ML24187A001

Summary of Observation Pre-Application Public Meeting Held with Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., Regarding a Proposed License Amendment Request to Revise TS 3.3.8, Engineered Safety Feature Actuation System for Vogtle Electric

ML24187A001
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	07/17/2024
From:	Andrea Johnson NRC/NRR/DORL/LPL2-1
To:	Southern Nuclear Operating Co
References
EPID L--2024-LRM-0075
Download: ML24187A001 (1)

Text

July 17, 2024

LICENSEE: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.

FACILITY: Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 3 and 4

SUMMARY

OF JUNE 17, 2024, OBSERVATION PRE-APPLICATION PUBLIC MEETING HELD WITH SOUTHERN NUCLEAR OPERATING COMPANY, INC.,

REGARDING A PROPOSED LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST TO REVISE TS 3.3.8, ENGINEERED SAFETY FEATURE ACTUATION SYSTEM, FOR VOGTLE ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT, UNITS 3 AND 4 (EPID NO. L-2024-LRM-0075)

On June 17, 2024, an Observation, pre-application public 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 a license amendment request (LAR) for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (Vogtle),

Units 3 and 4. The proposed LAR would remove Technical Specification (TS) 3.3.8, Engineered Safety Feature Actuation System Instrumentation, Function 17, Source Range Neutron Flux Doubling, MODE 2 Applicability.

A list of attendees is provided as an Enclosure.

On June 4, 2024, the meeting was noticed on the NRC public meeting webpage and in the Agencywide Documents and Access Management System (ADAMS) as Accession No. ML24165A192.

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

The SNC representative discussed the following topics: (1) description and purpose of Function 17, (2) current vs proposed TS, (3) reason for the proposed TS change, (4) technical evaluation and justification, (5) regulatory evaluation for the TS change and (6) timeframe of proposed change submittal.

The SNC representative presented slides contained in ML24164A294.

NRC staff questions/comments

Based on the information described in slide 6 of the presentation, the NRC staff asked if boron dilution blocking was being maintained in MODE 3.

The NRC staff commented that Subsection 15.4.6.2.5 of the Final Safety Analysis report (FSAR), describes boron dilution event analysis during startup and that in the section description there is no mention of what kind of trip is being used for boron dilution in MODE 2. The NRC staff also asked where it stated that source range is used/credited as a reactor trip.

The NRC staff commented that FSAR, Subsection 7.3.1.2.14, Boron Dilution Block, described three conditions that can generate the signal to block boron dilution and that FSAR Table 15.4-1 mentions a low input voltage as a block signal. The NRC staff inquired whether this fell under one of the three conditions.

The NRC staff questioned how criticality would be assessed and to describe specific steps taken for the approach to criticality.

The NRC staff noted that the regulatory eval uation discussion on slide 9 focused on 10 CFR 50.36(c)(2)(ii), Criterion 3 for this proposed TS change. The NRC staff noted that all four criteria need to be satisfied to justify the proposed change.

The NRC staff inquired whether SNC was making any instrumentation and control (I&C) system or design changes as part of the proposed TS change.

Based on SNCs discussion during the presentation, the NRC staff noted that the submittal will likely also request an editorial change that was not reflected in the slides.

The NRC staff noted that the administrative change needs to be addressed in the submittal and public notice of the proposed change(s).

Public Comments

There were no comments/questions from the public during this meeting.

Closing

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 make any regulatory decisions in writing in a timely manner. Public Meeting Feedback forms were available, but no comments were received.

The meeting adjourned at 3:45 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Please direct any inquiries to me at Andrea.Johnson@nrc.gov or at 301-415-2890.

/RA/

Andrea Johnson, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch, II-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Dockets: 52-025 and 52-026

Enclosure:

List of Attendees

cc w/encls: Distribution via Listserv LIST OF ATTENDEES

JUNE17, 2024, PRE-SUBMITTAL MEETING WITH SOUTHERN NUCLEAR COMPANY

REGARDING A PROPOSED LAR

TO REVISE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION 3.3.8

ENGINEERED SAFETY FEATURE ACTUATION SYSTEM INSTRUMENTATION

VOGTLE ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT, UNITS 3 AND 4

ATTENDEE REPRESENTING

Dawnmathews Kalathiveettil U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Mike Markley NRC Bill Truss NRC Jo Ambrosini NRC Summer Sun NRC Jack Zhao NRC Gilberto Blas Rodriguez NRC Jack Minzer Bryant NRC Tarico Sweat NRC Nageswara Karipineni NRC Bradley Davis NRC Gordon Curran NRC

Ryan Joyce Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC)

Ken Lowery SNC Eddie Grant SNC Neil Haggerty SNC Jason McCrickard SNC Adam Joseph Wichman, SNC Daniel W Williamson SNC

Enclosure

PKG: ML24164A295 Meeting Summary ML24187A001 Meeting Notice ML24165A192 SNC Slides ML24164A295 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/PM NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/LA NRR/DSS/STSB/BC NRR/DSS/SNSB/BC NAME AJohnson KGoldstein SMehta PSahd DATE 07/04/2024 07/05/2024 07/10/2024 07/12/2024 OFFICE NRR/DEX/ELTB/BC NRR/DSS/SCPB/BC DORL/LPL2-1/BC DORL/LPL2-1/PM NAME JPaige MValentin MMarkley JLamb DATE 07/15/2024 07/12/2024 07/17/2024 07/17/2024