ML072110273
| ML072110273 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | PROJ0690 |
| Issue date: | 08/20/2007 |
| From: | Hoffman S NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/RLRB |
| To: | Nuclear Energy Institute |
| Hoffman, S T, NRR, 415-3245 | |
| References | |
| Project 690 | |
| Download: ML072110273 (10) | |
Text
August 20, 2007ORGANIZATION:Nuclear Energy Institute
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE LICENSE RENEWAL MEETING HELD BETWEENTHE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF AND THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTEThe U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)License Renewal Task Force met on June 21, 2007, to discuss generic license renewal topics, lessons learned from the audit process, and license renewal process improvements. provides a listing of the meeting participants and Enclosure 2 contains the meeting agenda. A summary of the discussions follows:1.Environmental topics from the May 31, 2007, meetinga.NRC requests for additional information on Category I impactsThe NRC staff indicated that it had discussed with the NRC's Office of the GeneralCounsel (OGC) the issue of whether or not questions about Category 1 items are warranted during license renewal environmental reviews. According to OGC, the staff could adopt a Category I conclusion for an issue at a specific site if the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal (GEIS) identifies the specific plant sites to which each generic determination applies, provided that no new and significant information calls into question the generic conclusions in the GEIS. Absent a listing of issues for each site, OGC indicated that the staff would require descriptive information about plant and site characteristics to confirm that the GEIS analysis applies to a specific site and to disclose this descriptive information in a site-specific supplement to the GEIS. The staff did not have an opportunity to determine if the GEIS included such a listing before the NEI meeting, but indicated that it would do so before the next NEI public telephone conference.b.Clarification of non-GEIS or regulatory issuesNEI was not prepared to discuss specific examples involving non-Category I items atthis meeting. The Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant audit went well and this topic is not considered an urgent issue. NEI will discuss this topic in a future meeting.c.GEIS update statusThe NRC staff plans to issue the draft GEIS and proposed rule revision for publiccomment in the first calendar quarter of 2009. This proposed schedule, an extension of the original schedule because of the Fiscal Year 2007 budget continuing resolution, still requires Commission approval. 2.Severe accident mitigation alternative (SAMA) analyses: Information regarding use ofoutput from SECPOP2000 code as input to MACCS2 codeThe MACCS2 code, used to quantify the economic impacts of a severe accident (andSAMA benefits), requires site-specific economic input data, e.g., land values and farm related information at a county level. The necessary data file may be constructed by the analyst, or developed using a code such as the SECPOP2000 code , developed by SandiaNational Laboratory. A problem with the SECPOP2000 code was recently brought to the staff's attention by one renewal applicant, although other analysts may have known about and worked around the problem previously. Specifically, the SECPOP2000 code writes the economic output data in a different format than required by the MACCS2 code. One or more columns of data are shifted by several characters, such that the values read by the MACCS2 code are incorrect. The parameters affected are believed to have only a second order effect on results. Therefore, the results of the SAMA analysis are unlikely to change.
A knowledgeable analyst can work around the problem by reformatting the file written by SECPOP2000 to be compatible with the MACCS2 input file requirements. This problem would only affect SAMA analyses (for license renewal) and severe accident mitigation design alternatives analyses (for new reactor licensing) that rely on the use of the SECPOP2000 code for economic input parameters, and that were performed by analysts who were not aware of this code problem. Staff at Sandia responsible for the SECPOP2000 code have been informed of the problem.3.Time-limited aging analysis (TLAA) and metal fatigue follow-up discussions from May 24, 2007, meetingIn the May 24, 2007, meeting with NEI, the staff had discussed the recent audit finding inwhich an applicant had inappropriately projected transient cycles for 60 years operation based on past operating history when the plant was operating in a favorable condition. As a result, the projected cycles were significantly reduced for the design transients, in some cases even down to zero. The applicant then used the projected cycles to compute the components' cumulative usage factors. The staff reiterated that this kind approach was unacceptable for evaluating the TLAA for associated components in accordance with 10 CFR 54.21(c)(1). The staff clarified that projecting the numbers of transient cycles in the application does not provide the applicant authorization to change the current design bases.
