ML080800380
| ML080800380 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Columbia  |
| Issue date: | 04/15/2008 |
| From: | Lyon C NRC/NRR/ADRO/DORL/LPLIV |
| To: | Parrish J Energy Northwest |
| Lyon C Fred, NRR/DORL/LPL4, 301-415-2296 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML080800388 | List: |
| References | |
| TAC MD7278 | |
| Download: ML080800380 (9) | |
Text
April 15, 2008 Mr. J. V. Parrish Chief Executive Officer Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 (Mail Drop 1023)
Richland, WA 99352-0968
SUBJECT:
COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION-ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT RE: ELIMINATE LICENSE CONDITION 2.F (TAC NO. MD7278)
Dear Mr. Parrish:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued the enclosed Amendment No. 206 to Facility Operating License No. NPF-21 for Columbia Generating Station. The amendment consists of changes to the Technical Specifications (TS) in response to your application dated November 7, 2007.
The amendment deletes License Condition 2.F, which requires reporting of violations of certain other requirements contained in Section 2.C of the license. This operating license improvement was made available by the NRC on November 4, 2005, as part of the consolidated line item improvement process (CLIIP).
A copy of the related Safety Evaluation is also enclosed. The Notice of Issuance will be included in the Commission's next biweekly Federal Register notice.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Carl F. Lyon, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-397
Enclosures:
- 1. Amendment No. 206 to NPF-21
- 2. Safety Evaluation cc w/encls: See next page
Pkg. ML080800388,(Amendment ML080800380, License/TS Pgs ML081060297) NRR-058 OFFICE NRR/LPL4/PM NRR/LPL4/LA ITSB/BC(A)
OGC NRR/LPL4/BC NAME FLyon:sp GLappert GWaig*
NOT REQUIRED THiltz DATE 4/15/08 415/08 1/29/08 ML072980209 4/15/08
Columbia Generating Station cc:
Chairman Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council P.O. Box 43172 Olympia, WA 98504-3172 Mr. Douglas W. Coleman (Mail Drop PE20)
Manager, Regulatory Programs Energy Northwest P.O. Box 968 Richland, WA 99352-0968 Chairman Benton County Board of Commissioners P.O. Box 190 Prosser, WA 99350-0190 Mr. William A. Horin, Esq.
Winston & Strawn 1700 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006-3817 Mr. Matt Steuerwalt Executive Policy Division Office of the Governor P.O. Box 43113 Olympia, WA 98504-3113 Ms. Lynn Albin Washington State Department of Health P.O. Box 7827 Olympia, WA 98504-7827 Technical Services Branch Chief FEMA Region X 130 - 228th Street, SW Bothell, WA 98021-9796 Mr. Mike Hammond Department of Homeland Security FEMA/REP 130 - 228th Street SW Bothell, WA 98021-9796 Regional Administrator, Region IV U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011-4005 Senior Resident Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.O. Box 69 Richland, WA 99352-0069 Assistant Director Nuclear Safety and Energy Siting Division Oregon Department of Energy 625 Marion Street NE Salem, OR 97301-3742 Special Hazards Program Manager Washington Emergency Management Div.
127 W. Clark Street Pasco, WA 99301
ENERGY NORTHWEST DOCKET NO. 50-397 COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION AMENDMENT TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE Amendment No. 206 License No. NPF-21
- 1.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has found that:
A.
The application for amendment by Energy Northwest (the licensee), dated November 7, 2007, complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act) and the Commission's regulations set forth in 10 CFR Chapter I; B.
The facility will operate in conformity with the application, the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations of the Commission; C.
There is reasonable assurance (i) that the activities authorized by this amendment can be conducted without endangering the health and safety of the public, and (ii) that such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations; D.
The issuance of this amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public; and E.
The issuance of this amendment is in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51 of the Commission's regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
- 2.
Accordingly, the license is amended by changes to the Technical Specifications as indicated in the attachment to this license amendment, and Paragraph 2.C.(2) of Facility Operating License No. NPF-21 is hereby amended to read as follows:
(2)
Technical Specifications and Environmental Protection Plan The Technical Specifications contained in Appendix A, as revised through Amendment No. 206 and the Environmental Protection Plan contained in Appendix B, are hereby incorporated in the license. The licensee shall operate the facility in accordance with the Technical Specifications and the Environmental Protection Plan.
- 3.
The license amendment is effective as of its date of issuance and shall be implemented within 90 days from the date of issuance.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
Thomas G. Hiltz, Chief Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Attachment:
Changes to the Facility Operating License No. NPF-21 and Technical Specifications Date of Issuance: April 15, 2008
ATTACHMENT TO LICENSE AMENDMENT NO. 206 FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-21 DOCKET NO. 50-397 Replace the following pages of the Facility Operating License No. NPF-21 with the attached revised pages. The revised pages are identified by amendment number and contain vertical lines indicating the areas of change.
