ML20141A113

Authorizes Change 5 to License DR-15,to Increase Min Allowable Ejection Time of Fast Reactivity Excursion Device

ML20141A113
Person / Time
Site:	05000231
Issue date:	08/16/1971
From:	Morris P US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC)
To:	Wolfe B GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
Shared Package
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References
FOIA-97-34 NUDOCS 9705140157
Download: ML20141A113 (6)

Text

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, DISTRIBUTION

'> W. Dooly, DR R. Engelken, CO (2) 13 H. Shapar, OGC N. Dube, DRL (5) i

!' t J. Bu hanan, ORNL AUG 161971 l

, T. Laughlin, DTIE PDR 1

.s Docket No. 50-231 '

g ocket File l DR Reading DRL Reading Branch Reading ACRS (3)

R. Boyd l

General Electric Company R. DeYoung '

ATTN Dr. Bertrama Wolfe, General Manager F. Schroeder j Breeder Reactor Development Operation D. Skovholt

. 310 DeGuigne Drive R. Vollmer, R. Woodruf l 2

Sunnyvale, California 94086 R. Schemel, S. Teets )

Change No. 5 Gentlemen: License No. DR-15 4

)

By letter dated August 6, 1971, you submitted Proposed Change No. 6 to the l

, Technical Specifications appended to License No. DR-15 for the SEFOR reactor.

i Ihe proposed change would increase the minimum allowable ejection time of I the Fast Reactivity Excursion Device.

! After reviewing the proposed change, we conclude that it does not present significant hazards considerations not described or implicit in the safety analysis report and that there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered. We have redesignated the I proposed change as Change No. 5. Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59, Change No. 5 is

, hereby authorised as indicated by margin bars on the enclosed replacement pages 3.12-2, 3.12-3, 3.12-3.1, and 3.12-5 for the Technical Specifications.

} Sincerely, Original Signed by l hta[6 Morris 1

Peter A. Morris, Director Division of asactor Licensing Enclosure Replacement pages ect Paul B. Van Buren, Attorney General Electric Company 175 Curtner Avenue gan Jose, California 95125 i

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l' UNITED STATES jM ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION i ' * '

l I l WASHINGTON, D.C. 20545 i

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August 16, . 1971  :

" Docket No. 50-231 General Electric Company l ATTN: Dr. Bertram Wolfe, General Manager Breeder Reactor Development Operation l 310 DeGuigne Drive Sunnyvale, California' 94086 l Change No. 5 l Gentlemen: License No. DR-15 By letter dated August 6, 1971, you submitted Proposed Change No. 6 to the ,

Technical Specifications appended to License No. DR-15 for the SEFOR reactor.

l The proposed change would increase the minimum allowable ejection time of

the Fast Reactivity Excursion Device.

After reviewing the proposed change, we conclude that it does not present L significant hazards considerations not described or implicit in the safety analysis report and that there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered. We have redesignated the '

proposed change as Change No. 5. Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59, Change No. 5 is j hereby authorized as indicated by margin bars on the enclosed replacement '

pages 3.12-2, 3.12-3, 3.12-3.1, and 3.12-5 for the Technical Specifications.

- Sincert.ly, e

Peter A. Morris, Director Division of Reactor Licensing l

Enclosure:

l Replacement pages cc: Paul B. Van Buren, Attorney

, General Electric Company i 175 Curtner Avenue j San Jose, California 95125 l

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,s. . B. General

1. ,An excursion test shall be performed with the FRED only if the l .' analysis of previous operating data indicates that the sodium-j p inDopplercoefficient(Tff)isnegativeandhasamagnitude,

. , equal to or greater than 0.005.

2. The time required for the poison s3ug to travel the first 20- ,

inches af ter lif t-off shall be equal to or greater than 0.097 second. -

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3. The main primary coolant flow rate shall be at least 4000 GPM  ;

when the poison slug is ejected from the core.

4. The scram system may be modified in accordance with the des-cription in Supplement 17 to the FDSAR, page G-1, to provide an additional 400 millisecond delay between a scram' signal l

and the point in time when the reflector segments start to move. ,

1 l l l 5. Whenever a poison slug worth'more than 1$ is lowered into l l

l the core by means of the FRED, containment integrity shall be maintained and the isolation valves on the outer cont &inment ventilation lines shall be closed".

6. If fuel rod inspections called for in Section 4.3 indicate that l

the limits of fuel defects (as defined in Section 3.3.K.2 and 3) are being approached, succeeding excursion tests shall be limited l

! to power excursions below that at which such behavior was observed.

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l 7. The initial reactor power level for excursion tests shall be equal l to or greater than 0.1 MW.

