ML20125E610

Forwards Updated Tech Specs Related to Upcoming HEU to LEU Fuel Conversion.Requests That TS Changes Be Approved Subject to Future NRC Order to Convert Univ Reactor to LEU Fuel. Earliest Possible LEU Fuel Shipping Date Is 930401

ML20125E610
Person / Time
Site:	University of Virginia
Issue date:	12/14/1992
From:	Mulder R VIRGINIA, UNIV. OF, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA
To:	Alexander Adams Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML20125E613	List: ML20125E610 ML20125E619
References
NUDOCS 9212170152
Download: ML20125E610 (3)

Text

SCHOOLOf ENGINEERING @

December 14, 1992 & APPUED SCIENCE NUCLEAR REACTOR TACill1Y Mr. Alexander Adams, Jr. Wpadrnennif Mechanical, Senior Project Manager ^ # * " "" " #

Non-Power Reactors, Decommissioning and

• Environmental Project Directorate Division of Reactor Projects - III/IV/V

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• office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555

Subject:

Reply to Request for Additional Information (RAI),

regarding TS amendments pertinent to the Low Enrichment Uranium (LEU) fuel ccnversion, from the University of Virginia Reactor Facility (Reactor Docket Nos. 50-62 and 50-396).

Dear Mr. Adams:

Please find in attachment U.Va.'s updated UVAR Technical Specifications (TS) proposed amendments related to the upcoming High Enriched Uranium (HEU) to LEU fuel conversion. You are being provided with a clean copy of these TS, as well as a copy marked with bars in the margins, or red underlines, to highlight areas of change in the current TS. Notes on the margin are provided for guidanco. It is requested that these TS changes be approved subject tc a future NRC Order to Covert the UVAR to LEU fuel. The timing of this order should take into account the earliest possible LEU fuel shipping date quoted by B&W, the LEU fuel producer, during our most recent contact. Cnis date is now set April 1, 1993.

l As you requested in the November 19, 1992 RAI, TS 4.8 (and not i "3.8," as mistyped in the RAI) will remain in the TS, although l

reworded to take into account an interim period following the l

cony'ersion order when HEU may still be present at the Reactor j Facility. For this reason, the reworded TS 4.8 will become part of the conversion order. Because it remains in the TS, the changes to i TS 4.9 proposed by us in a previous submittal will not be s necessary.

l l Section 5 of the UVAR TS has been reformatted to match the other TS

< sections in appearance. The greater detail requested for TS 5,1 (U-235 quantity in each fuel element type, etc...) has been

, provided. It is noted that TS 5.3 has been revised, and that TS 5.3.(1) now provides for a temporary period during-which both LEU l and !!EU fuel may be possessed and stored on-site - at the Reactor Facility, although only LEU would be useable in the UVAR. This t I

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t (Cover letter to LEU related TS amendments, page 2, cont.)

clause is necessary to cover eventual delays which may occur in the shipping of spent HEU fuel offsite, due to circumstances not  !

subject to our control. It is necessary also because the COC of the fuel cask requires the fuel from the reactor-core to cool down for 3 months prior to initiating shipping.

! As we have stated on several occasions, we would have liked to ship all HEU fuel offsite before receiving LEU fuel from B&W in nearby j Lynchburg, VA.. This will not be possible because of the required

cooldown period for fuel from the core prior to cask use. Since

] more than 5 kilograms of HEU are stored at our facility, at least i two spent fuel r,hipments must be completed before the Order to j Convert is issued and the LEU TS can be made effective. The UVAR staff has been active in preparing for fuel shipments. Your nnme

], has been put on the list of persons to receive copies of this j correspondence. It appears that shipments may be made in February, in view of the NRC need to re-survey the proposed route, and Savannah- River's suggested time-window for receipt _of the fuel.

4 DOE has informed us that the spent fuel cask will be available to j U.VA. after New Year's. Mr. Don Carlson at NRC Headquarters also l is being kept informed about our progress with the shipping l preparations.

i i In response to one of your comments in the RAI about the need fcr

! the effective neutron multiplication factor for a fuel array having to be limited under all conditions of moderation (although water should be the most limiting condition), we have rewrded proposed TS 5.3(2) and (3), using wording suggested in ANF 15.1.

• a

! With regard to government funding of UVAR conversion, we have requested DOE to provide us with a letter indicating that funding-is available for conversion _(specifically, to cover spenc fuel shipments and supply of the new reactor fuel, since the safety ,

analysis study by-'U.VA. which _was funded by DOE has been j completed). Mr. Keith Brown of DOE has informed me that he

! contacted you about the. type of certification that DOE can p rovide.

A copy _of the letter from his office will be mailed to you as noon.

l

! as we receive-it.

, At our last phone contact with B&W,- we were told that the LEU fuel--

plate manufacture is--about complete, and an April 1, 1993 shipping

! date for LEU fuel el_ements is now being -contemplated.- This.gives-

! us sufficient time to complete the LEU-TS review and make two JEU -

l spent fuel shipments - prior - to - the . issuance' of NRC 's -~ order. ; It l- appears that NRC route approval for our-spent fuel shipments is-close at hand, for Ms. Mastick from tho'NRC recently-visited'our I facility to inspect the local roads.

l'

- - _ - -_ - = _- - - - . _-. . - . - - - - _ - - - - _ - . - . - - - .

(Cover letter to LEU related TS amendments, page 3, cont.)

Text for SNM possession limits has been incorporated in TS 5.3 as you requested in the November 19 RAI. It is requested that these fuel conversion related " LEU" TS amendments be made effective at the same time that the non-conversion amendments, submitted under separate cover, are mado effective. This is necessary to take into account the extensive updating that has been made in the UV.AR Technical Specifications, involving TS reformatting, renumeration and repagination.

I,thank you for the helpful remarks that have contributed to the updating and upgrading of the UVAR TS.

Sincernly, c;. ...

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,'i ,

'l t{. k, /A~

Robert U. Mulder, Director U.Va. Reactor Facility G _Y1.aaLIL--

ConononweMth of VitPflia i he'etsy cetlify that the tittached dccument is a true and Hatt copy of a __l< _ /  : presentM We msnwm day of 19--

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! enc: Proposed LEU related TS amendments Justification for LEU TS amendments Justification for SNM Limits I

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