If the applicant opts to change the current design bases, the request for change has to be processed following the process stipulated in 10 CFR 50. The staff also discussed the need to review the benchmarking of the transfer function usedin the stress-based fatigue analysis. During the recent audits, the staff asked the two applicants who used two different on-line fatigue monitoring softwares to demonstrate their stress benchmarks. 4.Post-approval renewal inspection procedure (IP-71003)The NRC staff plans to send NEI the draft revision of IP-71003 by the end of August 2007. Once NEI has time to review the draft, a public meeting will be scheduled to discuss the revision and the NRC's plans for post-approval renewal inspections. A topic NEI was requested to discuss at the meeting is how licensees are managing their outstanding commitments that need to be completed before entering the period of extended operation. NEI responded that normally licensees control the commitments using their existing commitment management process and that they will have the appropriate people at the meeting to discuss this topic.5.License renewal interim staff guidance (LR-ISG) statusThe NRC staff plans to issue for public comment by the end of August 2007 the updatedLR-ISG process and the LR-ISG on Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report, aging management program (AMP) XI.E6.6.Lessons learned from recent safety review auditsFor new AMPs that are consistent with the GALL Report (NUREG-1801), the licensestandard review plant (NUREG-1800) AMPs, indicates that the renewal application only needs a statement that the applicant's AMP is consistent with the GALL Report program.
However, for these new programs, the staff does not have any detail to review during the audit. The staff proposed that applicants provide the same information for these new AMPs consistent with GALL as they would for a plant-specific AMP. If the details of the final AMP have not been developed yet, the applicant could describe options it could take for the AMP without having to indicate which approach would be selected. These descriptions would provide the staff with information on which to base its safety finding. It was agreed that the staff needs to provide guidance to the industry on what is needed for new AMPs that are consistent with the GALL Report.7.New issuesNEI indicated that the NRC staff's expectations regarding scoping for recovery from stationblackout has changed for recent applications since the staff issued LR-ISG-02, "Staff Guidance on Scoping of Equipment Relied on to Meet the Requirements of the Station Blackout (SBO) Rule (10 CFR 50.63) for License Renewal (10 CFR 54(a)(3))," dated April 1, 2002 (ADAMS Accession No. ML020920464). The staff disagrees. However, because the staff did not expect to discuss this topic during this meeting, the appropriate technical staff were not at the meeting. The staff will ensure that the appropriate staff are available at the next monthly call to discuss this topic.One applicant previously provided the NRC staff with password protected, read-only accessto its online database of onsite documents supporting its license renewal application. This facilitated the staff's preparation for the on-site audit. In response to NEI's request, the staff will investigate whether other applicants can provide the staff with the same access.The staff is investigating whether cable tie wraps are credited for performing an intendedfunction in accordance with a plant's current licensing basis that would require them to be within the scope of license renewal. The staff needs to complete its evaluation and will discuss this topic in a future conference call or meeting.Potential topics discussed for future LR-ISGs are cracking of boiling water reactor topguides, cycle projections for fatigue analyses, and information requirements for Category 1 environmental impacts. 8.Public participationA member of the public provided suggestions on areas of the GEIS for staff review inaddressing Agenda Item 1.a./RA/Stephen T. Hoffman, Senior Project Manager License Renewal Branch B Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor RegulationProject No. 690
Enclosures:
As statedcc w/encls: See next page