8. System checkout of the FRED components may be performed at power levels less than 0.1 MW, provided the initial position of the poison slug is more than 20 inches above the core mid-plane.

l l 9. The core coolant inlet temperature shall not be below 700'F at the start of each excursion test. .

10. Excursion tests shall not be conducted if there is evidence that the core contains def ective fuel rods.

Change No- 5

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! AUG 161971

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3.12-2

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Bases a .

The experimental program wi~th FRED is graded so that small transients precedelafgertransients. The information from the small transients will be used (1) to evaluate the performance of the reactor, (2) to compare the performance with predicted behavior, and (3) to predict performance of the reactor for the larger prompt critical transients.

The characterization of the tests into the categories of (1), (2) and (3) above is self-explanatory. The maximum power levels indicated in each case are to assure that the safety limits as given in Section 2.1 ,

will not be violated and are in accordance with Figure 2.1-1 and the explanation in Section 2.1. - The limits given in this specification also assure that the maximum energy addition to the core during a planned transient does not exceed that calculated for the Maximum Flanned Transient.(10) This in turn assures that the maximum con-sequence of inadvertently running a transient with a defective (sodium-logged) fuel rod in the core would be limited ,to deformations corresponding to about 0.6% strain of the cladding of the defective fuel rod. (11} '

This amount of strain is only 4% of the minimum ductility of the SEFOR cladding at the end of the three-year experimental program. (12)

The value of the Doppler coefficient for SEFOR Core I with sodium in the coreisestimatedtobeh=-0.0085. This value was verified experi-l mentally by means of Doppler measurements on the SEFOR mockup in the ZFR-III Criticai Facility.( ) From further measurements on this mockup, j it was established that the Doppler coefficient with sodium out is 17.5% lower than the value with sodium in, or = -0.0070 for SEFOR Core I with sodium out.

l The safety analysis of the MHA for SEFOR was based on a sodium-out b Doppler coefficient of = -0.004, which corresponds to a sodium-in Doppler coefficient ( ) of -0.005. (2) The demonstration of a negative b

i 3.12-3

{ Change No. 5 >

l $UG 161971 1

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, .e Doppler coefficient with a magnitude equal to or greater than 0.005 during the approach to maximum power will verify predictions of this .

coefficiedt based on the ZPR-III measurements and will pruvide the basis for safe performance of prompt critical tests in SEFOR.

The totaI reactivity worth of each poison slug used in the FRED will be known and the value will be checked before each transient test.

The maximum reactivity insertion rate will be limited to less than 20$ per second by limiting the reactivity worth of the slug to 1.3$

and by limiting the minimum allowable time for the slug to travel the first 20 inches to 0.097 second.(3) This time will be measured by means of the lif t-off switch and a proximity switch which marks 20 inches of travel by the poison slug. The safety of the plant has been assessed for a maximum rate of 50$ per second with a sodium-out Doppler coefficient (T ) of -0.004.f4)

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, 3.12-3i1 Change No,'5 AUG 'l 61971

1 oterting frea initici powar 1svals as low cs 0.2 MWt is still wall l

• l 3 below the safety limit. l 1 -

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I Initial checkout tests of the FRED after it is installed on the reactor

, . head will be performed with the reactor either sub-critical or at low l power level (less than 0.1 MWt). The FRED will have a negligible .

I effect on reactivity when it is in a position more than 20 inches above the core midplane.

The minimum limit of 700*F on the core coolant inlet temperature is to assure that the total reactivity of the core is amintained at the equivalent of 50c excess at 20 MW conditions.I I At lower temperatures, l l

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the ex' cess core reactivity would be higher. he 50c excess limit assures j

that the Maximum Planned Transient will not be initiated from a power l lovel in excess of 11 MWt, and also limits the final reactor power if the reactor does not scram and the FRED slug remains out of the core following any excursion test.

i References '

(1) SEFOR FDSAR, Appendix B, Section B.5, p. B-3.

(2) SEFOR FDSAR, Section 16.4.2.6.1.1, p. 16-28.

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(3) Proposed Change No. 6 for the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor, August 5,1971.

(4) SEFOR FDSAR, Volume II, Section 16.2.7 1 (5) SEFOR FDSAR, Volume II, Section 16.2.7, p. 16-10.

.(6) SEFOR FDSAR, Supplement 17, p. G-1.

(7) SEFOR FDSAR, Supplement 3, Section 5.1.3.

(8)' SEFOR FDSAR, Supplement 19, p. 57.

(9) SEFOR FDSAR, Volume II, Section 12.3.6, pp. 12-15, 16. '

(10) SEFOR FDSAR, Supplement 10, page 1-48 4 (11) Additional Information Regarding Sodium Logging of SEFOR Fuel Rods, February 1, 1971.

(12) S EPOR FDSAR, Supplement 21, page 4.

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3.12-5 Change No. 5 AUG 161971

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