ML060620353

Safety Evaluation Report Related to the License Renewal of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2 and 3 - Request for Additional Information Related to Appendix F Items in the Application and the Topics Discussed in the Public Meeting.

ML060620353
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	03/03/2006
From:	Louise Lund NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/RLRA
To:	Singer K Tennessee Valley Authority
Lund, L NRR/DLR/RLRA, 415-3248
References
TAC MC1704, TAC MC1705, TAC MC1706
Download: ML060620353 (8)

Text

March 3, 2006 Mr. Karl W. Singer Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

SUBJECT:

SAFETY EVALUATION REPORT RELATED TO THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 1, 2, AND 3 - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATED TO APPENDIX F ITEMS IN THE APPLICATION AND THE TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THE PUBLIC MEETING ON MARCH 1, 2006 AT THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (TAC NOS. MC1704, MC1705, AND MC1706)

Dear Mr. Singer:

By letter dated December 31, 2003, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA or the applicant) submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the staff) for the renewal of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN), Units 1, 2 and 3 operating licenses for up to an additional 20 years. The license renewal application (LRA) was submitted pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 54 (or the Rule), Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants.

The NRC staff met with TVA staff, including Mr. Masoud Bajestani, Vice President for the BFN Unit 1 Restart Program, in a public meeting on March 1, 2006, and discussed the status of the items discussed in our request for additional information sent to you in a letter dated January 31, 2006. We provided to you a list of information that is still needed to complete our safety review of the LRA, and discussed the content of a letter you would need to send to us confirming your completion of 10 CFR 50.59 evaluations for items in Appendix F of the license renewal application. You are aware that the staff has scheduled a Full Committee meeting on March 9, 2006, with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS or the Committee),

to present the staffs final safety evaluation (SER). The information and letter discussed in the March 1, 2006, meeting need to be submitted before the March 9, 2006, ACRS meeting and contain the following:

1.

By letter dated January 31, 2006, staff requested additional information of all the 10 CFR 50.59 evaluations that are already in place or expect to be completed before March 2006 regarding these 13 Appendix F items. You submitted a March 2, 2006, letter that discusses the Appendix F items that require 10 CFR 50.59 evaluation. The items are still incomplete in that your March 2, 2006, letter doesnt clearly certify that the 10 CFR 50.59 evaluations have been completed by the date of the letter, and that as a result of these evaluations, no license amendments (in accordance with 10 CFR 50.90) have been required to implement the items. The letter should also state that all the

K. Singer remaining items that do not require a 10 CFR 50.59 evaluation have been or will be implemented prior to restart.

In addition, the March 2, 2006, letter does not provide details of the 10 CFR 50.59 evaluations indicating that the evaluations are ready for audit by staff as to completion of these 13 items that form a current licensing basis (CLB) as required by the Rule. We discussed the importance of this item at the public meeting. The staff can not make a safety finding without a current licensing basis for Unit 1.

2.

During the 526th meeting of the ACRS, held on October 5-6, 2005, the Committee members reviewed the license renewal application for the BFN Units 1, 2, and 3 and the associated SER with open items prepared by the NRC staff. In their letter dated October 19, 2005, the Committee summarized the results of the interim review of this license renewal application and indicated the need for a robust and efficient aging management program (AMP) to periodically inspect systems and components that had not been replaced. It was not clear to the Committee which systems and components will be included in the scope of the periodic inspection program. The Committee commented that the final SER should include a description of the attributes of the new periodic inspection program for BFN Unit 1 components that will not be replaced before restart. We have not received sufficient information as of today to fulfill that stipulation.

The staff still needs additional detail on TVAs sampling plan as well as a discussion of how the operating experience from Units 2 and 3 are applicable to the lay up condition at Unit 1. Furthermore, TVA should clearly indicate where the credit is taken for restart inspections to fulfill the requirement of the baseline for the periodic inspections.

3.

On March 1, 2006, during a meeting regarding an extended power uprate request for BFN, the TVA verbally informed the NRC staff that it is considering construction of a 16-cell cooling tower (and other alternatives) to replace the tower lost in the 1975 fire event.

This would alter a previous commitment to the staff to construct a 20-cell cooling tower that was evaluated for the license renewal application. The staff needs to evaluate the impact of this change to the environmental review already completed (Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Browns Ferry License Renewal) and the impact on the LRA review schedule.

