ML082740445

Issuance of Amendment Eliminate License Condition 2.F

ML082740445
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	11/20/2008
From:	Mahesh Chawla Plant Licensing Branch III
To:	Entergy Nuclear Operations
Chawla M, NRR/DORL, 415-8371
Shared Package
ML082740429	List: ML082740445
References
TAC MD8727
Download: ML082740445 (10)

Text

UNITED NUCLEAR REGULATORY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 November 20, 2008 Vice President, Operations Entergy Nuclear Operations Palisades Nuclear Plant 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway Covert, MI 49043-9530 PALISADES PLANT -

ISSUANCE OF AMENDI\I1EI\lT RE: ELIMINATE LICENSE CONDITION 2.F (TAC NO.

MD8727)

Dear Sir or Madam:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 233 to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 for the Palisades Nuclear Plant. The amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications in response to your application dated May 5, 2008.

The amendment would revise renewed facility operating license DPR-20 to remove license condition 2.F. The license condition describes reporting requirements for exceeding the facility steady-state reactor core power level described in license condition 2.C. (1). The proposed change is consistent with the NRC approved change notice published in the Federal Register (70 FR 67202) on November 4, 2005, announcing the availability of this improvement through the consolidated line item improvement process. A copy of our related safety evaluation is also enclosed. The Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's biweekly Federal Register notice. Sincerely, Mahesh L. Chawla, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 111-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-255

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 233 to DPR-20

2. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: Distribution via ListServ UNITED NUCLEAR REGULATORY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 EI\JTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS. DOCKET NO.

PALISADES AMENDMENT TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING Amendment No. 233 License No. DPR-20

1. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that: The application for amendment by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENO, the licensee), dated May 5.2008. complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; The facility will operate in conformity with the application. the provisions of the Act. and the rules and regulations of the Commission; There is reasonable assurance (i) that the activities authorized by this amendment can be conducted without endangering the health and safety of the public; and (ii) that such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations; The issuance of this amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public; The issuance of this amendment is in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51 of the Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.

-2Accordingly, the license is amended by changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to the license amendment and Paragraph 2.C.(2) of Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 is hereby amended to read as follows:

The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 233, and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B are hereby incorporated in the license. ENO shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications and the Environmental Protection Plan. This license amendment is effective as of the date of issuance and shall be implemented within 90 days. FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Lois . James, Chief Plant Licensing Branch 111-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Attachment:

Changes to the Facility Operating License Date of Issuance: November 20, 2008 ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DOCKET NO. Replace the following pages of the Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 with the attached revised pages. The revised pages are identified by amendment number and contain marginal lines indicating the areas of change.

