ML072210941

08/02/2007 Summary of Meeting with Representatives of Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation Discussed on Description and Justification of Its Proposed Modification of the Main Steam and Feedwater Isolation System (TAC No. MD4839)

ML072210941
Person / Time
Site:	Wolf Creek
Issue date:	08/14/2007
From:	Donohew J N NRC/NRR/ADRO/DORL/LPLIV
To:
Donohew J N, NRR/DORL/LP4, 415-1307
Shared Package
ML072210981	List: ML072210941
References
TAC MD4839
Download: ML072210941 (7)

Text

August 14, 2007LICENSEE:Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC, the licensee)FACILITIES:Wolf Creek Generating Station

SUBJECT:

MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF WOLF CREEK NUCLEAROPERATING CORPORATION FOR WOLF CREEK GENERATING STATION (TAC NO. MD4839)A meeting was held on Thursday, August 2, 2007, between the Nuclear RegulatoryCommission (NRC) staff and the licensee for Wolf Creek Generating Station (WCGS). The meeting was held at the request of the NRC staff to have the licensee address the NRC staff's questions on the information that has been submitted by the licensee to describe and justify its proposed modification of the main steam and feedwater isolation system (MSFIS), a safety-related engineered safety features actuation system, at WCGS. In preparation for the meeting, the five NRC staff's questions were emailed to the licensee on July 25, 2007, and they are included in the NRC staff's handout for the meeting. The notice of the meeting was issued on July 18, 2007.BACKGROUNDBy letter dated March 14, 2007 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System(ADAMS) Accession No. ML070800193), the licensee submitted a license amendment request (LAR) to, in part, modify the current MSFIS. The LAR application would allow the replacement of the existing MSFIS controls with field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, and would be the first use of this technology in a safety-related application at a nuclear power plant that NRC is required to review and approve.In its initial review of the licensee's application, the NRC staff determined that the applicationdid not include sufficient information for the staff to accept the application and start a review of the proposed modification of the MSFIS. The NRC staff's acceptance review determines whether or not there is sufficient detail to allow the NRC staff to proceed with its detailed technical review. The review also ensures that the application adequately characterizes the regulatory requirements and licensing basis of the plant. Since the application was submitted, the NRC staff has interacted with the licensee to determine if sufficient information has been provided for the staff to begin its review of the application and, if not, to determine when it will be submitted. The licensee's application was supplemented by the letters dated April 18 and May 9, 2007 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML071160332 and ML071350247, respectively).These interactions with the licensee culminated in the meeting held with the licensee onMay 17, 2007. In the meeting, the NRC staff identified and discussed 22 areas of information needed for its review of the MSFIS modification. The purpose of the May 17, 2007, meeting was to determine where the licensee was in the development life cycle of the MSFIS modification project, and what of the information needed by the NRC staff to both initiate and complete its review was available and had been submitted, or the time frame in which theinformation would be submitted by the licensee. On June 15, 2007, the licensee submitted additional information (ADAMS Accession No. ML071770446) and its schedule for submitting information not yet completed in response to the NRC staff's required information as identified in the meeting summary issued June 4, 2007, for the May 17th meeting (ADAMS Accession No. ML071380510). The questions sent to the licensee addressed the NRC staff's review of the documentation submitted in the licensee's June 15, 2007, letter.MEETING

SUMMARY

Enclosure 1 is the list of attendees. Enclosure 2 is the material handed out by the NRC staff. The licensee did not have a handout for the meeting. Enclosure 2 includes the agenda for the meeting, the five questions sent to the licensee in preparation for the meeting, and a page providing the information items still needed by the NRC staff for its review of the MSFIS modification and the date the items are needed by the NRC staff. The purpose of the meeting was to have the licensee address the five NRC staff questions inEnclosure 2. The agenda for the meeting, slide 2 of Enclosure 3, was the following:*Introductions*NRC Presentation

• Licensee Presentation

• Comments, Questions, and Discussion

• End of Meeting

• Public CommentsThe NRC staff and the licensee management provided opening statements. The NRC staffthen began its presentation. The presentation addressed the additional information needed from the licensee as given in the five questions in Enclosure 2. The details given in the five questions and the conditions in Questions 4 and 5 were presented by the NRC staff.The NRC staff also handed out a one-page list of the information items that had not yet beensubmitted by the licensee on its MSFIS modification project and were needed by the NRC staff to complete its review of the MSFIS modification at WCGS. This list is included in Enclosure 2.

The NRC staff stated that the "needed by" dates in the list were the dates that NRC needed to receive the items to complete its evaluation of the MSFIS modification at WCGS by the fall of 2008. The fall of 2008 is the earliest that the NRC staff believes that it can complete its review and evaluation of the project.Letters from the licensee to address the two conditions in Questions 4 and 5 are items 1 and 2in this one-page list. The "needed by" dates for items 1 and 2 were changed to September 20, and September 4, 2007, respectively, and agreed to by the NRC staff and the licensee in the meeting.

The licensee did not make a presentation. It stated the importance of installing the MSFIS modification at WCGS in the spring 2008 refueling outage because the modification will make the plant safer by having the safety-related MSFIS more reliable and providing greater margins of safety. However, the licensee stated that it understood that NRC does not have an endless supply of resources and this LAR is only one of many LARs improving safety at nuclear powerplants. The licensee stated that it was encouraged by the NRC staff accepting the review of the MSFIS modification at Wolf Creek and it will meet the two conditions in Questions 4 and 5 by the agreed-upon dates of September 20 and 4, 2007, respectively.The meeting was ended.

