ML20157A118

Summary of Meeting with Nuclear Industry to Discuss Potential Licensing Needs for Fall 2020 Refueling Outages Due to COVID-19 Impacts

ML20157A118
Person / Time
Issue date:	06/22/2020
From:	Geoffrey Miller Plant Licensing Branch II
To:	Markley M Plant Licensing Branch II
Mahoney M
References
Download: ML20157A118 (4)

Text

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June 22, 2020 MEMORANDUM TO:

Michael T. Markley, Chief Plant Licensing Branch II-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM:

G. E. Miller, Project Manager /RA/

Plant Licensing Branch II-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUMMARY

OF MAY 27, 2020, PUBLIC MEETING WITH NUCLEAR INDUSTRY TO DISCUSS POTENTIAL LICENSING NEEDS FOR FALL 2020 REFUELING OUTAGES DUE TO COVID-19 IMPACTS On May 27, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held a public teleconference with representatives from the nuclear industry, including the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), NextEra, and Entergy. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss with NEI and nuclear power plant licensees potential licensing needs for fall 2020 refueling outages (RFO) resulting from the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). The meeting notice can be found in Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at Accession No. ML20135H172.

At the start of the meeting, the NRC staff stated that the meeting was an information gathering dialogue only, and as with all NRC public meetings, no regulatory decisions will be made.

Additionally, the NRC stated that none of the information provided in todays meeting should be taken to be a request by any licensee or a decision by the NRC.

After Anna Bradford, Division Director, Division of New and Renewed Licenses (DNRL), in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) made opening remarks, the meeting was turned over to NEI, Entergy, and NextEra to make opening remarks.

Following industry opening remarks, David Rudland, NRC Senior Technical Advisor for Steam Generator Integrity and Materials Inspection, in DNRL, discussed NRC lessons learned related to the spring 2020 COVID-19 relief requests and associated impacts:

NRC approved approximately 20 COVID-19 related Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 50.55a alternatives this spring.

Use of pre-submittal meetings aided in the understanding of hardship and safety impact.

Understanding when approval was desired versus needed helped in resource planning.

Mr. Rudland continued to discuss potential relief requests for the fall 2020 RFOs due to impacts of the COVID-19 PHE and discusses the following:

The NRC process in granting Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),

Part 50, Section 55a relief requests has not changed.

The standard for hardship remains the same before, during, and after COVID-19 PHE The hardship basis for the spring 2020 relief requests due to COVID-19 PHE impacts was much more obvious in spring 2020 than may be for fall 2020 RFO potential relief requests.

Licensees should fully describe hardship, and explain why requests for NRC approval of 10 CFR 50.55a alternatives in short term (June-July timeframe) are needed for any fall 2020 RFO relief requests and not in the immediate months prior to the start of the fall RFOs.

Licensees should make the hardship case for plant-specific, individual situations. As states and localities change/reduce restrictions, hardship justification may require additional/different information than was provided in spring 2020 RFO COVID-19-related relief requests.

COVID-19 hardship alternative requests should focus on the specific components where tests or inspections scheduled for fall 2020 RFOs will be impacted by the COVID-19 PHE, rather than requesting programmatic changes to site or fleet-wide testing and inspection programs.

NEI lead a discussion of industry questions to the NRC related to the following:

What types of hardships are reasonable to submit to the NRC now, given the time between the spring 2020 RFOs and the fall 2020 RFOs?

Is the NRC considering conditional relief if the COVID-19 PHE is still in place at that time?

Has the NRC considered adjusting the relief regarding the Owners Activity Report, given that its based on 90 days after the PHE or the next outage?

If licensees submit their requests soon (June-July timeframe), would the NRC still process them in an expedited manner like what was done for the spring 2020 RFO relief requests?

No regulatory decisions were made in the meeting.

There no questions or comments from members of the public

Enclosure:

List of Attendees

Enclosure List of Attendees May 27, 2020, Public Meeting with the Nuclear Industry To Discuss Potenial Licensing Needs for Fall 2020 Refueling Outage Due to COVID-10 Impacts Name Organization Anna Bradford NRC/NRR Dave Rudland NRC/NRR Matt Mitchell NRC/NRR Scott Burnell NRC/OPA Craig Erlanger NRC/NRR Ed Miller NRC/NRR Tom Basso NEI George Gelrich Exelon Ron Gaston Entergy Steve Catron NextEra Cheryl Gayheart SNC Larry Nicholson Certrec Jerry Humphreys NJDEP Larry Parker Stars Alliance Jonathan Rowley NRC/NRR James Slider NEI

ML20157A112 (Package)

ML20157A118 (Summary)

ML20135H172 (Meeting Notice)

• via e-mail OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/PM NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/LA NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/BC NAME EMiller*

KGoldstein MMarkley*

DATE 06/22/2020 06/12/2020 06/22/2020 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL2-1/PM NAME EMiller*

DATE 06/22/2020