ML060230297

2006/01/23-LB Order (Directing Supplemental Briefing on Hearing Request)

ML060230297
Person / Time
Site:	Oyster Creek
Issue date:	01/23/2006
From:	Hawkens E Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
To:
Byrdsong A T
References
50-219-LR, ASLBP 06-844-01-LR, RAS 11084
Download: ML060230297 (5)

Text

RAS 11084 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOCKETED 01/23/06 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION SERVED 01/23/06 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD Before Administrative Judges:

E. Roy Hawkens, Chairman Dr. Paul B. Abramson Dr. Anthony J. Baratta In the Matter of Docket No. 50-0219-LR AMERGEN ENERGY COMPANY, LLC ASLBP No. 06-844-01-LR (License Renewal for Oyster Creek Nuclear January 23, 2006 Generating Station)

ORDER (Directing Supplemental Briefing on Hearing Request)

Pending before the Board are two Requests for Hearing and Petitions for Leave to Intervene (Petitions) dated November 14, 2005, challenging the Oyster Creek Nuclear Gener-ating Station (Oyster Creek) License Renewal Application submitted by AmerGen Energy Company, LLC (AmerGen) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on July 22, 2005.

One Petition was filed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection [hereinafter referred to as New Jersey], and the other Petition was filed by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch, Inc., Grandmothers, Mothers and More for Energy Safety, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, New Jersey Sierra Club, and New Jersey Environmental Federation [hereinafter referred to collectively as NIRS]. On December 12 and 14, 2005, AmerGen and the NRC filed Answers opposing the Petitions.

The Board, having reviewed the above submissions, hereby directs additional briefing consistent with the following instructions.

New Jerseys proposed Contention 2 states (New Jersey Petition at 6) (emphasis omitted):

10 C.F.R. § 50.55a(c)(4) states, For a nuclear power plant whose construction permit was issued prior to May 14, 1984 the applicable Code Edition and Adden-da for a component of the reactor coolant pressure boundary continue to be that Code Edition and Addenda that were required by Commission regulations for such component at the time of issuance of the construction permit. [AmerGen]

appears unwilling to maintain this requirement for the proposed license extension period as presented in the application submitted . . . on July 22, 2005. As a result, [AmerGen] is also in violation of 10 C.F.R. § 54.21(a)(3) which states that the licensee must, as part of its application, For each structure and component

. . . demonstrate that the effects of aging will be adequately managed so that the intended function(s) will be maintained consistent with the CLB for the period of extended operation. CLB is defined in 10 C.F.R. § 54.3(a) as the current licensing basis for the plant.

In further explanation of this contention, New Jersey states that Sections 3.1.26, 5.2.2.1 and 5.3.1.1 of the Oyster Creek [Updated Final Safety Analysis Report] document the original

[reactor pressure vessel] Purchase Specification reactor vessel design requirements, including the allowable fatigue usage factor of 0.8 for the reactor pressure vessel (New Jersey Petition at 7) (emphasis omitted). The cumulative usage factor (CUF) of 0.8 is based on the ASME Code in effect at the time the Oyster Creek reactor vessel was designed. New Jersey main-tains that in Section 4.3 of the Oyster Creek license renewal application, AmerGen makes extensive use of a CUF for fatigue evaluations for the reactor coolant pressure boundary and associated components of 1.0 rather than the 0.8 CUF specified by the Code Edition and Addenda that were required by Commission regulations at the time of issuance of the construction permit.

The Staff - in its Answer opposing New Jerseys Petition - states that the regulation cited by New Jersey, 10 C.F.R. § 50.55a(c)(4), is intended . . . to permit a licensee to use the original construction code during the operational phase if it so chooses. . . . A licensee retains the option, under § 50.55a(c), to voluntarily update to a later version of the ASME code which

has been endorsed by § 50.55a (NRC Staff Answer at 16). As indicated in Exhibit 1 of AmerGens Answer, AmerGen intends to revise the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report, and hence the licensing basis, to incorporate an updated metal fatigue analysis limit for reactor coolant pressure boundary components, consistent with the current requirements of [10 C.F.R.

§ 50.55a] for operating plants, by changing the CUF from 0.8 to 1.0. It appears to the Board, however, that until this revision is implemented, the license renewal application is not based upon the now-effective CLB as required by 10 C.F.R. § 54.21(a)(3).

New Jersey, AmerGen, and the NRC Staff are directed to submit supplemental briefs, not to exceed five (5) pages, addressing the requirements of the governing regulations with regard to this issue. The supplemental briefs shall be due on Monday, January 30, 2006.

It is so ORDERED.

FOR THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD1

/RA/

E. Roy Hawkens, Chairman ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE Rockville, Maryland January 23, 2006 1

Copies of this order were sent this date by Internet e-mail to counsel for: (1)

AmerGen; (2) New Jersey; (3) NIRS; and (3) the NRC Staff.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of )

)

AMERGEN ENERGY COMPANY, LLC ) Docket No. 50-219-LR

)

)

(Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station) )

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing LB ORDER (DIRECTING SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING ON HEARING REQUEST) have been served upon the following persons by U.S.

mail, first class, or through NRC internal distribution.

Office of Commission Appellate Administrative Judge Adjudication E. Roy Hawkens, Chair U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Washington, DC 20555-0001 Mail Stop - T-3 F23 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 Administrative Judge Administrative Judge Paul B. Abramson Anthony J. Baratta Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop - T-3 F23 Mail Stop - T-3 F23 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Ann P. Hodgdon, Esq. Michele R. Donato, Esq.

Daniel Hugo Fruchter, Esq. P.O. Box 145 Office of the General Counsel 106 Grand Central Avenue Mail Stop - O-15 D21 Lavallette, NJ 08735 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001

2 Docket No. 50-219-LR LB ORDER (DIRECTING SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING ON HEARING REQUEST)

Paul Gunter, Director Donald J. Silverman, Esq.

Reactor Watchdog Project Kathryn M. Sutton, Esq.

Nuclear Information Alex S. Polonsky, Esq.

and Resource Service Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP 1424 16th Street, NW, Suite 404 1111 Pennsyvlania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 Washington, DC 20004 Bradley M. Campbell, Commissioner Jill Lipoti, Director New Jersey Department of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Protection P.O. Box 402 Division of Environmental Safety and Health Trenton, NJ 08625-0402 P.O. Box 424 Trenton, NJ 08625-0424 Ron Zak J. Bradley Fewell, Esq.

New Jersey Department of Exelon Corporation Environmental Protection 200 Exelon Way, Suite 200 Nuclear Engineering Kennett Square, PA 19348 P.O. Box 415 Trenton, NJ 08625-0415 Suzanne Leta Richard Webster, Esq.

NJPIRG Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic 11 N. Willow St. 123 Washington Street Trenton, NJ 08608 Newark, NJ 07102-5695

[Original signed by Evangeline S. Ngbea]

Office of the Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 23rd day of January 2006