NL-13-106, Proposed Revision to Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule Per 10 CFR 50 Appendix H

Proposed Revision to Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule Per 10 CFR 50 Appendix H

ML13228A005
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	08/12/2013
From:	Ventosa J Entergy Nuclear Northeast
To:	Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NL-13-106
Download: ML13228A005 (7)

Text

Enterav Nuclear Northeast Indian Point Energy Center 450 Broadway, GSB Entergy P.O. Box 249 Buchanan, NY 10511-0249 Tel 914 254 6700 John A. Ventosa Site Vice President Administration August 12, 2013 NL-13-106 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN: Document Control Desk 11545 Rockville Pike, TWFN-2 F1 Rockville, MD 20852-2738

SUBJECT:

Proposed Revision to Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule Per 10 CFR 50 Appendix H Indian Point Unit Number 2 Docket No. 50-247 License No. DPR-26

REFERENCES:

1. NRC Administrative Letter 97-04, "NRC Staff Approval For Changes to 10 CFR 50, Appendix H, Reactor Vessel Surveillance Specimen

2. ASTM Standard E 185-82, "Standard Practice for Conducting Surveillance Tests for Light-Water Cooled Nuclear Power Reactor Vessels".

Dear Sir or Madam:

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) hereby requests NRC approval of a revision to the reactor vessel surveillance capsule withdrawal schedule pursuant to 10 CFR 50, Appendix H, Section III.B.3 which requires that withdrawal schedules be submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 50.4 and that the proposed schedule must be approved by the NRC prior to implementation.

Reference 1 allows NRC approval of the proposed changes to the withdrawal schedule without a license amendment ifthe changes conform with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard Practice E 185-82 (Reference 2). The proposed changes comply with the recommendations of ASTM Standard Practice E 1985-82 as discussed in Attachment 1.

Indian Point Unit 2 applied for a twenty year extension to the current operating license which is still under review. This letter proposes to change the surveillance capsule withdrawal schedule to cover the additional twenty year period of extended operation. As a result of this change, Entergy proposes to revise the withdrawal date for the next capsule from "the end of life" to refueling outage 28, currently scheduled for March 2028. This is consistent with the requirements of ASTM E 185-82 for a sixty year operating period. Additional details are provided in Attachment 1.

NL-13-106 Docket No. 50-247 Page 2 of 2 A copy of this application and the associated attachments are being submitted to the designated New York State official.

Entergy requests approval of the proposed amendment prior to the next IP2 refueling outage in March 2014 since the current schedule requires that one capsule be withdrawn at the end of the current operating license and none of the remaining capsules available for retrieval will have accumulated sufficient fluence to meet the ASTM E 185-82 requirements for a fifth capsule when considering the additional 20 years of operation. There are no new commitments being made in this submittal. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Mr.

Robert Walpole, IPEC Licensing Manager at (914) 254-6710.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on August 2013.

Sincerely, JAV/sp Attachments: Proposed Revision to Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule Per 10 CFR 50 Appendix H cc: Mr. Douglas Pickett, Senior Project Manager, NRC NRR DORL Mr. William Dean, Regional Administrator, NRC Region 1 NRC Resident Inspector Mr. Francis J. Murray, Jr., President and CEO, NYSERDA Ms. Bridget Frymire, New York State Dept. of Public Service

ATTACHMENT 1 TO NL-13-106 PROPOSED REVISION TO REACTOR VESSEL SURVEILLANCE CAPSULE WITHDRAWAL SCHEDULE PER 10 CFR 50 APPENDIX H ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC.

INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR GENERATING UNIT NO. 2 DOCKET NO. 50-247

NL-13-106 Docket No. 50-247 Attachment 1 Page 1 of 4 1.0 REQUIREMENTS Appendix H of 10 CFR 50 (Reference 1) describes reactor vessel material surveillance program requirements. Paragraph (1I1)(B)(3) requires "A proposed withdrawal schedule must be submitted with a technical justification as specified in Section 50.4. The schedule must be approved prior to implementation." Reference 2 allows NRC approval of the proposed changes to the withdrawal schedule without a license amendment if the changes conform with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard E 185 (Reference 3).

