ML042660426

Withdrawal of Request for Amendments (TAC Nos. MB5361, MB5362 & MB5363)

ML042660426
Person / Time
Site:	Oconee
Issue date:	09/22/2004
From:	Olshan L NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD2
To:	Rosalyn Jones Duke Energy Corp
Olshan L N, NRR/DLPM, 415-1419
References
TAC MB5361, TAC MB5362, TAC MB5363
Download: ML042660426 (6)

Text

September 22, 2004 Mr. Ronald A. Jones, Vice President Oconee Nuclear Station Duke Energy Corporation 7800 Rochester Highway Seneca, South Carolina 29672

SUBJECT:

OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION, UNITS 1, 2, AND 3 - WITHDRAWAL OF REQUEST FOR AMENDMENTS (TAC NOS. MB5361, MB5362, AND MB5363)

Dear Mr. Jones:

By letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) dated June, 7, 2002, you applied for amendments to Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and DPR-55. The proposed changes would have modified the Update Final Safety Analysis Report with regard to tornado mitigation. The proposed changes would have eliminated credit for the flow path from the spent fuel pool (SFP) to the high pressure injection (HPI) pump following a tornado and would have credited the standby shutdown facility (SSF) as the assured means of achieving safe shutdown following a tornado.

Subsequently, by letter dated September 9, 2004, you withdrew the amendment request based primarily on the higher than expected cost for plant modifications needed to ensure that SSF functions would be fully tornado protected.

The following are some of the issues the NRC staff identified during its review of your amendment request:

1. The proposed crediting of the SSF as the assured means of achieving safe shutdown following a tornado did not satisfy the traditional engineering aspects of the criteria provided in Regulatory Guide 1.174 for risk-informed licensing-basis changes.

2. The information in the amendment request did not demonstrate that the SSF reactor coolant makeup (RCMU) pumps are of sufficient capacity to provide RCMU following a tornado.

3. Other considerations that were not adequately addressed include the following: failure of the main steam piping due to tornado missiles and potential consequences, such as steam generator tube failure and radiological release to the environment; potential failures than can result in a loss-of-coolant accident, such as failure of a pressurizer safety valve to close while discharging liquid reactor coolant, or due to piping penetration failures in the East Penetration Room as a result of tornado missile damage; and the capability to cool the plant down to residual heat removal entry conditions and to provide long-term cooling.

In addition to the issues discussed above, NRC Inspection Report (IR) 50-269, 270, 287/02-07, dated May 31, 2002, documented the results of an NRC supplemental inspection that was performed to assess your corrective actions associated with two White findings related to tornado mitigation. In this IR, Region II closed the remaining open White finding, which

R. Jones involved the use of the SFP as a suction source for an HPI pump during certain tornado events.

The White finding was closed based on the acceptability of your implemented and planned corrective actions for the finding, which included submission of a license amendment. Now that you have withdrawn the amendment request, we require additional information to determine whether the plans and actions to correct your tornado mitigation strategy are appropriate and timely.

Please provide within 30 days of the date of this letter your plans, including a proposed schedule, to address the issues described above.

The Commission has filed the enclosed Notice of Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License with the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Leonard N. Olshan, Sr. Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, and 50-287

Enclosure:

Notice of Withdrawal cc w/encl: See next page

ML042660426 *Via E-Mail NRR-106 OFFICE PDII-1/PM PDII-1/LA (A) PDII-1/SC (A) PDII/D DRP/D DLPM/D NAME LOlshan DClarke MRoss-Lee EHackett VMcCree* LMarsh DATE 9/17/04 9/22/04 9/17/04 9/17/04 9/17/04 9/21/04 7590-01-P UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION DOCKET NOS. 50-269, 50-270, AND 50-287 NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF APPLICATION FOR AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Duke Energy Corporation (the licensee) to withdraw its June 7, 2002, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and DPR-55, for Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, located in Oconee Country, South Carolina.

The proposed amendments would have revised the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report with regard to tornado mitigation. The proposed amendments would have eliminated credit for the flow path from the spent fuel pool to the high pressure injection pump following a tornado and would have credited the standby shutdown facility as the assured means of achieving safe shutdown following a tornado.

The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment that was originally published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on July 23, 2002 (67 FR 48216). A revised Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment was published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on February 18, 2003 (67 FR 7814). However, by letter dated September 9, 2004, the licensee withdrew the proposed change.

For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated June 7, 2002, and the licensees letter dated September 9, 2004, which withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.

Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by email to pdr@nrc.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of September, 2004.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

Leonard N. Olshan, Sr. Project Manager, Section 1 Project Directorate II Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3 cc:

Ms. Lisa F. Vaughn Ms. Karen E. Long Duke Energy Corporation Assistant Attorney General Mail Code - PB05E North Carolina Department of Justice 422 South Church Street Post Office Box 629 Post Office Box 1244 Raleigh, North Carolina 27602 Charlotte, North Carolina 28201-1244 Mr. R. L. Gill, Jr.

Ms. Anne W. Cottingham, Esquire Manager - Nuclear Regulatory Winston and Strawn Issues and Industry Affairs 1400 L Street, NW Duke Energy Corporation Washington, DC 20005 526 South Church Street Mail Stop EC05P Manager, LIS Charlotte, North Carolina 28202 NUS Corporation 2650 McCormick Drive, 3rd Floor Mr. Richard M. Fry, Director Clearwater, Florida 34619-1035 Division of Radiation Protection North Carolina Department of Environment, Senior Resident Inspector Health, and Natural Resources U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 3825 Barrett Drive 7812B Rochester Highway Raleigh, North Carolina 27609-7721 Seneca, South Carolina 29672 Mr. Peter R. Harden, IV Mr. Henry Porter, Director VP-Customer Relations and Sales Division of Radioactive Waste Management Westinghouse Electric Company Bureau of Land and Waste Management 6000 Fairview Road Dept. of Health and Env. Control 12th Floor 2600 Bull Street Charlotte, North Carolina 28210 Columbia, South Carolina 29201-1708 Mr. Henry Barron Mr. Michael A. Schoppman Group Vice President, Nuclear Generation Framatome ANP and Chief Nuclear Officer 1911 North Ft. Myer Drive Post Office Box 1006-EC07H Suite 705 Charlotte, North Carolina 28201-1006 Rosslyn, Virginia 22209 Mr. B. G. Davenport Regulatory Compliance Manager Oconee Nuclear Site Duke Energy Corporation ON03RC 7800 Rochester Highway Seneca, South Carolina 29672