REMOVE INSERT Page 3 Page 3 Page 6 Page 6

-3Pursuant to Section 104b of the Act, as amended, and 10 CFR Part 50, "Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities," (a) ENP to possess and use, and (b) END to possess, use and operate, the facility as a utilization facility at the designated location in Van Buren County, Michigan, in accordance with the procedures and limitation set forth in this license; END, pursuant to the Act and 10 CFR Parts 40 and 70, to receive, possess, and use source and special nuclear material as reactor fuel, in accordance with the limitations for storage and amounts required for reactor operation, as described in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report, as supplemented and amended; END, pursuant to the Act and 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70, to receive, possess, and use byproduct, source, and special nuclear material as sealed sources for reactor startup, reactor instrumentation, radiation monitoring equipment calibration, and fission detectors in amounts as required; END, pursuant to the Act and 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70, to receive, possess, and use in amounts as required any byproduct, source, or special nuclear material for sample analysis or instrument calibration, or associated with radioactive apparatus or components; and END, pursuant to the Act and 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70, to possess, but not separate, such byproduct and special nuclear materials as may be produced by the operations of the facility. This renewed operating license shall be deemed to contain and is subject to the conditions specified in the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR Chapter I and is subject to all applicable provisions of the Act; to the rules, regulations, and orders of the Commission now or hereafter in effect; and is subject to the additional conditions specified or incorporated below: END is authorized to operate the facility at steady-state reactor core power levels not in excess of 2565.4 Megawatts thermal (100 percent rated power) in accordance with the conditions specified herein. The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 233, and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B are hereby incorporated in the license. END shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications and the Environmental Protection Plan. END shall implement and maintain in effect all provisions of the approved fire protection program as described in the Final Safety Analysis Report for the facility and as approved in the SERs dated 09/01/78, 03/19/80, 02/10/81, OS/26/83, 07/12/85,01/29/86,12/03/87, and 05/19/89 and subject to the following provisions: Renewed License No. DPR-20 Amendment No. 233 The facility has been granted certain exemptions from the requirements of Section III, G of Appendix R to 10 CFR Part 50, "Fire Protection Program for Nuclear Power Facilities Operating Prior to January 1, 1979." This section relates to fire protection features for ensuring the systems and associated circuits used to achieve and maintain safe shutdown are free of fire damage. These exemptions were granted in letters dated February 8,1983, July 12,1985, and July 23,1985. In addition, the facility has been granted certain exemptions from Appendix J to 10 CFR Part 50, "Primary Reactor Containment Leakage Testing for Water Cooled Power Reactors." This section contains leakage test requirements, schedules and acceptance criteria for tests of the leak-tight integrity of the primary reactor containment and systems and components which penetrate the containment. These exemptions were granted in a letter dated December 6, 1989. These exemptions granted pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, are authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and are consistent with the common defense and security. With these exemptions, the facility will operate, to the extent authorized herein, in conformity with the application, as amended, the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations of the Commission. ENO shall fully implement and maintain in effect all provisions of the Commission-approved physical security, training and qualification, and safeguards contingency plans including amendments made pursuant to provisions of the Miscellaneous Amendments and Search Requirements revisions to 10 CFR 73.55 (51 FR 27817 and 27822) and to the authority of 10 CFR 50.90 and 10 CFR 50.54(p). The combined set of plans, which contains Safeguards Information protected under 10 CFR 73.21, is entitled: "Nuclear Management Company Palisades Nuclear Plant Physical Security Plan, Revision 2," submitted by letter dated May 10, 2006. F[deleted] ENP and ENO shall have and maintain financial protection of such type and in such amounts as the Commission shall require in accordance with Section 170 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, to cover public liability claims. Renewed License No. DPR-20 Amendment No. 233 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555*0001 SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 233 TO RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. DPR-20 ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT DOCKET NO. 50-255

1.0 INTRODUCTION

By application dated May 5,2008 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML081270073), the Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., (the licensee), requested an amendment to the Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 for Palisades Nuclear Plant. The proposed amendment would delete License Condition 2.F, which requires reporting of violations of the requirements in Section 2.C (1) of the Facility Operating License. A notice announcing the availability of this proposed change using the consolidated line item improvement process was published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2005 (70 FR 67202).

2.0 REGULATORY EVALUATION

A section or condition was included in the facility operating licenses issued to some nuclear power plants requiring the licensee to make reports to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding violations of other sections of the operating license (typically Section 2.C). In the case of Palisades Nuclear Plant, condition 2.F of the Facility Operating License reads as follows: 2. F The licensee shall report any violations of Section 2.C (1) of this license within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> to the NRC Operations Center via the Emergency Notification System with written follow-up within 60 days in accordance with 10 CFR 50.73 (b), (c), and (e). In addition to the information provided to support licensing decisions, the NRC obtains information about plant operation, licensee programs, and other matters using a combination of inspections and reporting requirements. Routine or scheduled reports that are required to be submitted to the NRC are defined in the related regulations, specific license condition, technical specification, or an NRC-approved program document. The reporting of emergencies, unplanned events or conditions, and other special cases may also be addressed within such documents by the inclusion of reporting thresholds and are also the focus of the reporting requirements in 10 CFR 50.72, "Immediate notification requirements for operating nuclear power reactors," and 10 CFR 50.73, "Licensee event report system." Changes to the reporting regulations in 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73 became effective in January 2001 (see Federal Register Enclosure

-2notice on October 25, 2000 (65 FR 63769)) and included extending the allowable reporting times for licensee event reports (LERs) from 30 days to 60 days.