2.0 PROPOSED CHANGE

S The proposed change revises the withdrawal schedule for one of the surveillance capsules which remain in the reactor vessel by revising the withdrawal date from the end of life to RFO 28 currently scheduled for March 2028. It also makes an administrative change to delete the Capsule S note since the 2RFO1 9 is past. The current schedule and proposed changes are identified in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

The current surveillance capsule withdrawal was submitted by Entergy in references 5 and 6 and it was approved by the NRC in reference 7.

Table 1 - Current Withdrawal Schedule Capsule Location Lead Factor Withdrawal Date T 3200 3.42 End of Cycle 1 Y 2200 3.48 End of Cycle 2 Z 400 3.53 End of Cycle 5 V 40 1.18 End of Cycle 8 S 1400 3.5 Retired in Place'-

U* 176 0 1.2 Spare W* 184 0 1.2 End of Life X* 3560 1.2 Spare

• The withdrawal schedule of these capsules is interchangeable due to common materials and lead factors.

..Capsule S may be withdrawn during RFO 19 if modified tooling is capable of removing the capsule is available. If not withdrawn, no capsule is required. If withdrawn, testing will be coordinated with industry to optimize the usefulness of the test data.

At the end of life as currently licensed, Capsule W (or U or X) will be withdrawn.

The proposed revised schedule based on a 60 year operating term is provide in Table 2 below and includes a change to the Capsule W withdrawal schedule from "End of Life" to "End of Cycle 28". This revised schedule allows capsule W to be subjected to a fluence which corresponds to the peak vessel fluence at the clad/base metal interface at the end of the 60 year operating term.

NL-13-106 Docket No. 50-247 Attachment 1 Page 2 of 4 Table 2 - Proposed Revised Withdrawal Schedule Capsule Location Lead Factor Withdrawal Date T 3200 3.42 End of Cycle 1 Y 2200 3.48 End of Cycle 2 Z 400 3.53 End of Cycle 5 V 40 1.18 End of Cycle 8 S 1400 3.5 Retired in Place U* 1760 1.2 Spare W* 1840 1.2 End of Cycle 28 X* 3560 1.2 Spare

• The withdrawal schedule of these capsules is interchangeable due to common materials and lead factors.

The following table provides detailed fluence levels for each of the capsules.

Capsule Capsule Lead Withdrawal Withdrawal Capsule Location Factor Outage EFPY (vessel) Fluence (n/cm 2)

T 3200 3.42 RFO1 1.42 2.53 x 10"'

Y 2200 3.48 RFO2 2.34 4.55 x 10 '

Z 40 0 3.53 RFO5 5.17 1.02 x 10'9 V 40 1.18 RFO8 8.6 4.92 x 10lU S 1400 3.5 Retired in place N/A N/A U* 1760 1.2 Spare Spare N/A W* 1840 1.2 RF028 Approx. 42 2.0 x 10"M EFPY X* 3560 1.2 Spare Spare N/A Notes:

• The withdrawal schedule for these three capsules is interchangeable due to the common lead factor and the common materials in the capsules.

3.0 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

This request proposes to revise the surveillance capsule withdrawal schedule to add the removal and testing of one additional capsule during the period of extended operation when it reaches a capsule fluence of at least one times the peak vessel, end of extended life fluence as required by ASTM E 185-82. It also administratively deletes the note to capsule S since it was not withdrawn in RFO 19. Removal and testing of one additional capsule during the

NL-13-106 Docket No. 50-247 Attachment 1 Page 3 of 4 period of extended operation will provide additional reactor vessel material embrittlement information which will be incorporated into the 10CFR50.61 and Appendix G evaluations.

