SNRC-2095, Requests Exemption from Onsite Property Damage Insurance Requirements of 10CFR50.54(w)
| ML20046B667 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Shoreham File:Long Island Lighting Company icon.png |
| Issue date: | 08/02/1993 |
| From: | Leslie Hill LONG ISLAND POWER AUTHORITY |
| To: | NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM) |
| References | |
| LSNRC-2095, NUDOCS 9308060037 | |
| Download: ML20046B667 (7) | |
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Long Shoreham Nuclear Power Station island P.O. Box 628 Power North Country Road pg if pf Authority Wading River, N.Y.11792 AUG O 21993 LSNRC-2095 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, D.C.
20555 Request for Exemption from l
the Requirements of 10CFR50.54(w)
{
Nuclear Property Insurance Requirements Shoreham Nuclear Power Station - Unit ".
Docket No. 50-322 Ref:
(1) NRC letter dated June 11, 1992 to L.M. Hill from S.W.
Brown; subject:
Order Approving the Decommissioning l
Plan and Authorizing Decommissioning of Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 (TAC No. M80951).
(2) Hunton & Williams letter dated September 8, 1989 to U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission from David S.
Harlow; subject:
Long Island Lighting Company's Renewed Request for an Exemption from the Requirements of 10CFR50.54(w).
(3) NRC letter dated April 30, 1990 to W.E. Steiger, Jr.
from S.W.
Brown; subject:
Exemption from Certain Requirements of 10CFR50.54(w).
(4) NRC letter dated June 14, 1991 to J.D. Leonard, Jr.
from S H. Weiss; subject:
Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 - Amendment No. 7 for Facility Operating License to Possession Only License (TAC No.
75846).
(5) NRC letter dated February 29, 1992 to J.D. Leonard, Jr.
from S.W.
Brown; subject:
Issuance of Order Approving Shoreham License Transfer.
(6) NRC letter dated July 31, 1990 to J.D. Leonard, Jr.
from S.W.
Brown; subject:
Defueled Emergency Preparedness. License Condition Amendment and Exemption, Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 (TAC No. 75498).
Gentlemen:
In accordance with the provisions of 10CFR50.12, the Long Island
. Power Authority (LIPA) hereby requests an exemption from the onsite property damage insurance requirements of110CFR50.54(w)..
The entire basis for maintaining onsite property damage insurance, i.e.,
to stabilize and decontaminate the reactor f
station site after a nuclear-related accident, does not exist for the Shoreham Nuclear Power Station (SNPS or Shoreham).
I Therefore, an m
ion from onsite property damage insurance Sj O
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PDR ADOCK 05000322 J
LSNRC-2095 Page 2 requirements is being requested in recognition of the fact that SNPS is permanently shutdown, defueled, and currently undergoing decommissioning in accordance with the SNPS Decommissioning Plan (see Reference 1).
Thus, SNPS poses substantially reduced potential risk to the public health and safety relative to those posed during power operations.
In short, the risk of an accident at Shoreham which would require reactor stabilization or extensive decontamination does not now exist.
Given these conditions, a full exemption from the property insurance requirements of 10CFR50.54(w) is appropriate.
Backcround On September 8, 1989, having previously defueled the SNPS reactor, the previous SNPS licensee, Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO), applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for an exemption from the requirements of 10CFR50.54(w) (Reference 2).
The exemption, granted in April, 1990 (Reference 3), states that:
"The licensee is exempt from the requirement to carry onsite property damage insurance coverage in the full amount called for by 10CFR50. 54 (w) (1) until such time that LILCO l
places nuclear fuel into the Shoreham reactor vessel, provided that the licensee maintain such onsite property damage insurance in an amount not less than 337 million dollars."
As noted in the cover letter of Reference (3), this exemption granted " partial relief from the required minimum coverage limit of 1.06 billion dollars for onsite property damage until such time that authorization is granted to transfer ownership of the 1
Shoreham plant to some other entity, or LILCO places nuclear fuel into the Shoreham reactor vessel."
Three significant events have occurred since the last exemption request was granted.
First, on June 14, 1991 the Commission issued Amendment No. 7 to Shoreham's Facility Operating License No. NPF-82 (Reference 4).