Facility Operating License REMOVE INSERT
SAFETY EVALUATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION RELATED TO AMENDMENT NO. 206 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO. NPF-21 ENERGY NORTHWEST COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION DOCKET NO. 50-397
1.0 INTRODUCTION
By application dated November 7, 2007 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML073180396), Energy Northwest (licensee) requested changes to Facility Operating License No. NPF-21 for Columbia Generating Station. The requested change would delete License Condition 2.F, which requires reporting of violations of certain other requirements contained in Section 2.C of the license. A notice announcing the availability of this proposed change using the consolidated line item improvement process was published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2005 (70 FR 67202).
2.0 REGULATORY EVALUATION
A section or condition was included in the facility operating licenses issued to some nuclear power plants requiring the licensee to make reports to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding violations of other sections of the operating license (typically Section 2.C). In the case of Columbia Generating Station, 2.F of the FOL reads as follows:
2.F With the exception of 2.C(2) the licensee shall report any violations of the requirements contained in Section 2.C of this license within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> by telephone and confirm by telegram, mailgram, or facsimile transmission to the NRC Regional Administrator, Region V, or that administrators designee, no later than the first working day following the violation, with a written followup report within 14 days.
In addition to the information provided to support licensing decisions, the NRC obtains information about plant operation, licensee programs, and other matters using a combination of inspections and reporting requirements. Routine or scheduled reports that are required to be submitted to the NRC are defined in the related regulations, specific license condition, technical specification, or an NRC-approved program document. The reporting of emergencies, unplanned events or conditions, and other special cases may also be addressed within such
documents by the inclusion of reporting thresholds and are also the focus of the reporting requirements in 10 CFR 50.72, Immediate notification requirements for operating nuclear power reactors, and 10 CFR 50.73, Licensee event report system. Changes to the reporting regulations in 10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73 became effective in January 2001 (see Federal Register notice on October 25, 2000 (65 FR 63769) and included extending the allowable reporting times for licensee event reports (LERs) from 30 days to 60 days.
3.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION
Section 2.F of FOL No. NPF-21 requires the licensee to report any violations of the requirements in Sections 2.C of the FOL and defines the method and allowable time periods for such reports.
The reporting threshold (i.e., a violation) for some of the conditions included in Section 2.C of the FOL, duplicates those defined in 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73. However, the requirements in the FOL have different deadlines than those defined in the regulations following a rule change in 2001. This difference in reporting requirements has led to variations in reporting since many facility operating licenses do not contain the subject condition. For those licensees with a 30-day reporting requirement in the FOL, the condition has decreased the benefits of the rulemaking. For those cases where the current FOL requirement to report violations is also reportable in accordance with the regulations defined in 10 CFR 50.72 and 10 CFR 50.73, the NRC staff finds that the regulations adequately address this issue and the elimination of the duplicative requirement in the FOL is acceptable.
Some of the conditions addressed in Sections 2.C of the FOL may address the maintenance of particular programs, administrative requirements, or other matters where a violation of the requirement would not result in a report to the NRC in accordance with 10 CFR 10.72 or 10 CFR 50.73. In most cases, there are requirements for reports to the NRC related to these conditions in other regulations, the specific license condition or technical specification, or an NRC-approved program document. In other cases, there are reports to other agencies or news releases that would prompt a report to the NRC (in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(xi)). The NRC staff also assessed violations of administrative requirements that could be reportable under the current License Condition but that may not have a duplicative requirement in a regulation or other regulatory requirement. The NRC staff finds that the requirement to report such problems within 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> with written reports to follow using the LER process is not needed. The NRC staff is confident that the information related to such violations that is actually important to the NRCs regulatory functions would come to light in a time frame comparable to the 60-day LER requirements. The information would become available to the appropriate NRC staff through the inspection program, updates to program documents, resultant licensing actions, public announcements, or some other reliable mechanism.
The NRC staff finds that the elimination of Section 2.F in Columbia Generating Station Facility Operating License will not result in a loss of information to the NRC that would adversely affect either its goal to protect public health and safety or its ability to carry out its various other regulatory responsibilities. Therefore, the elimination of Section 2.F of the Facility Operating License is acceptable.
4.0 STATE CONSULTATION
In accordance with the Commission's regulations, the Washington State official was notified of the proposed issuance of the amendment. The State official had no comments.
5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION
The amendment changes recordkeeping, reporting, or administrative procedures or requirements. The Commission has previously issued a proposed finding that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration and there has been no public comment on such finding published in the Federal Register on December 4, 2007 (72 FR 68211). Accordingly, the amendment meets the eligibility criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(10). Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no environmental impact statement or environmental assessment need be prepared in connection with the issuance of the amendment.
6.0 CONCLUSION
The Commission has concluded, based on the considerations discussed above, that: (1) there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered by operation in the proposed manner, (2) such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations, and (3) the issuance of the amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.
7.0 REFERENCE
- 1.
NRCs model SE published in the Federal Register on August 29, 2005 (70 FR 51098).
Principal Contributor: A.J. Lising Date: April 15, 2008