ML14289A527

Email Dtd 08/27/14 Fr R. Mckinley to M. Lampert Re Responses to Your Questions: Pilgrim Dry Cask Storage

ML14289A527
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	08/27/2014
From:	Raymond Mckinley Division Reactor Projects I
To:	Lampert M - No Known Affiliation
References
Download: ML14289A527 (4)

Text

Haverkamp, Trisha From: McKinley, Raymond Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 12:58 PM To: mary.lampert@comcast.net

Subject:

Responses to Your Questions: Pilgrim Dry Cask Storage Attachments: MaryLampertRev2.pdf Good Afternoon Mary, Back in July, you submitted an e-mail (attached below) with a number of questions related to the move to dry cask storage at Pilgrim. We had our subject matter experts provide responses. Please refer to the PDF attachment.

Regards, Ray McKinley Chief, Division of Reactor Projects Branch 5 U.S. NRC Region I From: Mary Lampert [1]

Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 05:42 PM To: Dean, Bill Cc: Dave Lochbaum <dlochbaum@ucsusa.org>; michal freedhoff <michal_freedhoff@markey.senate.gov>

Subject:

Pilgrim- move to dry cask storage July 28, 2014 Bill Dean NRC Hello Bill:

I understand that Pilgrim is cleaning the nuclear junk out of the pool and removing the crash pad and associated steel around it. Then they have to place a steel plate where the crash pad was to protect the pool liner.

Is this correct?

Once that is completed, I understand that they have to demonstrate twice to the NRC the whole fuel loading process including lowering cask/canister down to 23' elevation- a "tricky" operation. Is this correct?

Further Questions:

1. Would the demonstrations simulate a fully loaded fuel cask or an empty one?

2. What does an empty cask weigh?

3. What would a fully loaded fuel cask weigh? Is it correct that a fuel bundle weighs about 450 lb.'s - 68 of them in cask? = about 30,600 lb.s?

1

4. Is it possible to simulate that weight for the demonstration? Is Entergy doing so and if so how, provide assumptions?

5. What protection will be provided to the 23 level floor in the event of a dropped fuel cast?

6. Could the floor be penetrated if the cask was dropped from the refuel floor onto the 23 level?

7. Is it correct that Entergy is taking credit for a transfer devise that would be located on 23' rails to "brake the fall" and also credit the floor so the Torus is protected? What is the basis for NRC accepting that?

8. Are there issues with the temp rails they have to install on 23' for wheeling this thing out into the truck lock and then the "haul path" for pick up to bring to pad? If so, what are they?

9. When they actually do the real transfer, I certainly would feel better if the Reactor was in cold shutdown. Will Entergy shut down during the transfer? Will NRC require it? If not, why?

10. Has Pilgrim asked to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks?

11. If Pilgrim has asked to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks, what was NRCs response? If NRC agreed to allow Entergy to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks please provide the rationale and letter to Entergy.

12. Has NRC ever allowed a licensee that had its pool at maximum capacity to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks? Describe.

13. Is it correct that new fuel will be coming in early 1st quarter 2015 (~150 bundles).

14. Will you let me know when Pilgrims transfer is going on so I can get out of town?

Thank you and enjoy the summer and the start of your new job.

Mary 2

Responses

• I understand that Pilgrim is cleaning the nuclear junk out of the pool and removing the crash pad and associated steel around it. Then they have to place a steel plate where the crash pad was to protect the pool liner. Is this correct?

Yes. The crash pad in the spent fuel pool was removed and replaced with a leveling platform. The crash pad was a crushable component and would not have supported the weight of the HI-TRAC and loaded Multipurpose Canister (MPC). The leveling platform keeps the spent fuel assemblies in the MPC at the same level as the spent fuel assemblies in the pool.

• Once that is completed, I understand that they have to demonstrate twice to the NRC the whole fuel loading process including lowering cask/canister down to 23' elevation- a "tricky" operation. Is this correct?

The Certificate of Compliance for the spent fuel storage cask requires a dry run training exercise of the activities associated with dry cask loading prior to the first use of the system to load spent fuel assemblies. Pilgrims dry run is being conducted in four phases which are being observed by the NRC.

1. Would the demonstrations simulate a fully loaded fuel cask or an empty one?

A specially designed simulated MPC will be utilized that approximates the 40 ton weight of an MPC loaded with fuel.

2. What does an empty cask weigh?

The empty MPC and lid weigh about 20 tons.

3. What would a fully loaded fuel cask weigh? Approximately 40 tons. Is it correct that a fuel bundle weighs about 450 lb.'s - 68 of them in cask? = about 30,600 lb.s?

The 68 fuel bundles and the pool water weigh about 20 tons.

4. Is it possible to simulate that weight for the demonstration? See response to #1 above.

Is Entergy doing so and if so how, provide assumptions?

Yes, by utilizing a specially designed mock MPC weighing the equivalent of a fully loaded cask including the pool water.

5. What protection will be provided to the 23 level floor in the event of a dropped fuel cask?

Entergy is in the process of upgrading the crane to a single-failure-proof design under the provisions of 10 CFR 50.59, using NRC approved guidance for design of the crane. NRC licensing guidelines accept the provision of a highly-reliable handling system in place of load drop analyses. Therefore, going forward, Entergy will credit the handling system rather than a load drop analysis as the basis for safe handling of the canisters, both in the spent fuel pool and when lowering the cask onto the transporter.

6. Could the floor be penetrated if the cask was dropped from the refuel floor onto the 23 level?

See response to #5.

7. Is it correct that Entergy is taking credit for a transfer device that would be located on 23' rails to "break the fall" and also credit the floor so the Torus is protected? What is the basis for NRC accepting that?

Though the rails are very robust, they were not designed to mitigate a floor penetration due to a dropped cask. As stated in response to #5, Entergy will take credit for the single-failure-proof crane rather than a load drop analysis.

8. Are there issues with the temp rails they have to install on 23' for wheeling this thing out into the truck lock and then the "haul path" for pick up to bring to pad? If so, what are they?

Sections of the rail are temporary to facility doors to be opened and closed and any other areas where they may need to be removed or moved. The rails have not been installed.

9. When they actually do the real transfer, I certainly would feel better if the Reactor was in cold shutdown. Will Entergy shut down during the transfer? Will NRC require it? If not, why?

The plant will not be shut down during the dry cask loading activities. It is not necessary.

The safety features of the crane and the designated heavy loads path in the reactor building protect plant systems.

10. Has Pilgrim asked to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks?

No.

11. If Pilgrim has asked to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks, what was NRCs response? If NRC agreed to allow Entergy to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks please provide the rationale and letter to Entergy.

Pilgrim has not made such a request.

12. Has NRC ever allowed a licensee that had its pool at maximum capacity to unload at the next refueling prior to removing fuel in the pool to dry casks? Describe.

No.

13. Is it correct that new fuel will be coming in early 1st quarter 2015 (~150 bundles).

Yes. Pilgrim is scheduled to receive new fuel early in the first quarter of 2015.

14. Will you let me know when Pilgrims transfer is going on so I can get out of town?

The current tentative schedule for the transfer is in the October/November time frame.