ML091520545

03/16/2009 Summary of Meeting with the Tennessee Valley Authority Regarding Proposed Fuel Transition Amendment

ML091520545
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	06/03/2009
From:	Ellen Brown Plant Licensing Branch II
To:	Tennessee Valley Authority
Brown, E, NRR/DORL, 415-2315
Shared Package
ML090770387	List: ML090770162 ML091520545
References
TAC ME0438
Download: ML091520545 (7)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 June 3, 2009 LICENSEE: Tennessee Valley Authority FACILITIES: Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 1 SUB~IECT:

SUMMARY

OF MARCH 16,2009, MEETING WITH THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY REGARDING PROPOSED FUEL TRANSITION AMENDMENT (TAC NO. ME0438)

On March 16,2009, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff met with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and representatives of AREVA at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the pending submittal of an amendment for Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN), Unit 1, requesting approval of a transition of fuel types from GE [General Electric]13 and GE14 to ATRIUM-10 blended low enriched uranium (BLEU) fuel. No members of the public were in attendance and no meeting feedback forms were received. Enclosure 1 contains a list of attendees, and Enclosure 2 contains a list of precedent requests for additional information (RAls). The licensee's handout distributed during the meeting may be accessed from the NRC Agencywide Documents Access and Management System, No. ML090770162.

DISCUSSIONS On May 22,2007, Unit 1 was restarted after being shutdown over 20 years. At that time, the Unit 1 core was comprised of various generations of fuel assemblies provided by Global Nuclear Fuels, a joint venture of GE, Hitachi and Toshiba. The other two BFN units began operating with ATRIUM-10 fuel provided by AREVA, then known as Framatome, in 2004 for Unit 3 and 2005 for Unit 2. Back in 1997, TVA agreed to accept from the Department of Energy over 30 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU). The HEU was converted to BLEU fuel assemblies by AREVA. These BLEU assemblies were first loaded into Unit 2 in April 2005 and Unit 3 in 2006.

In 2008, TVA modified its agreement and added Unit 1 to their plants using ATRIUM-10 BLEU fuel. TVA intends to begin to transition Unit 1 to ATRIUM-10 BLEU fuel in 2010.

In support of this transition, a revision to the Technical Specifications will be necessary. The licensee provided a revised schedule proposal for the fuel transition licensing amendment request (LAR). This schedule indicated that a submittal would be in the December 2009 timeframe. The licensee outlined the content of the LAR, which indicated the submittal of documents including a thermal hydraulic design report, mechanical design report, fuel cycle design report and reload safety report. The licensee stated that TVA did not intend to provide the loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) break spectrum report. Although similar to the Units 2 and 3 reports, the staff recommended that the licensee should reconsider and provide the LOCA break spectrum report.

-2 The NRC staff also discussed additional areas for TVA to consider, including the need for the submittal to cover both fuel types, address any outstanding fuel related Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations~ Part 21 deficiency reports. The NRC staff indicated that the licensee needed to appropriately consider the need to address any limits and/or penalties that may be needed consistent with the applicable approved vendor topical reports for both fuel types, as well as precedent RAls,and other fuel transition LAR approvals. The NRC staff offered to identify some of the relevant precedent RAls for the licensee. A listing is enclosed with this summary. An inquiry was also made regarding the means intended to address peak pressure and other related containment parameters with regards to an anticipated transient without scram. The NRC staff also identified that there would likely be questions related to TVA's intent to use BLEU fuel.

The NRC staff found the discussions useful in understanding'the proposed LAR and communicating potential issues and concerns with the methodology and schedule proposed.

IRA!

Eva A. Brown, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 11-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-259

Enclosures:

1. List of Attendees

2. Summary of Concerns Discussed cc w/encls: Distribution via Listserv

Participants U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Meeting with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and AREVA Regarding Proposed Fuel Transition Amendment March 16, 2009 NRC TVA AREVA Anthony Mendiola Robert Birchell David Brown Peter Yarsky Greg Storey David McBurney Shih-Liang Wu Tom Eichenberg Ronnie Gardner Eric Powell James Emens Alan Meginnis Mehdi Reisifard Eva Brown Enclosure 1

PRECEDENT REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATED TO ATRIUM-10 TRANSITION In preparation for the ATRIUM-10 Blended Low Enriched Uranium (BLEU) Fuel Transition amendment request for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN), Unit 1, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff noted that the licensee should consider the AREVA NP methodology concerns raised in previous NRC requests for additional information (RAls) for related amendment request reviews.

Any submittal related to fuel transition to ATRIUM-1 0 should incorporate information that is similar to the additional information provided in References 1 for other Extended Power Uprate (EPU) amendment reviews, and supplemental information provided in References 3 and 4 for an ATRIUM-10 fuel transition amendment review. The submittal should additionally address methodology RAls 1,2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of Reference 2.

