ML17249A717

Advises of Authorization to Use Previously Furnished Affidavits for Current Reload Review Re Cycle 10. Same Proprietary Matl Being Used

ML17249A717
Person / Time
Site:	Ginna
Issue date:	02/05/1980
From:	WIESEMANN R A WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIV OF CBS CORP.
To:	ZIEMANN D L Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML17249A716	List: ML17249A715 ML17249A717
References
NS-RAW-005, NS-RAW-5, NUDOCS 8002250527
Download: ML17249A717 (12)

Text

NtestinghouseElectricCorporationYYaterReactorDivisionsiix&rTechnologyOivisionBox355PitlsburghPennsylvania15230February5,1980NS-RAW-005Mr.DennisZiemann,ChiefOperatingReactorBranchS2DivisionofOperatingReactorsOfficeofNuclearReactorRegulationU.S.NuclearRegulatoryCommissionWashington,0.C.20555

SUBJECT:

DocketNo.50-244,R.E.GinnaNuclearPowerPlantREF:RochesterGasandElectricCompanyApplicationforWithholding,WhitetoZiemann,February1980

DearHr.Ziemann:

TheproprietarymaterialforwhichwithholdingisbeingrequestedbyRochesterGasandElectricCompany(RGE)isofthesametechnicaltypeasthatproprietarymaterialpreviouslysubmittedinconnectionwithanNRC.Staffreloadreview.Thepreviousapplicationforwithholding,AH-76-31,wasaccompaniedbyanon-proprietaryaffidavitsignedbytheowneroftheproprietaryinformation,Westinghouse'ElectricCorporation.Thesubject.proprietarymaterialisbeingsubmittedinsupportofthereloadreviewmsociatedwithRGE'sR.E.GinnaNuclearPowerPlant,Cycle10.OnMarch2,1977,Westinghousesubmittedaproprietaryaffidavittosupple-mentthenon-proprietaryaffidavitaccompanyingapplicationforwithholdingAW-76-31.BecausethereloadreviewmaterialassociatedwithCycle10isofthesametechnicaltypeasthatassociatedwithWCAP-9272,theproprietaryaffidavitsubmittedtosupplementthepreviousjustificationisequallyapplicabletothismaterial.Accordingly,thisletterauthorizestheutilizationofthepreviouslyfur-nishedaffidavitsinsupportofthereloadreviewassociatedwithRGE'.sR.E.GinnaNuclearPowerPlant,Cycle10.

~P;Mr.D.Ziemann0PwFebruary5,1980NS-RAW-005Correspondencewithrespecttotheproprietaryaspectsoftheapp1ica-tionforwithho1dingortheWestinghouseaffidavitsshou1dreferenceCAW-80-08,andshouldbeaddressedtotheundersigned.Very'tru1yyours,~>&6M.a.KJRobertA.Hiesemann,ManagerRegulatoryELegislativeAffairs/bek.cc:J.A.Cooke,Esq.(NRC)L.D.White(RGE)

AttachmentBResponsetoQuestion6onMixedOxideFuel(Proprietary)

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~g41WESTINGHOUSEPROPRIETARYCLASS26.ThestaffSERonMixedOxideFuelstatesthatuseofU02densificationmodelsforHOXshouldbeverified.(l)SinceitappearsthatthisassumptionwasusedfortheVOXfuelforGinna,pleaseverifythisassumption.DoesthepredictedamountofdensificationsatisfyReg.Guide1.126.ThecurrentWestinghouseU02fueldensificationmodelwasusedtopredictthedensificationperformanceofthetIOxfuelsfabricatedforGinna.Thisempiricalmodel,whichwasderivedusingonlyU02performancedata,usesfuelsinteringtemperatureandsintereddensitytopredicttheextentofdensification.-TheapplicationofthemodeltolIOfuelisjustifiedonXtwobases;thesimilarityinprocedureusedinfabricationofNOfueltoXUO>proceduresandtheabilitytoconservativelypredicttheperformanceofpreviouslyirradiatedt~i0fuels.XWhile,studyingthedensificationofpureU02,therelativedimensional,stabilityoffuelwasfoundtobestronglydependentonthepelletizing.processemployedandthevaluesofkeyprocessingparameters.TheprocessesusedinpelletfabricationforGinnaareessentiallyidenticalv(iththoseused.inpreparingMOfuelpreviouslyirradiatedbyWestinghousewhoseXperformanceisconservativelypredictedbytheU02model.Further,thepelletizingprocessesusedforpreparingtheGinnaIl0fuelisverysimilarXtothatusedbyWestinghousetoproduceU02fuel.Thelimitingprocessingparameters,sinteringtemperatureandfinalpelletdensity,werecontrolledtoarangewhichproducesU02fuelwithpredictedperformancewithindesignrequirements.TheWestinghouseexperiencewithIIOdensificationperformanceduringirradiationhasbeenreportedandcomparedwithmodelpredictionsinWCAP-8349-P.Theoretically,MOdensificationwouldbeexpectedtoXproceedatalowerratethaninUOsinceporeremovalisdirectlyrelatedtolocalfissionevents.Densificationorporeremovalisabu1kprocessandinU02fuelthefissioneventsarefairlyuniformlydistributedinthematerialandtheproductdensifiesuniformly..However,inMOthefissioneventsareconcentratedinorveryneartoPu02particleswhicharefreetodensifyindependentlyoftheU02matrix.ThelowenrichmentU02matrixexperiencesalowerfrequencyoTfissioneventsthannormalenrichedU02fuelatsimilarburnupandshouldshowaloweramountofdensification.TheWestinghouse urSTINGHOUSEPROPRIETARYCLASS2'2experiencewithdensificationofMOfueloperatedinacorrmercialpowerXreactoriscomparedwithpredictedvaluesinFigure1whichistaken'fromMCAP-8349-P.TheFigurealsocontainsdatafortheperformanceofaVO2fuelwithsimilarfabricationcharacteristicsfordirectcomparison.Figure1containsdataforbothmechanicallymixedand"mastermixed"fuel.Mastermixedfuelispreparedbyco-precipitatingV02and'Pu02thenmixingtheCo-precipitatedmaterialwithU02.TheU02modelisabestestimatemodelandhencethereshouldbe'asmanypointswithdensificationunderpredictedasoverpredicted.ThisisobviouslynotthecaseforeithertheU02orMOfuelwiththedensification'beinggenerallyoverpredicted.Significantly,thepredictionofthemodelwasnoticeablymoreconservativefortheMOfuelthanfortheU02withXsimilarprocessinghistory.AsshowninFigure1,thepredictionformastermixedMOwaslessconservativethanfor'mchanicallymixedMO.ThisisasXX~expectedandfurtherillustratesthelowerdensificationexpectedfromfuel'withinhomogenouslydistributedfissionevents.TheperformanceofanMOfuelofhigherPu02contentwhichwasoperatedinXtheSaxtontestreactorwasalsoreportedinMCAP-8349-P.'hisfuel,which.operatedathighertemperaturesthancommercialpowerreactors,'asalsofoundtodensifylessthanpredictedbythemodel.ThepredictivecapabilityoftheU02modelwasfurthertestedbyevaluatingtheperformanceoftheMOfuelintheEPRIMO.densificationprogram.'heseXXfuelswerepreparedbyawidevariationinprocessingvariablesandhencerepresentarangeofconditionsgreaterthanwaspresentindataonwhichthemodelwasbased.TheperformanceoftheEPRIfuelsasreportedinEPRIHP-637arecomparedwithmodelpredictionsinFigure2.ThedatainFigure2indicatethemodelisessentiallyconservativeforallfuelsshown,eventhoseunstablefuelspreparedbyproceduresdissimilartothoseforfuelonwhoseperformancethemodelisbased.Forthestablefuels,thosewhichdensified<2volumepercent,themodelishighlyconservativeinthatitgreatlyoverpredictsthedensification.TheGinnaMOfuelisprojectedtobehavestably;allcurrentlymanufacturedWestinghouseU02fuelsarealsoprojectedtoshow'stablebehavior.