This amendment modified License NPF-82, its enclosures, and its Appendices to a possession only status, and specified that LILCO was not authorized to operate Shoreham at any core power level and was not permitted to place any fuel assemblies in the reactor vessel without the prior approval of the NRC Staff.
Second, on February 29, 1992 the Commission issued an Order approving transfer of the Shoreham possession-only license from LILCO to LIPA (Reference 5) and authorized LIPA to undertake the activities and obligations of the Shoreham license.
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i LSNRC-2095 Page 3 Third, on June 11, 1992 the Commission issued an Order authorizing decommissioning of Shoreham.
Discussion Shoreham's present exemption to 10CFR50.54(w), granted in 1990 (Reference 3) to LILCO, requires LIPA to maintain a level of coverage equal to $337 million.
This partial exemption was based on LILCO's observation that since the Staff had previously concluded that $337 million was appropriate for operation at 5% power, such an amount was clearly adequate for Shoreham in its then present defueled condition.
Since the granting of this partial exemption, additional circumstances have become pertinent and form the basis for a full exemption.
10CFR Section 50.54 (w) (2) (i) defines " accident" as "an event that involves the release of radioactive material from its intended place of confinement within the reactor or on the reactor station site such that there is a present danger of release off site in amounts that would pose a threat to the public health and safety."
NUREG/CR-2601, " Technology, Safety, and Costs of Decommissioning Reference Light-Water Reactors Following Postulated Accidents," identifies the kind of accidents that meet i
the 10CFR definition.. Accidents as defined by 50.54 (w) (2) (i) and as identified by NUREG/CR-2601 can no longer occur at Shoreham.
With Shoreham in a permanently shutdown and defueled condition and decommissioning nearly complete, the worst case event that could potentially occur is a fuel handling accident.
- However, this event cannot lead to the release of radioactive materials in quantities that would require any off-site Federal, State, or local response (i.e., doses would be well within the EPA Frotective Action Guidelines), even with the extremely conservative assumption that the entire gap inventory of fission gases for all 560 assemblies was released.
The radiological consequences of such an event at the Exclusion Area Boundary would also be well below the values specified in 10CFR Part 100, and therefore, would not pose any significant threat to the health and safety of the public.
The radiological consequences of such an accident, i.e.,
1.08 millirem whole body dose and 93.9 millirem dose to the critical organ of an individual located at the exclusion area boundary, have been previously provided to the NRC for review.
The NRC has verified the results and accepted the fuel handling accident as the basis for approval of the Shoreham Decommissioning Plan.
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LSNRC-2095 Page 4 i
Additionally, it is worthy to note that Shoreham's Spent Fuel Storage Pool has been isolated.
In the highly unlikely event that the Pool's integrity is compromised, its contents (i.e., the storage pool water which has an activity level less than the lower limit of detection) would remain confined to the Reactor Building, posing no threat to the health and safety of the public.
For the above accidents, and any other accidents, recovery efforts would be included in the current decommissioning activities and the incremental cost involved for decontamination and clean-up would be funded by the existing decommissioning funding arrangements approved by the NRC in its letter of November 22, 1991.
Furthermore, the LIPA organization includes decommissioning, decontamination and radiological survey groups.
This would allow for a prompt response to an accident.
i Because an accident as defined by 10CFR50.54 (w) (2) (i) and NUREG/CR-2601 cannot occur at Shoreham, the requirements of 10CFR50. 54 (w) are no longer appropriate for Shoreham.
Nonetheless, to protect LILCO's ratepayers and stockholders from adverse financial impacts, LIPA plans to continue to insure Shoreham for property damage risks in such form and amount as warranted by the risk of loss and economics.
LIPA plans to carry at least a minimum limit of $5 million in property damage insurance.
Lecal Basis for Exemotion Reauest The legal standard for obtaining an exemption from specific NRC regulations is provided by 10CFR Section 50.12, " Specific Exemptions."
The NRC may grant exemptions which are authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to the public, and are consistent with the common defense and security.
Additionally, the regulation provides that an exemption request will not be considered unless one or more of six "special circumstances" are present.
This exemption request is in accordance with the general exemption criteria of 10CFR Section 50.12 (a) (1) and special circumstances as defined by 10CFR Section 50.12 (a) (2) (ii), (iii),
and (vi) are present.