One member of the public was in attendance. The person was given an opportunity to askquestions of the NRC staff. During the meeting, a Public Meeting Feedback form was given to the person. Any comments received in the future on this meeting will be forwarded to the NRR Senior Communications Analyst, who will forward then to the Office of the Executive Director for Operations.Direct any inquiries about this meeting to me at 301-415-1307, or by electronic mail tojnd@nrc.gov

./RA/Jack Donohew, Senior Project ManagerPlant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor RegulationDocket No: 50-482

Enclosures:

1. List of Attendees at Meeting2. NRC Staff's Handoutcc w/encls: See next page supply of resources and this LAR is only one of many LARs improving safety at nuclear powerplants. The licensee stated that it was encouraged by the NRC staff accepting the review of the MSFIS modification at Wolf Creek and it will meet the two conditions in Questions 4 and 5 by the agreed-upon dates of September 20 and 4, 2007, respectively.The meeting was ended.

One member of the public was in attendance. The person was given an opportunity to askquestions of the NRC staff. During the meeting, a Public Meeting Feedback form was given to the person. Any comments received in the future on this meeting will be forwarded to the NRR Senior Communications Analyst, who will forward then to the Office of the Executive Director for Operations.Direct any inquiries about this meeting to me at 301-415-1307, or by electronic mail tojnd@nrc.gov

./RA/Jack Donohew, Senior Project ManagerPlant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor RegulationDocket No: 50-482

Enclosures:

1. List of Attendees at Meeting2. NRC Staff's Handoutcc w/encls: See next page DISTRIBUTION

PUBLIC LPLIV r/f RidsAcrsAcnwMailCenter RidsNrrDE RidsNrrDorl RidsNrrDorlDpr RidsNrrDorlLpl4 RidsNrrLAJBurkhardtRidsNrrPMJDonohewRidsOgcRp RidsRgn4MailCenter PLoeser/EICB WKemper/EICB TLiu, NRR DPelton, EDO RIVMeeting Notice: ML071790007PKG.: ML072210981ACCESSION NO. Meeting Summary: ML072210941Handout: ML072150153NRC-001OFFICENRR/LPL4/PMNRR/LPL4/LANRR/EICB/BCNRR/LPL4/BCNAMEJDonohew:spJBurkhardtWKemperTHiltz DATE8/13/0708/13/0708/13/078/14/07OFFICIAL RECORD COPY February 2006Wolf Creek Generating Station cc:Jay Silberg, Esq.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 2300 N Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20037Regional Administrator, Region IVU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011Senior Resident InspectorU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.O. Box 311 Burlington, KS 66839Chief Engineer, Utilities DivisionKansas Corporation Commission 1500 SW Arrowhead Road Topeka, KS 66604-4027Office of the GovernorState of Kansas Topeka, KS 66612Attorney General120 S.W. 10 th Avenue, 2 nd FloorTopeka, KS 66612-1597County ClerkCoffey County Courthouse 110 South 6 th StreetBurlington, KS 66839Chief, Radiation and Asbestos Control Section Kansas Department of Health and Environment Bureau of Air and Radiation 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 310 Topeka, KS 66612-1366Vice President Operations/Plant ManagerWolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation P.O. Box 411 Burlington, KS 66839Supervisor LicensingWolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation P.O. Box 411 Burlington, KS 66839U.S. Nuclear Regulatory CommissionResident Inspectors Office/Callaway Plant

8201 NRC Road Steedman, MO 65077-1032 LIST OF ATTENDEES AT MEETING OF AUGUST 2, 2007WITH WOLF CREEK NUCLEAR OPERATING CORPORATION NAME AFFILIATIONNRC:J. DonohewNRC/NRR/LPLIVJ. LubinskiNRC/NRR/DORL P. HilandNRC/NRR/DE M. GallowayNRC/NRR/DE M. ThadaniNRC/NRR/LPLIV W. KemperNRC/NRR/EICB P. LoeserNRC/NRR/EICBLicensee:T. GarrettWCNOCS. WidemanWCNOC G. ClarksonWCNOC P. GuevelWCNOCPublic:K. KeithlineNEIWhere:LPLXX= Plant Licensing Branch XXDE= Division of Engineering DORL= Division of Operating Reactor Licensing EICB= Instrumentation and Controls Branch NEI= Nuclear Energy Institute NRC= Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRR= Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation WCNOC= Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating CorporationENCLOSURE 1 NRC STAFF'S HANDOUT FOR AUGUST 2, 2007, MEETINGADAMS* ACCESSION NO. ML072150153Attached is the six-page handout from the NRC staff at the meeting:1.Agenda from meeting notice issued July 18, 2007 for the meeting (ADAMSAccession No. ML071790007).2.Four pages containing five questions to be addressed in the meeting that weresent to the licensee in an email dated July 25, 2007.3.The one-page list of items still needed by the NRC staff for its review of the WolfCreek MSFIS replacement project, which is using field programmable gate array (FPGA) components.*Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)ENCLOSURE 2