)YESTlNG'HOUSEPRPPRIU~QYgQSSPsReg.Guide1.126doesnotindicateamaximumamountofdensificationallowablebut,ratherdefinestheamountofdensificationthatmustbeassumedbasedona'thermalresinteringtest.Designmustaccountfortheamountofdensificationassumedfromtheresintertest.ThermalresinterdataisnotavailablefortheGinnat10fuelsoanalternateXmethodmustbechosentopredictthedensificationperformance;the'ethodusedwastheWestinghouseU02model.TheaccuracyofthismodelcanbecomparedtothepredictionsfromthethermalresintermodelinReg.Guide1.126.ThebasisforestablishingtherelativeabilitiesofthetwomodelstopredictperformancewasestablishedbyuseoftheEPRIdata.The.predictedperformanceusingthethermalresinteringmodeliscomparedwithactualperformanceinFigure3.ExaminationofdatainFigure3indicatestheresintermodelsignificantlyoverpredictstheamountofdensification,especiallyinthe.regionofstablefuels(<2-v6lumepercentdensification)wheretheoverpredictionisasmuchas2.5percent.ComparisonofFigures2'Cand3indicatestherelativepredictiveabilities'ofthetwomodels.Thecomparisonshowsthetwomodelsareverysimilar,bothmodelsbeinggenerallyconservative.Thedegreeofconservatismisfoundtobegreaterintheregionofstablefuels.Similarnumbersofdatapointsareslightlyunder-predictedbythetwomodels,however,theWestinghousemodelisbothmoreconsistentandmoreconservativeinthelessthan2percentdensification'angewhichisrepresentativeoftheGinnaHOfuel.XThedatapresenteddemonstratethattheWestinghouseU02fuel,densificationmodelyieldspredictionssimilarto'ndmorereliablyconservativeforNOXfuelthantheresintermodelinReg.Guide1.126.'

STIIIGHOUSEPROPRIETARYCLASSII8198-I9).b,c)~E'1.0OIC3LEGEHO'HIXEOU02-3j,PuO~HASTERAIXEOUO2<<3$Pu02QUO>.0.00.0,0.5'.0MEASUREDSTACKLEHGTHDECREASE,nL/LOR1/3Ap/p(PRESENT)Figure1.ComparisonoFDensificationDataforUO-3%PuOwithUOBothFabricatedunderSimilarConditionstoaDensityofApproximately91%T.D.

)VESTIWGHOUSEPROPRIETARYCI.aSS2Figure2.WestinghouseU02ModelPredictionofDensificationofEPRIMOFuelsXQzz0>>Qi>QlgQ.Q>>Qp,QQ<<oEU10Qiz@<aO~'gQIIpgrsQ<<~i;Q3<<7(DllQaQ<<QvQMOMechanicallyMixedSMOMasterMixedQU02DataNumbersindicateEPRI'fueltypes.023ActualChangeinDensity,5

WESTINGHOUSEPROPRIETARYCUSS2Figure3.Reg.GuidePredictionofEPRIMODataXl9)9QIQfwGQcJ32.CLOl~l3Of8~gggg0>~OI~gyOl8'bs\l7(7(ptgIXlkQ0IkOMOMechanicallyMixedXIMOxMastert1ixedeU02DataNumbersindicateEPRIfueltypes.~1"02'ActualChangeinDensity