Additionally, consideration should be given to the incorporation of responses to NRC RAls regarding AREVA NP methods applicability to EPU conditions for the BFN Units 2 and 3 amendment reviews. The relevant RAls are provided as follows:

SRXB-A.14 SRXB-88 SRXB-117 SRXB-A.15 SRXB-89 SRXB-118 SRXB-A.16 SRXB-91 SRXB-119 SRXB-A.22 SRXB-92 SRXB-120 SRXB-A.26 SRXB-93 SRXB-121 SRXB-A.27 SRXB-94 SRXB-122 SRXB-A.28 SRXB-95 SRXB-123 SRXB-A.29 SRXB-96 SRXB-124 SRXB-A.30 SRXB-97 SRXB-125 SRXB-A.31 SRXB-98 SRXB-126 SRXB-A.32 SRXB-99 SRXB-128 SRXB-A.33 SRXB-100 SRXB-A.34 SRXB-101 SRXB-A.35 SRXB-102 SRXB-A.36 SRXB-103 SRXB-A.37 SRXB-104 SRXB-A.38 SRXB-105 SRXB-A.39 SRXB-106 SRXB-A.40 SRXB-107 SRXB-A.41 SRXB-108 SRXB-A.42 SRXB-109 SRXB-A.43 SRXB-110 SRXB-A.44 SRXB-111 SRXB-A.45 SRXB-112 SRXB-A.46 SRXB-113 SRXB-A.47 SRXB-114 SRXB-A.48 SRXB-115 SRXB-87 SRXB-116 Enclosure 2

-2 The NRC staff found acceptable the responses to these RAls for the Units 2 and 3 EPU reviews, in some cases, with supplemental information or superseding information provided. The responses are contained in References 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13, and 14. In this matter, the NRC staff notes that the information provided in these responses is specific to ATRIUM-1 0 fuel in several cases. Where applicable, similar questions for the co-resident legacy fuel should be addressed.

RAI6 from Reference 5 requests detailed information regarding the AREVA methodology for thermal mechanical transient analyses. Information should be provided addressing the concerns in this RAI.

As many RAls are redundant between these applications, and in some cases the RAI responses are inconsistent based on the plant-specific application, the information provided should address these RAls for BFN Unit 1 based on the most recent information.

Presentation of this information in a comprehensive, narrative format similar to Reference 3 but at a level of detail provided in the RAI responses themselves, would go far to increase the ease of the NRC staffs review References

1. B.T. McKinney (PPL), Letter to NRC, Supplement to Proposed License Amendment Numbers 285 for Unit 1 Operating License No. NPF-14 and 253 for Unit 2 License NPF-22 Constant Pressure Power Uprate, PLA -6306, November 30, 2007 (ML073450822 (nonproprietary), ML073450826 (proprietary)).

2. B. Waldrep (Progress Energy), Letter to NRC, Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Additional Information in Support for License Amendments Regarding Linear Heat Generation Rate and Core Operating Limits Report References for AREVA Fuel, January 24,2008 (ML080310843 (nonproprietary)).

3. AREVA, ANP-2638(P), Applicability of AREVA NP BWR Methods to Extended Power Uprate Conditions, Revision 0, July 2007 (ADAMS Accession No. ML072180378 (proprietary)).

4. AREVA, ANP-263, Boiling Water Reactor Licensing Methodology Compendium, Revision 1, June 2007 (ADAMS Accession No. ML071840218 (nonproprietary)).

5. J. Donohew (NRC), Letter to Entergy Operations, Inc., River Bend Station, Unit 1 Request for Additional Information for Main Turbine Bypass System License Amendment Request, December 19, 2008 (ML083190839 (nonproprietary)).

6. TVA Letter, D. Langley to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2 and 3 Technical Specifications (TS) Change TS-418 - Extended Power Uprate (EPU)

Supplemental Response to Request for Additional Information (RAI) Rounds 3 and 18 and Response to Round 20 Fuels Methods RAls, dated September 19, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML0826900161).

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7. TVA letter, D. Langley to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 2 and 3 - Technical Specification (TS) Change TS-418 - Extended Power Uprate (EPU) - Supplemental Response to NRC Round 16 Request for Additional Information (RAI) - SRXB-87 and SRXB-89, dated May 1, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML0812806280).

8. TVA letter, D. Langley to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 2 and 3 - Technical Specification (TS) Change TS-418 - Extended Power Uprate (EPU) - Supplemental Response to NRC Round 16 Request for Additional Information (RAI) - SRXB-88, dated June 3, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML0816403260).

9. TVA letter, J. Emens to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1,2 and 3 - Technical Specification (TS) Change TS-418 - Extended Power Uprate (EPU) - Response to NRC Round 18 Request for Additional Information (RAI) - SRXB-88, dated August 15, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML082330187).

10. TVA Letter, M. Brandon to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2 and 3 Technical Specifications (TS) Change TS-418 - Extended Power Uprate (EPU)

Response to Round 21 Request for Additional Information (RAI) on Channel Bow, dated October 17, 2008.

11. TVA letter, S. Douglas to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 1,2, and 3 Technical Specifications (TS) Change TS-418 and TS-431 - Extended Power Uprate (EPU) - Response to Round 16 Request For Additional Information (RAI) - SRXB-74/86 and SRXB-87 Through SRXB-90 (ADAMS Accession No. ML080710499).

12. TVA letter, W. Crouch to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2, and 3 Response to NRC Round 3 Requests for Additional Information Related to Technical Specifications (TS) Change TS-418 - Request for Extended Power Uprate Operation (ADAMS Accession No. ML060720006).

13. TVA letter, W. Crouch to NRC, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) - Units 2, and 3 Response to NRC Round 3 Requests for Additional Information Related to Technical Specifications (TS) Change TS-418 - Request for Extended Power Uprate Operation (ADAMS Accession No. ML060720008).

14. TVA letter, W. Crouch to NRC, Browns Ferry, Units 2 and 3 - Supplemental Response to NRC Round 3 Request for Additional Information Related to Technical Specifications Change No. TS-418 - Extended Power Uprate Operation, dated May 11, 2006 (ADAMS Accession No. ML061360150).

... ML091520545 NRC-001 OFFICE LPLlI-2/PM LPL-WB/LA LPLlI-2/BC NAME EBrown BClayton TBoyce (LRaghavan for)

DATE 6/3/09 6/3/09 6/3/09