ML072110273OFFICEPM:RLRB:DLRLA:DLRBC:RLRC:DLRBC:REBB:DLRBC:RLRB:DLRNAMESHoffmanIKingKChangRFranovichRAuluckDATE08/20/0708/02/0708/17/0708/06/0708/13/07 List of ParticipantsLicense Renewal Meeting Between the NRC Staffand the Nuclear Energy InstituteJune 21, 2007PARTICIPANTSAFFILIATIONS1.Pao-Tsin (P. T.) KuoU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)2.Kenneth ChangNRC 3.Rani FranovichNRC 4.Eric BennerNRC 5.Stephen HoffmanNRC 6.K. Robert HsuNRC 7.Bob PallaNRC 8.Yeon-Ki ChungNRC 9.Duc NguyenNRC 10.Linh TranNRC 11.Peter WenNRC 12.Roy MatthewNRC 13.Jill CaverlyNRC 14.Veronica RodriguezNRC 15.Christian JacobsNRC 16.Andrew StuyvenbergNRC 17.Bo PhamNRC 18.Alicia WilliamsonNRC 19.Samuel HernandezNRC 20.Jessie MuirNRC 21.Gordon CleftonNuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 22.James RossNEI 23.Julie KeysNEI 24.Dave FlytePPL Susquehanna 25.Dave KunsemillerFENOC/Beaver Valley 26.Cliff CusterFENOC 27.Garry YoungEntergy 28.Alan CoxEntergy 29.Mark GilesEntergy 30.Bob VincentEntergy/Palisades 31.Fred PolaskiExelon 32.Richard SchallenStrategic Teaming and Resource Sharing (STARS) 33.Eric BlocherSTARS 34.Chalmer MyerSouthern Nuclear Company 35.Mike McFarlaneSouthern Nuclear Company 36.Ken PutnamFPL 37.Gene EckholtNMC/Prairie Island 38.Michael HeathProgress Energy 39.David BremerNPPD/Cooper 40.Ken BruneTVA 41.Massoud TefezzoliAREVAEnclosure 1 42.Kathryn SuttonMorgan Lewis43.Gary StevensStructural Integrity 44.Fiona WangTaiwan Power Company 45.L. H. WangITRI, Taiwan 46.Jin-Yaw LiuITRI, Taiwan 47.R. Alice HwangATL 48.Jon CudworthTetra Tech AgendaLicense Renewal Meeting Between theU.S. NRC Staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute MeetingJune 21, 2007 Topic Lead 1.Environmental topics from May 31, 2007, meetinga.NRC requests for additional information on Category I impactsNRC b.Clarification of non-GEIS or regulatory issuesNEI c.Generic Environmental Impact Statement update statusNRC2.SAMA analyses: Information regarding use of output fromNRCSECPOP2000 code as input to MACCS2 code3.Time-limited aging analysis and metal fatigue follow-upNRCdiscussions from May 24, 2007, meeting4.Post-approval renewal inspection procedure (IP-71003)NRC 5.Interim staff guidance (ISG)a.Updated ISG processNRC b.ISG on aging management program XI.E6NRC6.Lessons learned from recent safety review auditsNRC/NEI 7.New issues NRC/NEI 8.Public participationAllEnclosure 2 Letter to Nuclear Energy Institute, from Stephen Hoffman, dated August 20, 2007
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE LICENSE RENEWAL MEETING HELD BETWEEN THEU.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF AND THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTEDISTRIBUTION
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cc:Ms. Christine S. Salembier, CommissionerState Liaison Officer Department of Public Service 112 State St., Drawer 20 Montipelier, VT 05620-2601Ms. Julie KeysNuclear Energy Institute 1776 I St., N.W., Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006-3708Mr. Frederick W. PolaskiManager License Renewal Exelon Corporation 200 Exelon Way Kennett Square, PA 19348Mr. Clifford I. CusterProject Manager, License Renewal FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company P.O. Box 4 Route 168 (Mail Stop SIM-2)
Shippingport, PA 15077Mr. Paul Gunter, DirectorReactor Watchdog Project Nuclear Information & Resource Service 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340 Takoma Park, MD 20912Mr. Hugh JacksonPublic Citizen's Critical Mass Energy &
Environment Program 215 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003Mary OlsonNuclear Information & Resource Service Southeast Office P.O. Box 7586 Asheville, NC 28802 Mr. Garry G. YoungManager, License Renewal Services 1448 SR 333, N-GSB-45 Russellville, AR 72802Robert A. VincentLicensing Lead - License Renewal Project Palisades Nuclear Plant 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway Covert, MI 49043Lorrie Bell, Project ManagerWolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation P.O. Box 411 Burlington, KS 66839Roger StewartProgress Energy Carolinas, Inc.
3581 West Entrance Road RNP A9 Hartsville, SC 29550Michael H. Crowthers, Supervisor Nuclear Regulatory Affairs PPL Susquehanna, LLC Two North Ninth Street (GENPL4)
Allentown, PA 18101-1179