organization and to whom they report. The staff also requests that the organization chart be updated if and as necessary.
- b. Appendix B of the application provides information specific to the transfer of control of Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-960, i.e., the Hillside Storage Facility (HSF).
Page B-2 identifies that the Environmental Health and Safety Functions, which include environmental, security, licensing, emergency planning, training, fire protection, and quality, will be maintained. The organization chart does not identify who will be responsible for maintaining these functions for the HSF. Although these functions are not specifically identified in either Appendix A or the organization chart within the application, these functions are equally important as the reactor licenses associated with the license transfer application.
Request: The NRC staff requests that the application be updated to identify who will be responsible for overseeing these Environmental Health and Safety Functions for all of the licenses and that the organization chart be updated if necessary.
- c. The organization chart provided in Exhibit E of the application identifies that the managers for the NTR and HSF are to be determined (TBD). The organization chart in Exhibit E also identifies that a Licensed SRO will be the NTR and HSF manager. In addition, page A-3 of the application states that NorthStar Vallecitos intends to staff technical support positions that are important to the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel with Bryant Akins as the RAD protection manager. Since fissile material will only be associated with License Nos. R-33 and SNM-960, the text appears to indicate that Bryant Akins will manage both License Nos.
R-33 and SNM-960.
Request: The NRC staff requests that the organization chart be modified to clearly identify the individual(s) responsible for safely storing fissile material.
- d. Footnote 4 on page 1 of Enclosure 1 states that Materials License No. SNM-1270 will not be transferred to NorthStar Vallecitos. However, Materials License No. SNM-1270 is explicitly identified both on page 12 of the Asset Purchase And Sales Agreement in the Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Agreement and in the Financial Support Agreement. Therefore, the application does not clearly identify if Materials License No. SNM-1270 is associated with the license transfer request.
Request: The NRC staff requests that the application be updated either to demonstrate NorthStars technical qualifications to possess Materials License No. SNM-1270 or to remove unnecessary references to Materials License No. SNM-1270 from the application.
Ltr ML23345A122
- via email OGC/GCHA/AGCOR OFFICE NMSS/DUWP/RDB NMSS/DFM/STLB
/NLO*
NAME JWachutka JW SAnderson SA WAllen WA DATE Dec 21, 2023 Dec 21, 2023 Dec 21, 2023