3.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION Section 2.F of the Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 requires the licensee to report any violations of the requirements of Section 2.C (1) of the Facility Operating License and defines the method and allowable time periods for such reports. The reporting threshold (i.e., a violation) for some of the conditions included in Section 2.C (1) of the Facility Operating License duplicates those defined in 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73. However, the requirements in the Facility Operating License may have different deadlines than those defined in the regulations (following a rule change in 2001). This difference in reporting requirements has led to variations in reporting since many facility operating licenses do not contain the subject condition. For those licensees with a 30-day reporting requirement in the Facility Operating License, the condition has decreased the benefits of the rulemaking. For those cases where the current Facility Operating License requirement to report violations is also reportable in accordance with the regulations defined in 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73, the NRC staff finds that the regulations adequately address this issue and the elimination of the duplicative requirement in the Facility Operating License is acceptable. Some of the conditions addressed in Section 2.C (1) of the Facility Operating License may address the maintenance of particular programs, administrative requirements, or other matters where a violation of the requirement would not result in a report to the NRC in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72 or 10 CFR 50.73. In most cases, there are requirements for reports to the NRC related to these conditions in other regulations, the specific license condition or technical specification, or an f\lRC-approved program document.

In other cases, there are reports to other agencies or news releases that would prompt a report to the NRC (in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(xi)). The NRC staff also assessed violations of administrative requirements that could be reportable under the current License Condition but that may not have a duplicative requirement in a regulation or other regulatory requirement. The NRC staff finds that the requirement to report such problems within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> with written reports to follow using the LER process is not needed. The NRC staff is confident that the information related to such violations that is actually important to the NRC's regulatory functions would come to light in a time frame comparable to the 60-day LER requirements.

The information would become available to the appropriate NRC staff through the inspection program, updates to program documents, resultant licensing actions, public announcements, or some other reliable mechanism. The NRC staff finds that the elimination of Section 2.F in Palisades Nuclear Plant Facility Operating License DPR-20 will not result in a loss of information to the NRC that would adversely affect either its goal to protect public health and safety or its ability to carry out its various other regulatory responsibilities.

Therefore, the elimination of Section 2.F of the Facility Operating License DPR-20 is acceptable.

4.0 STATE CONSULTATION

In accordance with the Commission's regulations, the Michigan State official was notified of the proposed issuance of the amendment.

The Michigan State official had no comments.

-3 5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION The amendment changes recordkeeping, reporting, or administrative procedures or requirements.

The Commission has previously issued a proposed finding that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration and there has been no public comment on such finding published in the Federal Register on September 9, 2008 (73 FR 52417). Accordingly, the amendment meets the eligibility criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(10).

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no environmental impact statement or environmental assessment need be prepared in connection with the issuance of the amendment.

6.0 CONCLUSION

The Commission has concluded, based on the considerations discussed above, that: (1) there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered by operation in the proposed manner, (2) such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations, and (3) the issuance of the amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.

7.0 REFERENCE

1. NRC's model SE published in the Federal Register on August 29, 2005 (70 FR 51098). Principal Contributor: M. Chawla, I'JRR Date: November 20, 2008 November 20, 2008 Vice President, Operations Entergy Nuclear Operations Palisades Nuclear Plant 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway Covert, MI 49043-9530 PALISADES PLANT -ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: ELIMINATE LICENSE CONDITION 2.F (TAC NO. MD8727)

Dear Sir or Madam:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 233 to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 for the Palisades Nuclear Plant. The amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications in response to your application dated May 5, 2008.

The amendment would revise renewed facility operating license DPR-20 to remove license condition 2.F. The license condition describes reporting requirements for exceeding the facility steady-state reactor core power level described in license condition 2.C. (1). The proposed change is consistent with the NRC approved change notice published in the Federal Register (70 FR 67202) on November 4, 2005, announcing the availability of this improvement through the consolidated line item improvement process. A copy of our related safety evaluation is also enclosed. The Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's biweekly Federal Register notice. Sincerely, lRAI Mahesh L. Chawla, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 111-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-255

Enclosures:

1. Amendment No. 233 to DPR-20 2. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls:

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