K. Singer The staff is under time constraints and without a satisfactory safety finding can not proceed with the review or be prepared to make their presentation to the ACRS Full Committee meeting as planned for March 9, 2006. The staff requests that you provide all information described in this letter by March 6, 2006. Otherwise, the review schedule of Unit 1 will be adversely impacted.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me at 301-415-3248 or via e-mail at LXL@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Louise Lund, Branch Chief License Renewal Branch A Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260, and 50-296 cc: See next page

K. Singer The staff is under time constraints and without a satisfactory safety finding can not proceed with the review or be prepared to make their presentation to the ACRS Full Committee meeting as planned for March 9, 2006. The staff requests that you provide all information described in this letter by March 6, 2006. Otherwise, the review schedule of Unit 1 will be adversely impacted.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me at 301-415-3248 or via e-mail at LXL@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Louise Lund, Branch Chief License Renewal Branch A Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260, and 50-296 cc: See next page ADAMS ACCESSION NUMBER: ML060620353 E:\\Filenet\\ML060620353.wpd OFFICE PM:RLRA:DLR LA:RLRA:DLR PM:RLRA:DLR BC:RLRA:DLR NAME RSubbaratnam (YDiaz-Sanabria for)

YEdmonds YDiaz-Sanabria LLund DATE 3/3/06 3/3/06 3/3/06 3/3/06

BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT Tennessee Valley Authority cc:

Mr. Karl W. Singer Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Vice President Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Mr. Ashok S. Bhatnagar, Senior Vice President Nuclear Operations Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Mr. Larry S. Bryant, Vice President Nuclear Engineering & Technical Services Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Brian OGrady, Site Vice President Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, AL 35609 General Counsel Tennessee Valley Authority ET 11A 400 West Summit Hill Drive Knoxville, TN 37902 Mr. John C. Fornicola, Manager Nuclear Assurance and Licensing Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Mr. Bruce M. Aukland, Plant Manager Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, AL 35609 Mr. Masoud Bajestani, Vice President Browns Ferry Unit 1 Restart Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, AL 35609 Mr. Robert G. Jones, General Manager Browns Ferry Site Operations Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, AL 35609 Mr. Scott M. Shaeffer Browns Ferry Unit 1 Project Engineer Division of Reactor Projects, Branch 6 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 61 Forsyth Street, SW Suite 23T85 Atlanta, GA 30303-8931 Mr. Glenn W. Morris, Manager Corporate Nuclear Licensing and Industry Affairs Tennessee Valley Authority 4X Blue Ridge 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801 Mr. William D. Crouch, Manager Licensing and Industry Affairs Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Tennessee Valley Authority P.O. Box 2000 Decatur, AL 35609

BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT Tennessee Valley Authority cc:

Senior Resident Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant 10833 Shaw Road Athens, AL 35611-6970 State Health Officer Alabama Dept. of Public Health RSA Tower - Administration Suite 1552 P.O. Box 303017 Montgomery, AL 36130-3017 Chairman Limestone County Commission 310 West Washington Street Athens, AL 35611 Mr. James Ross Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I St., NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006-2708 Mr. Robert J. Beecken, Vice President Nuclear Support Tennessee Valley Authority 6A Lookout Place 1101 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402-2801

Letter to Karl W. Singer From L. Lund dated March 3, 2006

SUBJECT:

SAFETY EVALUATION REPORT RELATED TO THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT, UNITS 1, 2, AND 3 - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATED TO APPENDIX F ITEMS IN THE APPLICATION AND THE TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THE PUBLIC MEETING ON MARCH 1, 2006 AT THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (TAC NOS. MC1704, MC1705, AND MC1706)

DISTRIBUTION:

JFair RWeisman AMurphy RPettis GGalletti CLi GBagchi SSmith (srs3)

SDuraiswamy YL (Renee) Li RidsNrrDlr RidsNrrDlrRlra RidsNrrDlrRlrb RidsNrrDe RidsNrrDci RidsNrreEemb RidsNrrDeEeeb RidsNrrDeEqva RidsNrrDss RidsNrrDnrl RidsOgcMailCenter RidsNrrDipm DLR Staff EBrown MMarshall MChernoff CJulian, RII SCahill, RII AHodgdon CCarpenter DCoe EKleeh