LIPA's request satisfies these standards for regulatory exemption as follows.
i LSNRC.-2095 Page 5 A.
Exemption Criteria of 50.12 (a) (1)
Authorized by law.
The requested exemption is plainly authorized by law.
The Commission has routinely granted property insurance exemptions for commercial nuclear power plants that are permanently shutdown and located on single unit sites, such as Shoreham.
Those plants granted property insurance exemptions include, i
in addition to Shoreham, Humboldt Bay Power Plant Unit No.
3, La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor, Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station, Fort St. Vrain Nuclear Generating Station, and Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station.
Will not oresent an undue risk to the Dublic health and safety.
The requested exemption presents no undue risk to the public health and safety.
As previously discussed, Shoreham is permanently shutdown, defueled, and undergoing decommissioning.
NRC has amended the Shoreham license to remove the authority to operate.
Furthermore, NRC confirmed that the potential risks i
associated with Shoreham in a permanently shutdown and defueled condition are substantially reduced from those of power operations.
In conjunction with that 1
confirmation, NRC granted LILCO an exemption from the full participation Emergency Preparedness Requirements of 10CFR50.54 (q) (Reference 6).
Additionally, existing funding mechanisms for the ongoing decommissioning of Shoreham are adequate to provide for any additional decontamination in the event the worst-case Shoreham accident were to occur.
Consistent with the common defense and security.
The requested exemption is consistent with the common defense and security.
Approval of this exemption will not compromise physical security or the safeguarding of spent fuel.
B.
Exemotion Criteria of 50.12 (a) (2) (ii), (iii), and (vi)
(ii)
Aeolication of the reaulation in the carticular circumstances is not necessary to achieve the underlyina ourpose.
Approval of this exemption request will not undersine or reduce the obligations of LIPA to protect the public health and safety.
Special circumstances, that is, permanent cessation of power operations and, thus, a substantially reduced potential risk to public health and safety, exist such that the basis of 10CFR Section 50.54 (w) is no longer applicable.
The underlying purpose of the regulation, i.e.,
to ensure the ability to fund site decontamination following an accident, is achieved by the existing funding mechanism for the ongoing Shoreham decommissioning,
D-LSNRCr2095 Page 6 (iii)
Comoliance would result in undue hardshio or other costs that are sianificantiv in excess of those incurred by others similarly situated.
Continued compliance with Shoreham's requirement of $337 million
~
in nuclear property insurance limits presents an undue financial hardship in that it requires expenditures significantly in excess of those appropriate for a permanently shutdown and.defueled plant or incurred by other permanently shutdown plants as noted in A.
above.
(vi)
Material circumstance not considered when the reculation was adooted.
10CFR Section 50.54 (w) is based on NUREG/CR-2601, which examines the cost of severe reactor accidents that are credible only for plants operating at power.
Such sovere reactor accidents are now impossible for Shoreham based on its defueled condition, on the near completion of plant decommissioning, and on the low consequences of the worst-case accident at Shoreham.
Conclusion Accidents for which 10CFR50.54(w) requires a licensee to obtain property insurance are no longer applicable to Shoreham.
The worst-case event which can occur is a fuel handling accident.
The possibility of such an accident occurring is remote.
If a fuel handling accident were to occur, the financial consequences at Shoreham would be small.
Maintaining nuclear property insurance in the amount and in the method called for by 10CFR Section 50.54(w) to the extent presently exempted is no longer appropriate.
Full exemption from the requirements of 10CFR Section 50.54 (w) _ is justified.
As noted above, it is prudent for LIPA to continue to insure Shoreham for property damage risks in at least a minimum limit of
$5 million.
However, approval of the requested exemption would not preclude LIPA from maintaining property insurance, in any form or amount felt necessary, should LIPA so elect.
LIPA does not consider maintenance of such coverage as a regulatory requirement.
We would appreciate your timely attention to this request, as LIPA continues to pay significant insurance premiums of approximately $30,000 per month in order to comply with its present requirement under 10CFR Section 50.54(w).
j
i e
LSNRC-2095
.Page 7 If you have any questions concerning this exemption request, please contact my office.
Very truly yours,
./ l j
/
.M.
E211 hesident Manager Shoreham Station MAP /ab cc:
L. Bell C.
L.
Pittiglic T. T. Martin R. Nimitz l
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