As listed in Table 1 above, Indian Point Unit 2 has previously removed and tested four capsules and has four additional capsules remain in the vessel. However, capsule S has been retired in place since previous attempts to remove this capsule were unsuccessful given its location in the vessel and the adjacent interferences which prevent the capsule removal tool from directly (i.e. vertically) accessing the capsule. The three remaining capsules available for removal are identical in that they contain similar material specimens and similar lead factors and therefore are interchangeable.

Based on fluence calculations provided in Reference 4, the Indian Point 2 reactor vessel is projected to reach a peak fluence at the clad/base metal interface of approximately 1.906 x 10'9 n/cm 2 (E >1.0 MeV) by the end of extended operation (i.e. 60 calendar years or 48 Effective Full Power Years, EFPY). At the current projected flux for the period of extended operation, the three remaining capsules are projected to reach the vessel peak fluence of 1.906 x 1019 n/cm 2 (E >1.0 MeV) at approximately 40 EFPY. Since the three remaining capsules have a lead factor of approximately 1.2, a capsule fluence of 1.906 x 1019 n/cm2 (E

>1.0 MeV) corresponds to a peak vessel fluence of approximately 1.588 x 1019 n/cm 2 (E >1.0 MeV). Assuming that the duration of future fuel cycles remain constant at approximately 1.81 EFPY per fuel cycle, the fluence for the remaining capsules is projected to reach 1.906 x 1019 n/cm 2 (E >1.0 MeV) at approximately refueling outage 27 (i.e. 2R27). To ensure that the next capsule has been exposed to a minimum of 1.906 x 1019 n/cm 2 (E >1.0 MeV), the proposed schedule will require removal of the next capsule during refueling 28 (2R28) currently scheduled for March 2028 resulting in a capsule fluence of approximately 2.0 x 1019 n/cm 2 (E

>1.0 MeV).

10CFR50, Appendix H requires that the surveillance capsule program "...must meet the requirements of the edition of ASTM E 185 that is current on the issue date of the ASME Code to which the reactor vessel was purchased". For IP2, this is the 1966 Edition of ASTM E 185.

Appendix H also requires that "...For each capsule withdrawal, the test procedures and reporting requirements must meet the requirements of ASTM E 185-82 to the extent practicable for the configuration of the specimens in the capsule". Therefore, for IP2 the surveillance capsule withdrawal schedule is based on the 1966 Edition of ASTM E 185 although the IP2 schedule has been upgraded to meet the requirements of the 1982 Edition of ASTM E 185 to the extent practicable.

Since the peak ARTPTS increase due to fluence exceeds 2000 F, ASTM E 185 requires that five capsules be withdrawn. To date, four capsules have been withdrawn (capsules T, Y, Z and V) with four capsules (i.e. capsules S, U, W and X) remaining in the vessel. Capsule W is currently scheduled to be the fifth capsule and therefore satisfy the withdrawal requirements of ASTM E 185.

NL-13-106 Docket No. 50-247 Attachment 1 Page 4 of 4

4.0 REFERENCES

1. 10 CFR 50, Appendix H, "Reactor Vessel Material Surveillance Program Requirements."

2. NRC Administrative Letter 97-04, "NRC Staff Approval For Changes to 10 CFR 50, Appendix H, Reactor Vessel Surveillance Specimen Withdrawal Schedules,"

dated September 30, 1997.

3. ASTM Standard El 85-82, "Standard Practice for Conducting Surveillance Tests for Light-Water Cooled Nuclear Power Reactor Vessels".

4. WCAP-16752-NP, "Indian Point 2 Heatup and Cooldown Limit Curves for Normal Operation", Revision 0 dated January 2008.

5. Entergy letter NL-10-025, "Proposed Revision to Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule per 10 CFR 50, Appendix H", dated March 4, 2010.

6. Entergy letter NL-10-030, "Revised Proposed Revision to Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule per 10 CFR 50, Appendix H", dated March 8, 2010.

7. NRC Letter, "Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit No. 2 - Reactor Vessel Surveillance Capsule Withdrawal Schedule Change (TAC No. ME3477)", Dated March 15, 2010.