ML25171A176

Summary of Closed Meeting with PSEG Nuclear, LLC Regarding Cobalt-60 Production at Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2

ML25171A176
Person / Time
Site:	Salem
Issue date:	07/03/2025
From:	Shawn Williams Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:	Public Service Enterprise Group
Williams, S
References
EPID L- 2025-LRM-0060
Download: ML25171A176 (1)

Text

July 3, 2025 LICENSEE:

PSEG NUCLEAR LLC FACILITIES: SALEM NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION, UNIT NOS. 1 AND 2

SUMMARY

OF JUNE 25, 2025, CLOSED MEETING WITH PSEG NUCLEAR, LLC REGARDING COBALT-60 PRODUCTION AT SALEM NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION, UNIT NOS. 1 AND 2 (EPID L-2025-LRM-0060)

On June 25, 2025, a closed preapplication meeting was held between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff and representatives for PSEG Nuclear LLC (the licensee),

Westinghouse Electric Company (Westinghouse), and Nordion (Canada) Inc. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a planned license amendment request involving the loading of fuel inserts containing Cobalt-59 as a means to breed Cobalt-60 for eventual use in medical sterilization applications.

The meeting notice and agenda are available in Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession No. ML25140A029. A list of attendees is enclosed. Proprietary presentation slides and the associated affidavit were provided on June 18, 2025. The publicly available version of the affidavit and slides is accessible at ML25169A318, and the non-public proprietary slides are available at ML25169A319.

The discussion covered the design characteristics of the Cobalt Burnable Absorber (COBA) fuel inserts, digital serialization, and the final development and testing activities conducted by Westinghouse.

The licensee provided an overview of the Co-60 program scope, including the planned contents of the license amendment request, dose consequence evaluation, decay heat assessment, spent fuel pool criticality, digital serialization, and final development and testing activities performed by Westinghouse.

The NRC staff made the following suggestions:

1.

Include a discussion regarding the pathways modeled in the loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) dose consequence evaluation.

2.

Include a discussion on the net decay heat of the COBA assemblies.

3.

Address the design basis emergency core cooling system LOCA and rationale for expecting no release from the COBA rodlets for this event.

4.

Address the integrity and margin to failure for the Cobalt-60 slugs during non-LOCA accidents and transients, particularly loss of flow events that may involve a sudden, temporary reduction in cooling.

5.

Summarize the tests and benchmark comparisons done to validate the computational fluid dynamics model for COBA rodlet cooling flow, including the scope of the testing, consideration of normal vs. transient conditions, and the technical basis for extending any steady-state comparisons to transient conditions.

The licensee stated during the meeting that they would be updating the dose consequence analysis for steam generator tube rupture (SGTR). However, in an email exchange post-meeting, the licensee indicated that in reviewing the current draft of the Westinghouse site-specific attachment, justification is provided as to why the SGTR event does not need to be updated due to its insignificant contribution during the time frame of the release.

Please direct any inquiries to me at Shawn.Williams@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Shawn Williams, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch II-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-272 and 50-311

Enclosure:

List of Attendees cc: Listserv

Enclosure LIST OF ATTENDEES JUNE 25, 2025, MEETING WITH PSEG NUCLEAR LLC Name Affiliation Shawn Williams U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Hipo González NRC Kent Wood NRC David Garmon NRC Jack Vande Polder NRC Steve Wyman NRC John Lehning NRC Richard Fu NRC Elijah Dickson NRC Ekaterina Lenning NRC John Parillo NRC Shane Jurek PSEG Nuclear LLC (PSEG)

Michael Wiwel PSEG James Richter PSEG Jim Stavely PSEG Jerrod Ewing Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Westinghouse)

Kalee Fenker Westinghouse Kristofor Paserba Westinghouse James Smith Westinghouse Michael Wenner Westinghouse Virgina Lynch Westinghouse Eric Benacquista Westinghouse Daniel Wise Westinghouse Robert Jakub Westinghouse Thomas Loebig Westinghouse Michael Conner Westinghouse Sean Kinnas Westinghouse Mark Smith Westinghouse Sreela Ferguson Westinghouse Michael Winegardner Westinghouse Jim Laird Westinghouse Lisa Dudas Westinghouse Nicholas MacPherson Nordion Michael Aube Nordion

ML25171A176

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